Update your bookmarks.... I'm moving!

Blogger is being a pain lately so I am heading over to Typepad.

Here is my new permanent address.

http://christinamanning.typepad.com/boyish_charm/

So update those bookmarks and watch for me at my new home! ;)

What we had to go hunting for

Here is this years school supply list. This is what we hunted at the store. Keep in mind that I had to purchase for Pre-k, K, 1st and 3rd.... You can click on the image to make it bigger.

Tagged... kindda

I took this from Kelli Crowe's blog... fun fun! ;)

1. How old are you? 29 (for a little while longer)

2. How many kids do you have if any? 5.5 The 6th is due early October

3. Are you married, single, divorced, widow,? Married.

4. What is your occupation? I have so many that I don't know if I will get them all... Mommy, Wife, Friend, Daughter, Sister, Aunt, Sister-in-law, wanna-be photographer, wanna-be scrapper, co-owner of a security agency... etc. etc. etc.

5. What are your passions? My Family, photography, scrapping, reading

6. Are you a dreamer or a dream seeker? dreamer.... Definitley. I don't feel like I have time to seek anything right now.

7. Are you happy with the way you life has turned out? Most definitely.

8. Are you a scrapper and if so how many hours a week do you scrap? I think I am a scrapper. I have this huge scraproom of stuff that I need to unpack. If I could get it all unpacked and organized, I bet I would actually be able to scrap.

9. What do you want to do before you die? Explore

10. What is your favorite food? I have so many... lately I am on a steamed veggie kick. I love steak too and tators... I just love food! I don't think that there is much I don't like.

11. What is the food you hate the most? Hate? That's such a strong word. Maybe anchovies.

12. What is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you? Hmmm.. having a newborn and walking around in public with a shirt that has been leaked on, Just something about wet boob spots that aren't very appealing.

13. What is the happiest day of your life thus far? I have so many. The day I got married, had children, etc etc... of course, my kids make me proud and that is always a happy day.

14. Are you a neat freak? Or a dirty house cleaner? Not a neat freak, although I would like to be. I try to keep a clean house, but with 5 boys and all these pets running under foot, it's kind of tough.

who to tag....
Kristin
Sasha
Natalie
and anyone else that wants to play!!! ;)

Summer is nearing the end...

... School enrollment is this week. 4 Kiddos going to school this year! WOW..

We went school supply shopping this afternoon and $200 later, we don't even have everything. Is that not unreal the stuff that they want. They required crayola brand on everything too... you can't save a buck or two and get the Roseart brand. How unreal is that. Luckily I can afford to pay for my kids school supplies, but I know that there are plenty of parents out there who struggle each year. Anyhow...

Zachary got his packback... ;) He is so excited to go to school, we'll see if it lasts though.

3 kiddos full day and 1 half day and for a short while, it'll be just Jonathan and I. Wow... what will I do?

School starts in a month and I still have school clothes to buy. I will have to see what all they are really in need of right now besides the normal... shoes, socks, underwear, belts... type stuff. Nicolas and Zachary share clothes, so they are pretty easy. Noah and Tyler can share shorts, but not shirts or pants and of course, Tyler is much pickier... Fun Fun Fun! Hope there are some good sales coming up, I'm gonna need them.

Nicolas

Jonathan Continued...

Jonathan...

Zachary

A first for me..

I made meatballs today for the first time ever. Can you believe that in the 12 years of my adulthood life I have never ever made them. Thanks to the help of my good friend, Kristin, they turned out marvelous! And they were easy peasy too....

Amazingly!!!

My kids wanted to cooperate for a photo shoot today. I got the three younger ones individually!

Now... I am going to make you all wait while I edit them! ;)

Wow..

We have had a horrible week around here. Part of the beginning of it was us finding one of Don's buddies dead at 4am while we were out working last Monday morning. He was in an automobile accident where he lost control of the vehicle and flipped it. Unfortunately he was in an open jeep with no seatbelt. Horrible! (there is much more to the week, but I won't bore you all) We ended it the week with the funeral!

I wasn't able to go due to a sitter, but Don definitely went. It was a huge funeral. The kid was only 19 and had just graduated high school.

I guess just from the whole situation it got Don thinking about things. He came home and told me we needed to talk (I hate that sentence, usually isn't good stuff). He told me that in the line of work that he does, the chance that he might not come home one day is greater than many other jobs that he could be doing. (this is true)

He has now decided that he wants me to be half owner of everything company wise. He is afraid that if something happens that everything could go into probate and I could be screwed financially. (of course we don't have a life insurance policy, something we need to get) He wants the company to stay alive even if he isn't. He talked about me going down and getting all the certifications that he has so that I know what is going on. I already deal with quite a bit of company related issues anyhow, but he wants me to know all the legal bits too.

He knows that I would have plenty of support from others that are knowledgeable in this field also and we both think that my dad would step up and help me out.

I have to have someway to support our huge family if (God Forbid) something happened to him.

It's just one of those conversations that you really don't want to have to discuss. Why would you want to talk about the future and the person you care the most about not being in it?!?

Freaking out today!!!

I have my first professional photo shoot today. In 5 hours!!! I am doing our little league teams season pictures. I honestly think I can capture great pictures. We have been in sports long enough and I have bought enough packages to see what parents want. I am just nervous because A. I am very insecure... B. I am going to feel like an idiot being the center of attention and trying to capture these parents babies at their best... and C. I never am good and trying to sell myself. I actually hope to make some moeny at this and get my name out there to do more in the future.

Although.... There are storms moving in and it is supposed to rain, so it might be all up in the air as to whether tonight will be the night for photos or not. Regardless, I need to get prepared!

Pray for me that God will give me the strength I need to get through this and act professional!

6/16/06 To Do List

On a message board that I am on, some of the girls do a daily to do list. I have not participated in it until today. I think I might try to do it more often because when you go back and look at everything that you have accomplished during the day, it makes you feel so good. Gee... and some people think I don't do a thing all day!

~~Wash and Dry clothes
~~Fold Clothes
~~Put Clothes away
~~Put away load of stuff that came from old house yesterday
~~Put away and sort clothes of mine that came from old closet (most doesn't fit)
~~Clean living room
~~Clean kitchen
~~Clean dining room
~~Clean breakfast area
Clean downstairs bathrooms
~~Clean my bedroom/sitting room
~~Clean up backyard and get the big trash moved to a spot until it can go to dump.
~~Wrap Zachary's birthday presents
~~Go to grocery store and get food for party tomorrow
~~Go to WIC to pick up new folder and vouchers
~~Give Jonathan a bath for his outing with ga-ma
Work on Package sheet for my photo shoot next week
~~Scout out a place that I want to do the photos
Call and reschedule appt's that were missed since we have moved....
my dr appt.... have to call back monday, their systems are down.
~~jonathan dr appt
tyler dentist... Call back monday, no answer today
~~wic appt
Start sorting through paper piles in the office/scrapbook room so we can get it all filed away
~~Take Tyler to have team photos done.
~~Clean the boys bedroom
~~Clean hallway upstairs
Clean upstairs bathrooms
Clean playroom
Clean nursery
~~Post to blog

"I wouldn't trade places"

I found this great new blog and website. It is called Larger Families and I absolutely love it. I can relate with so much there (probably because I DO have a larger family). They have a blog that several ladies post too. I just loved one of todays posts. I feel as if I could have written this myself...
Here it is....

I Wouldn't Trade Places
My husband and I just celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary. Thirteen years. Some days it seems as if we have always been together--that adolescent memories are merely detailed dreams. Other times it feels as if we were just married the other day; and I wonder, “Can it really have been thirteen years ago?!”On our wedding day, after the ceremony and as we geared up for endless photos, my Uncle hugged me and said, “Congratulations, but I wouldn’t trade places with you guys for anything in the world.” I was stunned by his comment and also offended by it. How could anyone not want to be us? We were so in love. We were young and attractive, dressed in beautiful clothing, and being surrounded by loved ones who had set aside a day of their lives to support us. Who wouldn’t trade places with us? I thought about his comment often that day and in the weeks that followed. I thought about it quite often that first year of marriage, as we struggled to learn to live together and realized that we had a lot to learn about each other. At times it was surprising how difficult marriage was. I was nineteen years old, my husband was twenty-three years old—we were naïve. We fought a lot the first year. Thankfully, we loved a lot, too. At the time, I felt that I loved Tim so much that I couldn’t imagine ever loving him more. I still could not understand my Uncle’s comment.After a couple years of early marriage, fertility treatments, miscarriages, and the adoption of our first child, I finally started to get a glimpse into why my Uncle would dare make such a comment to newlyweds. Marriage was work. It took a lot of effort and compromise to get things comfortable. The more time I spent married and the more life-altering experiences I shared with my husband, the more I loved him and felt like I was relieved to have the difficult beginning behind us. I certainly didn’t feel like I wanted to start over.Over the years, I have come to fully understand that marriage gets better with time. If you are willing to work at it, that is. It becomes a blessing of feeling secure and content. Knowing you aren’t just sharing your life with your best friend, but are sharing the joy and burden of raising children, and of worrying about finances, and sharing household responsibilities is so much more rewarding with someone you love.We have been through so much together—both good and bad. My love for my husband is deeper than I could ever have dreamed it would be, and I know that it will continue to strengthen the longer we are married. Being with him is relaxing and fun. I certainly understand him better now than when we were first married. I don’t ever have to wonder what he thinks of me, or try to act a certain way. I can be my true self. We can sit in silence on our date night and feel comfortable, or we can find endless topics to discuss and be reassured that we agree on almost everything. We don’t have to play guessing games, trying to figure out what the other one means or wants. After thirteen years, we just are. We are as one. I agree with my Uncle now. I wouldn’t trade places with any newlyweds either. They have so far to travel to get where we are.

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Wendy is the homeschooling mom to 6 amazing children (with 2 more in the works). She writes about it all here: http://flippinsweet.typepad.com/. Email her at: rainbowendy@yahoo.com for the password.