Got my space set up.  My url is myspace.com/geminig3.  Hope to see you all there!

My xanga will be shut down later this week..

Hello all my Xanga friends!

I'm about to switch my blogging to MySpace.  I have several family members on there, and really want to be in their friend rings and such.  They also have super cool layouts and photo stuff on there for free.

So as soon as I get it set up, I'll pop back on here and let you all know the address, in case anyone wants to keep up with me.

See ya all soon!!

We just got back from a little vacation.  We went to Iowa to visit my family.  When I say "we" I mean all of us, plus my 2 brothers, Amber (bro. 1's wife) and baby Emma.  We all piled into 2 vehicles and took off Thursday night.  Girls in 1 car, boys in the other.  Communicating the whole way via walkie talkies.  Too fun!!  It was great!!  Thursday we drove to K.C. and stayed at the Argosy Hotel and Casino.  I have never in my life stayed in such a nice place.  The freakin' walls were leather!!  $200 a night.  Wowee!  Glad I wasn't paying   While we were in K.C. we went to the Crown Center, which is this fantastic shopping center.  Then the kids played in the water fountains at the pavilion there.  Then we went back to the hotel, put the kids to bed and went gambling.  I had $20 and pretty much broke even..lol..We got to bed around 2 a.m.  Got back up at 8 to meet my grandma for breakfast.  Then back on the road for a 5 hour drive to Iowa.  I love road trips with the kids.  They get to see so much that we would miss if we flew.

We got to our hotel around dinner time.  The kids immediately hit the pool.  My dad, aunt and all the cousins arrived soon after.  As you can imagine, we didn't leave the pool area.  There were 15 kids all together.  We visited until midnight, then back to bed.  The next day, me, Marc, my brothers, and dad watched all the kids while the others went shopping.  Well, I watched the kids.  The dads were swimming.  Nice of them, seeing as how I had 3 18 month olds plus the other kids   That afternoon we went hiking and wading, then bowling that night.  Tired yet??  We were.  On the way back to the hotel that night, Marc and Mack decided it would be a good idea to drive 3 hours that night so we wouldn't have such a long trip home the next day.  So we packed up and off we all went.  They are crazy, BTW.  The road is scary at night!  We stopped at a hotel somewhere in Missouri at about 3 a.m.  It was a total dive, but the only vacancy for 50 miles.  I was very nervous about staying there, but it was okay.

We got up the next day and drove home.  Everyone was totally exhausted.  It will be a week before we're all caught up.  Glad my kids don't have to start school tomorrow and can rest up.  It was a great weekend!  Now I have the travel bug though.  We're planning another trip to Illinois in the middle of Sept.  Then we're kind of talking about going to Minnesota to fish in the Fall.  I love homeschooling!  We have so much freedom to do this kind of stuff!!

So that's all the big excitement here.  I'm off to catch up with all of you!  Until next time, take care..

Yes, I'm still alive.   Life has been crazy busy lately.  I find myself wishing for winter so we can possibly slow down.

I took the leap and bought some school books for the kids.  So far they haven't made it out of the bag, they are still sitting in a nice tidy pile under the table.  Perhaps they will stay there forever?  It's a possibility.  I also bought the kids the Heroscape game and lots of accessories.  So many that my dh took away my spending privileges for awhile.  But it is such a cool game.  All these little knights and orcs and dragons and stuff.  So far the boys aren't interested in the "official" rules of the game.  To them it's much more fun to make up pretend wars and scenarios.  They probably get more out of it that way anyway.

I haven't heard anything else on the moving front.  After the initial panic, I feel okay about it.  Our house is really too small, so maybe it would be a good thing to move.

We had our YEA enrollment party last week.  It was a good turnout.  Lots of enthusiasm for the classes offered, many were at or over enrollment levels.  One of the moms is offering a Legendary Creatures series, which my kids are very excited about.  Besides the preschool type classes I'm helping out with, I'm going to do a series on simple things kids can make for breakfast.

I've been shopping a lot lately.  I know officially hate the mall.  I'm hoping not to go back there ever again. 

Next week my family and my bro's are going to Iowa to visit my dad and cousins.  At this point I feel very stressed about the trip.  I'm just so tired.  But usually that's an indication that I need to get away for a bit.

So that's about it.  Other than the typical Summer stuff going on I don't have much else to report.  Until next time..have a great week!

It's been awhile!  Life seems to have been getting the best of us this Summer.  But that's what Summer is for, right?

Highlights:  Last night we had a Summer Splash Party..Lots of water balloon fights and hose wars.  My front yard may never recover.  We've been having these battles with the neighbors all week, this time we opened it up to some of our friends too.  It was fantastic.

Busy getting ready for YEA.  I have been feeling pretty stressed out about it, mainly because there are very few people willing to step up and help.  It's frustrating trying to coordinate everything.  After ranting to Cindy about it, I feel better. 

We found out Saturday that we may have to move again this Winter.  Our landlords are wanting to get out of the landlord business and are trying to sell all of their houses.  Maybe.  That's the scary part.  If they could tell me "Yes we are selling" and "You have to be out by.." I would feel much better.  But it's all up in the air.  It's enough to give me an ulcer.

My youngest brother has been giving us headaches too.  He's the one who is in rehab and on probation.  My other brother and I have taken over guardianship of him because he's mentally handicapped.  Dealing with Social Security Disability is a nightmare.  And Welfare.  Ughh!!  Now I have 2 ulcers.

One of my good friends is moving this Fall too.  Her husband is in the military and they are sending them to a new place.  Very sad.  Our kids are good friends too.  They will be missed.

And in educational news:  Ezzie is working hard this Summer learning to write his letters and numbers.  His choice, of course.  I have also decided that I need to do a bit of real book learning this year.  I'm struggling with this choice, because it's not in my nature to force my kids to do these things.  And I think most of it is BS anyway.  But my older boys have TERRIBLE, illegible handwriting.   Becca has stopped even attempting to read anything.  And Nikki wants me to give her spelling lists (what's up with THAT?)  It's probably just Summer fun, I know.  I think part of my job as a good homeschooling mom is to notice these things and help if I can.  I'll do it in a nice, non-forceful way of course.  I have a few things in my head that I feel are important to function in society.  Being able to communicate well is one of them.  And since I can't even read the boys' handwriting (even their names!!), they are falling a bit short on that.  It annoys them too.  So I'm searching my imagination, and the web, to find fun ways to help them get where they want to be.  But I will not force my kids to sit at the able every day for hours doing pointless schoolwork.  I said it here, you all can bust my butt if I lie

So that's that, "my life lately" the condensed version!!