This is our life

The picture above fully describes our life every single night! Homework, homework, homework! I get home and the table is covered with it. I instantly begin to breathe fast, my heart races, I get that ache between my eyes and then hear "I need help with..." Calgon, take me away! Hannah's really isn't so bad. I figured she would be the tough student this year, going into Jr. High. She usually has math each night, we study Spelling, maybe some Geography. She's struggling in Math now so I have her do extra work in Math for practice. Noah, on the other hand...the other night he had 11 worksheets to do. Seriously, ELEVEN!! That is insane. Granted, it's usually only about 7 or8...that's still insane! WHY must they send that much homework? Do the teachers not realize that when the kids have to spend their entire evening doing homework there is NO family time?!?! Family time turns into mom running around trying to get dinner ready and help with a problem someone has with homework, get the table cleared after dinner and help with homework, check the homework, try not to get frustrated when you have to have the child correct some of their homework. Noah literally spends 3 hours every night on homework. Aaaggghhh!!! The child has no life! He's getting frustrated with school. In the past, he has always loved school, always came home with A's and B's. His Friday folder is littered with C's, D's and an F here and there. What is going on?? I was told when I found out who his teacher was that we would have problems. Man alive, do we ever! I already spoke with the teacher about this two weeks ago. Of course, she thinks I am the one that is nuts, that she doesn't give too much homework! Is that why there are many parents ready to lynch you, Mrs. Medley?!?!?! Pulease! Well, this Thursday is Parent-Teacher Conference--I plan to do some "discussing" then. (Someone have some extra cash to bail me out if I get out of hand?!?!?)

And here's Hannah's school picture. Isn't it great??? She looks so much older here! Makes me sad. Noah doesn't have his pictures taken until October 24th.

Okay, only 5 more days until we leave for our vacation! Yay! We are soooooooooo excited! I mean, I can't tell you how excited we are! Lyle has all of our hotels planned out for us (9 nights for $375 with tax!), our personal tours of the White House and Capitol Building and we are planning all of our other stops and visits. The kids are more concerned about what they're buying when we go to the Lego Shop!!! :)

Gotta go get ready for chuch. Hope you all have a great week!

Lyle's Birthday Party

Today was Lyle's birthday party. You can see him above with his Happy Birthday hat, left over from Hannah's birthday party! We really had a great time. Our friends -- the Cooks, Jeffers, Ricketts and Ritchies [ minus Jamie, Jessi and Simon :( ] came and enjoyed the beautiful day. The weather was perfect and the kids had a great time playing. By "kids", I mean all those 12 and under AND the guys!!!! :)
Here is the T-shirt Tom Jeffers got him. In case you can't read it, it says "MY OLD LADY SAID SHE'D LEAVE ME IF I BOUGHT ONE MORE GUITAR!...SURE GONNA MISS THAT GIRL!" How perfect is THAT?!?!?!?! Good one Tommy Boy! (Tom just had a birthday too, by the way. Uh, hmm...He's older than Lyle!!)

Here is Lyle with Emma Cook, Brad and Jessi Cook's daugther. He's alwasy been sweet on Emma!! :)

Here's Jessi with Logan. Logan just had his 1st Birthday the day after Lyle's birthday!!! Happy Birthday Logan!

Noah had to show me his new trick on his bicycle. Doesn't he look adorable?!?! The over-protective mom in me wanted to yell "GET YOUR FEET ON THE PEDALS!!!!", but the mom that has understood he just needs to be a kid said "That's awesome!"

Hannah and Lyle had to cheese it up for the camera. GREAT picture of them! I love this!!! Hannah is so pretty!

Ahhhhhh, I'm going to take this opportunity to sit in the chair and do absolutely NOTHING! I'm exhausted. Hope you all have a fantastic week!

2 weeks and 5 days till we leave for Washington DC............

Guitars!

Okay, today is the day that "the boys" go to St. Louis to the big guitar place. Giddy isn't even the word! Oh my gosh. You'd think they were 7 year olds going to Disneyworld! I was still in bed when Brad and Brad got here, but I was awake. Good thing because they totally would have waken me up! I had to ask Lyle if it was JUST Brad and Brad or did they get some others to go because it sounded like a herd of them out there! I made him go outside and tell them people were still asleep at 7:20 in this neighborhood!! And Lyle was all jittery this morning, running around. Toooo funny!

I took off after work last night for Decatur to go shopping. I had a great time! Went to the mall and did a mad dash in about 2 hours. It was funny--I was in the fitting room at JCPenney and kept hearing a voice I thought I recognized. Finally the voice said "Kate". Aha! "Jamie? Katie?" It was Jamie and Katie Jeffers right next to me! Anyway, I did Penneys, Old Navy, Kohls and Payless and spent too much money at every single place!! Then off to Target to find some luggage for our trip. Found a great set for a great price. (2 weeks and 6 days till we leave!!!) Then off to Wal Mart for more stuff! Lyle asked me this morning how much was in the checking account (he has the debit card today!)...I said probably $5 after last night!!!! :) hahahahahaaa!

Noah has a soccer game today. It's nice and CHILLY out there for it too. Oh well, glad it's not raining or 85 degrees!

Hope you all have a great weekend!! :-)

Family

I stole a picture of my new cousin from his mommy's blog!!

Here is Evan Glenn Emery, son of Robert and Saranne Emery. Robert's dad is Brad, my mom's brother. For those of you who knew Bob growing up, check out their blog http://rsemery.blogspot.com/ Little Bobby is a daddy! :0

Hope your week is going well so far. Lyle has his 35th birthday tomorrow, September 12th. He calls it his middle birthday. Don't know if it's middle of 30 and 40 or middle of his life. He swears he won't make it past 70, so he's at the middle of his life. I dunno. He's a freak!! :) He's going to St. Louis with two of his guitar buddies Saturday to check out a big guitar store. Ha! Like he needs to get anymore ideas! Nah, he needs the time away. I'm glad, because I finally get a Saturday off that I can see Noah play soccer! Then it's home to clean, clean, clean! We're having a get together with some of Lyle's closest friends from church to celebrate his "middle" birthday! Can't wait.

Just 3 weeks and 3 days until we leave for Washington DC!!! We are all so excited. Lyle got us a GREAT deal on a hotel in downtown DC. 2 Room Suite, super nice, normally $349 a night---$40 a night!!!!! It's all about who you know! Noah is stoked about going to the Lego store!!!!! That kid dreams of Legos! :) Hannah really wanted to see the American Girl store but it's not anywhere near where we'll be. Maybe an extra trip to Chicago sometime....We're planning to stop in Louisville, KY on our way home to see Wayne and Greta Meece, go to church with them. That will be very nice.

Everyone have a great week! Enjoy this cooler weather. I LOVE IT!!!!!!

More Days Gone By....

I found this piece of notepaper that Noah had written. I have no idea when he wrote it! In case you can't read it, it says "Dear Diary, I love Jinx (our cat) but I'm acting like I hate him and Hannah doesn't know." I love it!

This is Christmas 2000. Hannah is 5, Noah just turned 3. I can't remember what he was mad about, but isn't that lip cute?!? I tell ya, he was born with that lip sticking out like that! I'm not kidding. His first pictures, he's sticking his lip out!!! He's such a blessing!

These two pics are Easter 1996. Hannah was 9 months old. That was probably the first time she even wore a dress! Look how young we look! And look how dark Mark's hair and beard are below...hahahaha! And this was the day we began attending church!!

We didn't have a bathtub in the trailer so the kids had to bathe in a storage tub!! :-) This is Noah at about 9 months old... ***we didn't have a tub but we DID have a shower!!*** :-)

And here's Noah out in the snow, 1998/1999 (just over a year old). I clearly remember this day! He hated the snow at first!! It was sooooo funny! Hannah was having a blast, making snow angels but all Noah could do was cry! See the lip sticking out?!?!?!?!

Pana Labor Day Parade

Hannah got to march with the Pana Jr. High Band in the Labor Day parade this year! She has started playing the flute and is taking extra lessons with Mr. Dean but was not quite ready to play her flute in the parade. So she got to hold the banner. She did a FANTASTIC job! I was so proud of her! I don't think I've ever seen anyone have such straight posture and hold a banner so well before!! :-) She loved it. The long walk hurt her legs but she's okay. It was different for her--she's used to riding on the church float every year.

Speaking of church float....here's the float THCC made! Okay, I think it was mostly the Ritchies, Hicks and Hardys...big thanks to you guys for your hard work! The theme this year was Fable and Folklore. Hmmm....what does a church do with that?!?! THCC took the standpoint of Fable, Folklore or Truth! See the Bible the kids are sitting on? Karen did a fantastic job on the lettering. That's Noah at the far left sitting in the desk. He had fun! And I was so proud of him for smiling and waving so much!

We had a busy weekend--took the kids to the Pana Tri-County Fair on Saturday. They had horse races at the Grandstand. That was fun to watch. And it was FREE!!! Of course, they had to play games before we left, since they do not ride rides. Hmpf! I think I spent about $20 for a few 50 cent toys!! Plus the Lemon Shake-Up, Snow-Cone and Funnel Cake for the kids!

Sunday we had a great time with Derrick and Karen Ritchie at Pizza Hut after church. Josiah spent the afternoon with us afterwards. Man, those boys can talk 100 miles a minute!!! They are the greatest buddies.

Monday we had a great time being able to visit with family at the parade--my mom, Lyle's mom and dad, Grandma and Grandpa Vincent and Aunt Janie. Janie sat on the curb and got all the candy for my kids! She was great! Then Lyle spent part of his afternoon doing phone work for my Grandma and Grandpa Kime in their new house. Was great to visit.

Lyle began teaching his class tonight. He started early this morning, will be home late. This is going to wear him out pretty bad! And my day was BUSY! Margaret is on vacation so I'm her all week. "Monday" after a holiday--I ran almost 500 prescriptions today! My fingers are tired!

Hope you all had a great weekend. I'm ready for the cooler weather to come our way!

Days Gone By...

I've neglected my blog here recently--I ran out of pictures to put on! So I got out a box of old pictures from the basement and chose some to put on. I'll do that periodically, to bring back some memories--for you and me!

It amazes me how much my kids have grown. I almost can't remember them being so small. There are times I wish I could turn back the clock...do so many things over again, pay closer attention, do more things with them. But that's life! I'm sure we all feel the same way.

I have so many great pictures, so it was hard to choose. I lost a ton of pics though, when our basement flooded in 2002. You know, after we moved in, had a huge rain and had about 2 foot of water in our "dry" basement (according to Phil Dressen!) Oh, I was sick! Crying like crazy for days, if not weeks! I lost pictures of the kids, our wedding, Hannah's baby book (hmmmm....where did Noah's go???), a few yearbooks, a few dolls were soaked, old papers...it was horrible! Anyway, before I get upset again.....here's a few on memory lane..........

****these are a little blurry because I took pictures of the pictures!! I know--lazy!***

Where we began--October 28, 1989. We had officially been dating 1 month. It was Tower Hill school's Halloween dance and my mom made us Raggedy Ann and Andy costumes. Ahhhh, he HAD to have loved me, huh?!?!? This was the first night he told me he loved me!

This was Lyle's Senior Prom--May 4, 1990. I must say I looked great that night! :-) Oooooh, I loved that dress! Ruffled back, slit up the front. Beautiful necklace. I loved that night!

Lyle and me on Labor Day, 1991.

Wow, I wish I still looked like that! :-)

September 26, 1992--Mr. and Mrs. Lyle Cutler!!

Our mini vacation to Southern Illinois in June of 1997. I was about 5 months pregnant with Noah and we hiked and hiked. Phew! It was soooo hot! But we had a great time. See Hannah's pigtails?? She was so cute!

Noah was probably 2 years old here. Looks like the fall of 1999. What a ham!

I LOOOOOOOVVVVVVVE this picture! I forgot I even had it! Hannah's looking out the shower door at Noah. 1998

And here's my cuties in the backyard when we lived on Park Avenue, leaned up against Grandpa Kim's old boat. My, how they've grown!

Lyle and Hannah wearing their Pull-Ups hats!!! They're sooo cute! I had Noah just 12 days after this pic was taken.

Noah playing in the front yard in the fall of 1998.

Check out my new specs!

Okay...be honest....do I look older in these? More like my mo-ther?!?! You know, I think I saw a picture of my mom from the 60's wearing glasses similar to these! And I made fun of her!! :-) Ahhh, I am going crazy trying to get used to them too. I see sooooo much better but I'm kind of nauseaus and dizzy at times because I see so well! Colors are so vivid and beautiful! No more blur! I tell ya, I was driving home after picking these up and I almost ran a red light because I was so excited I could read signs that I was testing myelf and reading everything around! Duh! Vivid and vibrant RED LIGHT! Toooo funny!

We're on Day 5 of school. Jr. High is going great for Hannah. Yay, yay, tripple yay! She's not quite ready to play her flute in the Pana Labor Day Parade but she gets to hold the banner in front of the band. She's pretty excited about that. She's been going in early a few days a week to get extra help from Mr. Dean on her flute. She's doing a great job! She likes all of her classes and her teachers. I'm so happy. Noah is doing great and likes his teacher, but man alive! The homework is killing us! He has had a lot of homework every night! I really hope this lets up or "somebody's" daddy will be talking to the teacher. None of us needs that!! All in all, school is going well....so far!

Lyle is still terribly sick. He's getting better, but he's coughing so much at night and keeping us both up. Okay, he's up all night, I'm up for a little bit of the night. Remember, I slept through a tornado when I was about 4 years old! A block away from my house! I just hope he can get past this very soon.

Grandma and Grandpa Kime are getting settled into their home very nicely. It's such a cute house too! Just perfect for them. It's nice having them close by. Hannah went there this evening to clean a chair for Grandma while Noah had soccer practice. She feels all grown up!

Here's a picture of moving day....

It was great, just taking everything from the camper and into the house. I advise that to everyone!! :-) Ha! Their house is just 3 houses down from where Nick and Ashley used to live.

Okay, I hear Noah calling, needing help with his homework. Better run. Enjoy the rest of your week!

Noah's First Soccer Game

I woke up to pouring rain today, sure that the game would be cancelled. Deep down inside, I was hoping it would be cancelled and rescheduled for next Saturday---so I could be there!!!! (I had to work today) Sure enough, no cancellations unless there's lightning or a downpour.

Anyway...Noah's team, Morrell Auto, won the game 2-1!!!! Horray! He didn't get a whole lot of play time but the time he did get, he enjoyed it and did a great job (so I hear). I'm so proud of him!

My nephew, Tyson, also played today. Wish I had some pics to share...his team won too! I think mom said it was 5-2 or some kind of slaughter like that! :) Yay Tyson!

Many thanks to the Kimes and Cutlers for being there to support Noah. I appreciate it bunches!

Thoughts...

I sat here tonight to update the church website. I was listening to http://www.wibi.org/ and a song by Building 429 came on. I love the band--they're great! This song really caught my attention. Here are the lyrics:

YOU CARRIED ME
I've been so busy, I missed the reasons
I missed Your love, and I nearly missed it all
Still You've loved me, and You've healed me
You've given all and it brought me to Your cross
I stand only because You've given me grace to walk
Only because You carried meYou carried meYou carried me through it all
And I believeYes I believeYou'll carry me all the way home
Cause mercy covers all Cause mercy covers all
I know the scripture, I've known the songs
I sang the words from my hollowed heart
But You've spoken softly through the storm
I've heard Your voice and I've felt the calm
I stand only because You've given me faith to walk
I know that you love me
I'll never doubt it I can't live without it
Your mercy has found me I am astounded,
I can't live without itYou carried meYou carried meYou carried me through it all

You can see the video and listen to the song at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxejXxA2M_E
It's awesome!

Please keep me in your prayers that I can start to speak up when faced with talk by non-believers. I wish I could make people understand that church is not for "perfect" people. So many (unchurched) people think you have to be pristine, white and without sin to step through those doors. On the contrary--those open doors are for people searching and seeking for hope and peace, admitting they are so screwed up, they need help, they need the Father to carry them and lead them. How can we claim to be perfect when He is the only perfect being? It is so hard though, to try to set an example in every day life. Life catches up with us and turns us into....UGLY! Or at least, it does that to ME! Please tell me I am not the only one faced with this!
Father God, I pray for wisdom, patience and understanding when talking to others. May You bring opportunities my way to speak of You and please give me the COURAGE to speak of You! May You bless the hearts of those who might listen, that they will hear You through me. That they may see You, feel You and need You! In Jesus name, AMEN.

Goodnight.

My blessings times three! My goodness, see how we've changed in just 7 months!!

My Rockin' Jammin' Family!

Oh my goodness! Do you see this?!?!? They're all crazy head bangers, I tell ya! (see my two lefties??)

Lyle got his new guitar so they all had to get their guitars out! Which brings me to the next pictures......

Please tell me how one can go from this----dying, oh so sick, I don't think we're going to make it to......

.....very happily playing our BRAND NEW Gibson Les Paul guitar less than 24 hours later?!?! Jeez! Unfortunately, you can't see the smile he had on his face in these pictures! He is so happy. And I was told explicitly--this is a Gibson Les Paul, NOT an Epiphone Les Paul!!!!

Also, he has a hat on in bed because he'd just taken a shower and if he goes to bed with a wet head, his hair sticks out all over the place!! :)

For my musically inclined family, here's a few more...

See the guitar on her shirt??

School Day #2 went well today. They both, of course, came home with homework. Getting back into the swing of that was pretty well....horrible! Here we go again!!! Hannah had to write a speech already! Aaaggghhh! WE got it done though.

I saw Dr. Wooley today. I will be getting glasses next week!!! Oh, I can't wait! I am so blind right now. The girls at work are constantly teasing me about it! I was filling out the information sheet at his office and kept checking one thing after another. I finally just wrote "I just have really POOR vision!" Is that a medical term???

I just found out tonight that Noah has his first soccer game this Saturday. I work this Saturday!!!!! :-( I'm so upset I'll be missing this! I'll have to send the camera with daddy and get a ton of pictures!

You all be thinking of me in this house, with loud guitar being played in the evenings now!!

Have a happy Thursday!

Soccer boy!

Noah had soccer practice tonight. He was VERY sweaty and tired when I picked him up!

The kids had a great first day of school. Of course, it was only about 2 hours, but it went well. Noah says his teacher is very nice (yay!) and Hannah is glad to have Mr. Luzader as her Homeroom teacher. But, instead of Homeroom, they call it Enrichment! What is that about?!?!? Nuts! Tomorrow is their first full day of school...well almost full. They get out 1 hour early the rest of the month due to the heat. Hannah said the Jr. High was VERY hot today!

America's Got Talent just got over--poor Cas! He got 2nd place. I am sick for him! He truly deserved to win. But, he did great!

I'm off work tomorrow, get to go to the eye Dr. I hope to get glasses soon. I'm so blind!

Okay, I'm off to get the kids to bed. Have a great day!

First Day of School!

Aaagggghhhh!!!!! I think this is the earliest I've gotten up (on purpose) all summer, except for going to Women of Faith! It's back to school time. Long gone are the days of sleeping until 8:00. We're back to the 6:30 thing again. Ick! Of course, Lyle would be giving me dirty looks right now--he gets up around 4:30 every day! :-( Poor guy, he's so sick right now. Bad body aches, horrible sorethroat. He came back from Promise Keepers this way. So did his roomies. Hmmmmm......what DID they do in Cincinnati!?!?!?! :-)

Anyway.....the kids both got up right when their alarms went off. Hmpf! That's probably the last time that will happen! We picked out first day clothes last night. Noah insisted on this Hummer T-shirt we got at JC Penney's last week (one of those they sell with the little toy with it! He HAD to have it!). Ugh! I wanted him to wear a nice looking, respectable (good first impression for the new teacher) shirt the first day. But NOOOOO--he wanted the H3 shirt. Okay, okay...pick my battles....count to 10....deep breathing....ya know how it is! Oh well. They only go to school for 2 hours today. We'll wear a nice shirt TOMORROW!!

Hannah had a hard time deciding between 3 shirts (all look very similar!). This was the final choice. She also had to wear her new bangle bracelet and headband from Claires and her new shoes! They were both getting mad about me taking the pictures. I had to ! I forgot to take pics last year!

This is the sign in front of Hannah's school. I wanted a picture of her going in the school, but there were a ton of kids outside the school. I knew she'd kill me later for taking it.
I had to have a picture to remind me that my child is in Jr. High. I'm not old enough for that am I?!?!?!?!

And here's Mr. Noah walking to the school. His last year as a grade schooler! One year from now he'll be going to Tower Hill at the Middle School!

The "Rulers"

of the

Cutler Household

..............

8Hannah

8Noah

8Jinx

Just a little of what's going on right now...

Lyle is currently at Promise Keepers in Cincinnati, OH. I really hope he's enjoying this time with his guy-friends and has a chance to deepen his Walk. I know, from going to Women of Faith, ya need uplifting time every so often!

Hannah is spending the night with a friend so Noah and I are staying up late, doing "stuff". We watched High School Musical 2 earlier...pretty good! I enjoyed the first one better though...

Get to help Grandma and Grandpa Kime move tomorrow! After 12 years of travelling they're putting their roots back in Pana, Illinois. They have found a cute little house (just 2-1/2 blocks from me) to move into. Just perfect for them! Grandma can't wait to put Hannah and Noah to work--cleaning, doing chores, etc, etc....I think Grandma is going to teach Hannah how to iron. She thought it was terrible that I hadn't taught her yet. I didn't want to listen to her whine when she burnt herself!!! :)

The kids start school this coming Tuesday...Hannah begins JR HIGH!!!! 7th grade for her and she is joining band! Grandpa Mark bought her a flute and she's been practicing just about every day. She's getting pretty good! She can't wait to go back to school. She's getting bored staying home all day. She sits and watches Disney channel all day long!! Noah is going into the 4th grade. He is playing Soccer this year and is doing a great job. I'm so excited they're getting involved with things. P.S....they're getting older and I no longer have to pay a babysitter! Today was our last day!! YIPPEE!!!!

My Bells Palsy is MUCH better. 22 weeks and 2 days now, since it began on March 14th. After thousands of dollars to make sure I wasn't dying--Neurologist, CT, MRI, EEG, EMG, chiropractor...I'm going to be okay!! LOL!

My cousin Bob and his wife Sara had their first child last week! What we thought would be a little girl ended up being Evan Glen Emery! Yes, we got a little boy!!! Congrats to the Emerys!

Tuesday is the finale for America's Got Talent. GO CAS HALEY!!!! I adore Cas! He is so awesome. Lyle doesn't like the show but he loves Cas too.

Thanks for reading!!

More fun time

Digging into my photo archives...

In Mid-July the kids and I went to Kicks in Springfield for the day. We had so much fun! A ton of great food and fun and games. Above is Noah riding the go-kart. Should have seen his hair flying!!! :) Below is Hannah playing her fave game--Deal or No Deal!

We had a great opportunity to visit with our Missionary friends that serve in Japan. Dave and Ruth Hinson with Yu Gene (16), Sachio (10) and Aki Masago (7).

Here's Hannah's birthday party....

This is the day Noah came home from camp at Bond Christian Service Camp. They had Crazy Hair Day on the last day. Yikes! That's gel in all that hair!!! He had a blast at camp! Was there from Sunday through Friday and made a ton of new friends! He's going back next year. Yay!

This is Hannah at her friend, Katlynn Stegall's house. She met Katlynn at camp last year and has been great friends with her ever since. Katlynn lives in Granite City--about 1-1/2 hours from Pana! She spent time with us last month and Hannah just spent a few days at their house last weekend.