My blog about parenting biological and adopted kids , some with everyday kid issues and some with much more serious medical / behavioral issues . I don 't care if anyone else ever reads this , my main purpose is for me to have somewhere to vent some of my thoughts , frustrations and successes . If it sounds like I 'm complaining , I 'm not . My kids are everything to me , I love them more than anything , but sometimes I just need to let it all out ! I had to go back to the doctor today because the pain meds they gave me at the urgent care center weren 't working . My regular doctor said it is a torn hamstring and he gave me stronger meds and prescribed physical therapy . The stronger med is working better , but there is still some pain . He told me to take one every 8 hours , but my son had a prescription for the same painkiller last year when he broke his leg and his doctor told him to take 1 - 2 pills every 4 hours . Mine is the same strength so that is a little confusing . I haven 't been posting much because when I 'm not in too much pain to type , I 'm sound asleep from the medications . Mike is off this week and not getting much done , which is really stressing me out . I was really counting on him getting a lot done so I can work on the kid 's rooms when my leg feels better . There are just so many things that I can 't do without him . I 'm also hoping he will do at least one fun thing with the kids this week . With working out of town , he never spends any time doing anything with them . I 'm still in quite a bit of pain today , even with the pain meds . I 'll give it until Wednesday and if it is still hurting this much then , I will call the doctor for stronger meds . He said I could " come in " if I needed stronger painkillers , but I hope I don 't have to actually go in since that will cost another $ 35 . Mike and Jack are at the grocery store right now and I 'm pretty sure we will be in the poorhouse once we pay that bill ! Ugh , Hannah just told me that she thought someone was trying to break into the house because the dog was out on the back deck , looking to the side and up . I told her , don 't be silly , no one is trying to break in . Alex , Hannah and Shauna went out to see what was going on and it turns out one of the cats , Aurora , is on the roof . Apparently , someone left the door to Alex 's deck open and the cat got out that way . They are now running around trying to figure out how to get the cat back in . Well , I 'm back from the urgent care center . Aside from my blood pressure being 170 / 100 , I have a pulled hamstring . I have no clue how I did it , but at least I have medication now ! He put me on a muscle relaxer , ibuprofen and tylenol with codeine , so I will probably sleep the next few days away . From now on , I will feel really sorry for all those athletes that pull hamstrings . I had no clue it was this painful . I 'm sneakily looking at this as a way to get more help with housework ! ! ! I 'm going to tell the kids the truth , that the doctor said I need to rest my leg as much as possible . I 'm also going to tell them that he said I have to be very careful not to slip or trip on anything and so they have to keep the floors clear at all times . Okay , he didn 't say that , but I 'm sure it would hurt me to slip or trip on something ! I wonder if I can work it in that the doctor said I need to be in a house that has been thoroughly vacuumed and dusted ? ? ? I think I 'm starting to remember the doctor saying something about spotlessly clean bathrooms , as well . Hey , maybe this pulled hamstring is a good thing , at least I will be able to invite someone in to use the bathroom without freaking out ! This does mess up my plans for the week , though . Mike is home this week , his only time off all summer , and we were planning to work on the kid 's bedrooms and take the kids on a couple of local outings . I 'm hoping the meds will work well enough that we can take them to the beach one day , at least . I am going to the doctor . I am terrified of doctors and dentists . I have not been to the doctor in 6 years . I have had a pain in my leg for at least 3 weeks now . I 'm pretty sure it is a pinched nerve and the pain is getting really bad . At first it was just annoying , but it is now preventing me from doing anything and too painful to be considered just annoying . I am going to go to an urgent care center as soon as Mike gets out of the shower . I can feel my blood pressure going up , just thinking about getting an exam . I had planned to call my primary care doc this week for an appointment , but I decided to go today because I can get pain meds quicker . Ibruprofen just doesn 't help with this for some reason . I 'm thinking I might need a muscle relaxer or something . Even though I know there is really no reason to be so nervous , I can 't stop myself from feeling that way . Blogging about it is just making me more anxious , so I 'm off . I 'm sure I 'll be back with a full medical report later ! Alex is going to a concert with a good friend . I am also friendly with the girl 's mom . They just came to pick him up and the mom had to go to the bathroom . Ugh , my bathroom is filthy ! I am so embarrassed . She isn 't a neat nick or anything and she truly didn 't care , but it is still humiliating . I almost cleaned that bathroom yesterday , too , but was too lazy . Now I am so mad at myself . If only I had been born with the " housekeeping gene " . I am convinced there is a gene that governs things like the ability to organize , stay clutter free and keep a clean house . I just am not good at it , no matter how hard I try . Add the fact that all 7 of my kids have been diagnosed with ADHD ( among a bunch of other things ! ) and leave " Hansel and Gretel trails " all over the house and I just can 't keep up . I have to wonder if any other large families have this problem . I live in a community where every one 's house is picture perfect , looks like a model home inside and out . Why am I the only messy ? ? ? ? Oh my God , I just realized there might not have been any toilet paper in there ! What do you do with a kid who is just too sensitive ? Shauna just came running in , screaming and threw herself on the couch , sobbing . It turns out that she , Hannah , Alex and their friend , Shannon were on the front porch and Alex said , " Shauna doesn 't drink milk or water , cool people drink milk and water . " Okay , so not the nicest thing to say , but bad enough for a huge fit of temper ? She has always been like this , but now at age 10 , it is getting worse . I don 't know what to do . How can I convince her that she needs to lighten up ? I tried to explain to her about " growing a thicker skin " and she just screeched and refused to listen . Ugh ! Alex finished Shakespeare Camp yesterday with a camp production of " As You Like It " . He was Touchstone , the jester / clown character . He did a great job and was hilarious . The crowd loved him , as he was his usual " hammy " self . People we didn 't know even came up to him afterwards to tell him he did a great job . I wish I had some pictures , but as usual , I forgot the camera . I also wanted to video tape it , but Hannah broke the video camera a while back , in a fit of rage . One of Alex 's friend 's parents said he would give us a copy of his tape , so hopefully , he will follow through on that . One of the boys who was killed had another kid 's driver 's license ( that kid is a friend of Steven 's as well ) and the police called his parents and told them that he had been killed in an accident . They found out shortly afterwards that it hadn 't been their son , but they are completely traumatized . Apparently , their son had gotten a new driver 's license and given his old one to the 16 year old who was killed so he could purchase cigarettes . He is now telling police that the 16 year old stole the license , but of course , all of their friends know that he gave it to him . I talked to Steven about the dangers of drinking / drugging and driving and he doesn 't see a problem with it ! He claims his friends that got killed were just stupid . Hmmm , he actually told me that the accident rate for people under the influence of marijuana is zero and that is a known fact . He actually believes it , too ! Steven just found out that two of his friends were killed in a crash last night . They were both 18 , not wearing seat belts and speeding excessively . Steven said they were probably drunk or high , as well . Their car went off the road , hit an embankment and went airborne . It landed upside down in the tree tops . The accident wasn 't discovered until several hours later . I wonder if Steven will learn anything from this ? I doubt it . He could have easily been in that car with them . This is one of the things I worry about , this could have been my child , I feel so sorry for those poor parents . After refusing to look for a job since leaving his last one in January , Steven finally applied for one today . He went in and got an application , brought it here and filled it out , took it back to the restaurant and went straight to a friend 's house . A guy from the restaurant called about 5 minutes after Steven left and told me that they wanted him to start tomorrow at 3 : 00 . They never even interviewed him , so they must be desperate ! I wonder how long it will be before he just stops going in to work this time ? This is job number 3 , not including the time he worked for me at my job for the last few years . It will be interesting . I have a feeling that bussing tables and dish washing is not going to be his favorite , since he won 't even clean up his own plate and cup at home , but we will see ! Steven was supposed to have his first meeting with his probation officer yesterday ( underage drinking was his charge ) . Last week , he asked me to put a reminder on my email and I did , but he was no where to be found , so I couldn 't remind him . The probation officer called the house when he didn 't show up and we had a nice long talk . I told her what was going on with him : bipolar , not taking meds , substance abuse problems , in treatment for 2 1 / 2 years but now refusing treatment since he turned 18 , kicked out of the house for refusal to follow any rules , stealing from us , etc . She understood completely . She is retired , after working in the prison / court system for many years and only works two days a week as a probation officer . She said that when she gets him in her office , she is going to give him " some grandmotherly tough love " ! I thought that was great . She also said Mike and I are doing the right thing by being firm with him and not letting him live with us . That was good to hear . Anyway , he came home last night and asked to spend the night . He had obviously been drinking . He wasn 't falling down drunk or anything , but I lived with an alcoholic step father for many years and I know the signs , although he thinks I 'm dumb . He was slightly slurring his words and just had an attitude about him that only comes from drinking . He denied it until I got close enough to smell his breath and told him that I could smell it on him . He didn 't admit to it , but stopped denying at that point . Not that I was dwelling on it , but I told him that if he wants to stay overnight occasionally , he cannot do it if he has been drinking or using that day . I was going to bed when he got home and I told him he had to stay downstairs . I went into my bathroom , which is directly below Luke 's room and I heard talking from up there . It sounded like Luke , but Luke and Steven sound very much alike , so I couldn 't tell if it was both of them talking or if Luke was talking to his friends on his computer microphone . I called Luke 's cell phone and sure enougPosted by Alex started Shakespeare Camp today . At 9 : 10 , I get a phone call from the camp director ( who also just happens to be one of the stars of my favorite play ever , Illyria , so I felt like I was talking to a famous person ! ! ) , asking if Alex was coming to camp . Hmmm , I told him that the last two years it started at 9 : 00 , this year he insisted the time had been changed to 10 : 00 . Of course , we couldn 't find the paper that listed the time , but he was sure , so I believed it . Anyway , I got him there by about 9 : 25 and all was fine . He really loves this camp and a really nice man that my mom knows from work , who is involved in a lot of theater here in Williamsburg , sponsored Alex for the camp . The first year ( 5th grade ) , Alex won a scholarship through his school . Last year and this year , he was sponsored . I can 't wait until he gets home and tells me what part he got . At the end of the week , they are doing a shortened performance of " As You Like It " . I hope he isn 't disappointed in whatever role he gets , he has his heart set on the " clown " of the play , which he did very well last year as Costard . The first year he was Sebastian in " Twelfth Night " . Since Steven no longer lives here , or anywhere for that matter , we are cleaning out his room for Shauna . It has been a horrible experience . First of all it is sad because I had to make my son move out . Second of all , the room is DISGUSTING . I 'm not going to go into details because it is just too gross , but let 's just say it made me gag and cry . Jack , who was helping me , wisely suggested I take a break , which I thought was a great idea . Mike is making dinner for us . I 'm hungry but not sure if I 'll be able to eat . I am praying for the courage to go back up to Steven 's room after dinner and continue cleaning . On a good note , Mike has been putting the new subfloor down in Alex 's room . We had carpet in there and that subfloor isn 't smooth enough for the new tile floor . I can 't wait to get Alex moved in , that will clear some space in Jack 's room . As soon as the subfloor is finished , we can start laying the tile . The kids all liked the tile I picked , which will go in all the bedrooms . No more carpet ! That should help with the allergies around here . I also picked a tile that I really like for the kitchen and sunroom . Well , I 'm not really sure if the dog got a bath or the kids got one ! They were all soaking wet . Wrigley hated it . He kept hiding under the card table that was on the deck and the kids had to turn it over so he couldn 't hide anymore . It was quite a spectacle . I finished Count Down by Iris Johansen and started Dark Road Home by Karen Harper . It has an Amish theme , reminiscent of Plain Truth , a book I finished a few weeks ago . So far , it is excellent . I went to the library last night to take Alex and Hannah to a play at the library theater . I told myself I wouldn 't look at the used book sale since we are really short on money , but I guess I 'm addicted ! I did really restrain myself , though , and only bought 4 books . I spent $ 2 . 50 on one hardcover , White Mountain by Dinah McCall , and paperbacks , Moment of Truth by Lisa Scottoline and Don 't Look Now by Linda Lael Miller , plus the one mentioned above . Remember I said that Hannah asked permission to go jogging yesterday ? Here was the conversation : Hannah : Can I go jogging with Alex ? Me : I think it is too hot to go jogging right now . Drew ( from the other room ) : It is too hot to go jogging , I was just out there . Hannah : We 'll just walk around then . Me : It 's still too hot . I then head upstairs to use the computer . When I get back downstairs , Alex and Hannah are gone . They got home about an hour and a half later , with a bag from Target , where they had each purchased a pair of shorts . Apparently Hannah told Alex that I said they could go and she really thought that . I suppose this is my fault , I should have known that by saying it was too hot to go jogging , I was actually saying , " Yes , it is fine for you to go cross a busy street and go shopping at Target by yourselves . " Silly me . Now they are both mad at me because I took away the shorts they purchased with their own money . I will probably give Alex his back because his only crime was believing Hannah , but I think he should have known better than that . Now to the missing Hannah story . I wasn 't really worried about her being missing because she only goes to one of her three friend 's houses when she disappears , all within a couple of blocks of our house . I just realized today , though , that I ran off to the vet and left Shauna home alone . She didn 't want to go to the vet with us , she was too afraid the dog would die , I think , and insisted on staying home . She is 10 going on 25 and more than capable on staying home by herself for a short time , but I would have been a little nervous about it , had I realized she was alone ! Anyway , back to the real story . When we got back from the vet , Hannah was home and I took her into my bedroom for a talk . I asked why she had gone out when she was grounded . She said that she was sorry , but she only went out to go jogging and she didn 't know she couldn 't do that when she was grounded . It is true that in the past I have let her go out jogging once in a while because she gets so hyper when she doesn 't exercise . So I said well you know that leaving the house without permission is not allowed , so what about that . She said , with all sincerity , " I knew that was a rule , but I forgot I knew that . " Wow , that just screams FAS to me ! I have to admit that even with all the research I 've done on FAS , the fact that these kids can actually forget a rule just like that , even though they 've been told a thousand times , was hard for me to grasp . It wasn 't until I recently started reading the blogs of other foster / adoptive parents with kids with FAS , who are doing the same thing , that it really hit home for me . This also was the first time that Hannah phrased it like that . She usually just says " I forgot " , which always strikes me as just an excuse . I 'm impressed that she realized that she did now the rule , but forgot that . Since she was honest with me and didn 't scream or yell , I only gave her an extra chore as punishment and didn 't add to her grounding . Today , she asked if she could go jogging ! My stepfather used to always say , " If it isn 't one thing , it 's another " . That held true yesterday . Alex and I decided to go out and see how the garden was doing and we took the Wrigley with us . We watched him for a couple of minutes because looked so cute , leaping into the air , trying to catch some birds that were flying from branch to branch in the woods . As we walked away , towards the garden , Wrigley came running out of the woods , freaking out . We couldn 't really tell what was wrong and he wasn 't yelping or making any noise , but it looked like he was either trying to get something off his leg , his leg was hurting and he was trying to bite away the pain or he was trying to get something out of his mouth . My first thoughts were he had a whole bird in his mouth ( he has a history of swallowing frogs whole ! ) and he was trying to get it out or that he had injured his leg while jumping or he got stung by an insect . After about 45 seconds of freaking out , he calmed down and I went over the the garden . He came and sat just outside the garden enclosure . When I went in the house a few minutes later , I took him with me . As we were crossing the deck to the kitchen door , he started to look weird . He was moving slowly and I could tell something just wasn 't right . He got about two feet into the house and just sat down . Still sitting up , but not moving at all . His eyes looked funny and when I tried to call him over to his water dish , he was like a statue . I called Alex over to help me look at him to see if we could figure out what was wrong . Alex sat down next to him and was petting him and noticed that Wrigley was pooping , still just sitting there , not moving . Then suddenly he started to fall over into Alex 's arms . It was awful , he seemed to by dying in front of our eyes . All I kept thinking was that it looked exactly like when I was a teenager and my cat got hit by a car and died from internal injuries . While Alex held the dog , I started calling vets to see if we could bring him in . The first one was closed on Tuesdays , the sPosted by Wow , I just looked at the pictures from July 6th of the cherry tomatoes and lettuce that Shauna and I planted in pots on the front porch . They have really taken off in the last week , especially the lettuce , which will be ready to eat soon . I wish I had gotten more lettuce in before it got too hot . None of the lettuce seeds we planted in the back garden germinated . I wonder if I can plant lettuce at the end of summer , for harvesting before the first frost ? Hmmm , I 'll have to look into that . Alex took a picture of the house and you can see how nice the new grass is looking . Still a lot of bare spots , but it is filling in nicely , thanks to all the rain this summer The new paint color , it isn 't as gold as it looks in these pics Mike , Jack and I painted all of Alex 's room today . Mike did the bulk of it , doing the ceiling and walls . Jack trimmed around the ceiling and tops of doors and windows . I trimmed the baseboard areas and lower portions of the windows and doors . It came out really good and we only needed one coat since we primed . I thought it would still need two , so that was a pleasant surprise . Alex picked a tan color for the walls . He has navy pleated shades on his deck door and window and is thinking of painting the closet doors navy . He is getting a blue comforter , so I think it will look great when it is done . The next step is putting the floor down , which Jack and I are going to work on this week . He should be able to move in by next weekend . We got 4 chairs from the freecycler . They are really nice . They have a nice white metal finish and I think once they are washed thoroughly , they will look great . The cushions need to be recovered , but will only use a few dollars worth of fabric . They are a great size for his deck . We also got a single nightstand , but we aren 't sure what we are going to do with it yet . We might paint it with exterior paint and use it on his deck or give it to one of the girls for their room . After spending a lovely late morning and early afternoon with Hannah , shopping for paint for Alex 's room and looking for paint samples for her room , she had another meltdown . She already knew that she was grounded from going to Busch Gardens today with Alex and a bunch of their friends . When we got home from Home Depot , we had about 45 minutes before we had to leave again to pick up some stuff for Alex 's new room from a freecycler , pick Alex up from Wizard of Oz practice and take him to Busch Gardens to meet his friends . She started in on me about 5 minutes after we arrived home . " Am I going to be able to go to Busch Gardens ? " " No . " " Am I going to be able to go to Busch Gardens ? " " No . " , etc . , etc . etc . You get the picture . Then it turned into a tantrum . She was sitting on the stairs , nagging me and suddenly we heard large items being thrown across a room . It sounded like they were coming from Alex 's room . Great , it turned out she threw a can of oil base primer several times . The can was dented all over , the handle was coming off and dented and it finally spilled all over the floor . The can also hit the newly primed wall in one spot and left a huge dent in it . She also pushed over a huge , $ 700 guitar amplifier that belongs to Drew . We had a drop cloth on it and were using it for a painting supply station . Ceiling fan blades , chairs and painting tools were also thrown everywhere . The damage was minor , considering the sound that was coming from the room . I thought it was going to have to be gutted ! Mike was mad at me because I wouldn 't let him go up there and try to stop her . Been there , done that and it doesn 't work . It just escalates her and that is the last thing we needed . When she was done trashing the room , she came onto the stairs and was demanding that I talk to her . I told her that I would when she calmed down . She screamed hysterically at me that she was calm . I got her second dose of abilify and brought it to her and told her that if she took it and went in her room to calm down for a while , that I would tPosted by Steven asked to spend the night last night . I said he could and he came home around 11 pm . He smelled so awful , a combination of BO and cigarette smoke , yuck . He refused to shower and slept on the couch so I will have to fumigate it ! Last time I checked , he was on his way to the shower , finally ! He was polite enough last night , but his eyes were really red . Was he high ? I don 't know , I can 't tell anymore . Since he refused to take the bipolar meds , he seems high all the time . Looking forward to tomorrow . . . it can 't be worse than today ! Just kidding , in spite of the rages and the 911 call , today wasn 't so so bad . The kids and I played Rock Band for a couple of hours tonight and had a good time . About an hour or two before dinner , Shauna was being snotty about something and I gave her a time - out . She refused to set the timer so I told her if she didn 't set the timer , the time - out would never start and she would never get out . Her reply was , " I don 't care , I 'm not setting it . " And upstairs she went , screaming and crying about how much she hates this family , etc . Now it is sort of unusual for Shauna to throw a tantrum . For the most part , she has always been cooperative , sweet and even tempered . Lately , however , she has been starting to get quite an attitude and refusing to do chores or other things she is asked . Sometimes she will do them , but she makes sighs , rolls her eyes , moans and complains the whole time . After about an hour and a half upstairs , she came down and asked if she could have dinner . I said yes , as soon as you set your timer and take your time - out . Well , she exploded and began screaming and yelling all over again . She screamed and stomped her way up to her room and continued to scream at the top of her lungs ( surprised the neighbors didn 't call 911 ) for about a half an hour or so . When the screaming stopped , I went into her room , at which time she started screaming , get out . I told her that when she was done tantruming and was ready to talk about things , just let me know and I will be happy to talk to you . She came down about 10 minutes later , eyes almost swollen shut . She walked right up to me and let me hug her . Alex and Hannah felt sorry for her and helped her fix herself some dinner , which we had just finished putting away . She ate and then I talked to her a little bit . I told her that she needed to come up some other ways of handling her anger , besides screaming and throwing things around her room . Her first suggestion was , " you mean like cutting myself ? " then she suggPosted by Well , I had just finished up the last blog and I was turning the computer off . Hannah knocked on the door , which Jack had locked so she couldn 't come in and hit me again . She told me that I had a phone call . I was greeted by a 911 dispatcher who told me that he had gotten a call from our house and wanted to make sure everything was okay . I told him that it must have been my daughter who was mad at me for grounding her . Okay , does this make sense , she calls 911 on me when she was the only one doing any hitting ? ? ? ? ? Anyway , I have to confirm my name , address and phone number and then he asks again , am I SURE everything is okay . No , it wasn 't okay , but I didn 't need the police ! I figured that they might send an officer to the house , just to make sure , so I ran downstairs to try to make the entryway presentable . They never did show up , but at least the dirty laundry is out of the foyer and back in the laundry room . And to think this day actually started out peacefully ! I had such high hopes , silly me . Well , Hannah lasted one month and one day without a major rage . Today she got home from a sleep - over at 1 : 45 and was having a meltdown by 3 : 15 . She had just taken her afternoon dose of abilify , but it hadn 't had time to work yet . She was mad at me because I told her she couldn 't go to her friend 's house and had to stay in the neighborhood today . She freaked out when she tried to talk me into it and I stuck to my guns with the no . She raised an empty plastic laundry basket over her head and brought it down on me several times , then tried to throw it at Shauna , but missed . She then tried to break the dog gate ( which she does every rage , that thing has been glued together at least 10 times ) . I put myself between Hannah and the gate and she started slapping me uncontrollably . She must have hit me at least 15 or 20 times . She tried to kick a couple of times , but I was able to get away . Luckily , she was slapping not punching this time , so although my arms are stinging like crazy , I don 't think she will have left any bruises this time . She just came in while I was typing this and apologized . At first , she was calm and nice . I said thank you for the apology , but you do realize that you now have a grounding . She said yes , just for today , right . I said no , we already discussed that hurting people gets you at least a week of grounding . She started to get angry and I ignored her . OUCH ! She was sitting across the room ( not able to see what I was typing ) and she came up behind me and punched me as hard as she could in the upper arm . I said what was that for and she said for not letting her go to Busch Gardens . She had planned a trip to Busch Gardens for tomorrow with a bunch of friends . Apparently sleep - overs are not a good idea . Alex just came in and told me that Shauna told him that Hannah didn 't take her meds last night at the sleepover . She was supposed to take them in front of her friend 's dad . I will be seeing him on Tuesday and I will ask him if she did . Shauna doesn 't want me to say anything to Hannah because she is afraidPosted by I think I forgot to post that I finished In Silence by Erica Spindler . It was really good . It took me a little longer than usual to finish it because it was a little long , but worth the wait . I also just finished Snow Blind by P . J . Tracey last night . It was a great book and by an author I had never read before ( a mother - daughter team ) . I have to say , though , that I felt a little weird about the end . It wasn 't bad , I guess depending on how you look at it , it was sort of uplifting , but I really like for all the loose ends to be tied up and they just weren 't . I wonder if all of their books end like that ? I will have to see if I can find a few more at our library 's used book sale . The top three pictures are the storm approachingThe bottom two pictures were taken at the same time , the next dayWe had another storm the day before yesterday . It was a bad one , with a tornado touching down south of Richmond and heading straight for us . Fortunately , it dissipated quite a bit before reaching us . I still got a couple of good pictures , though . I tried to make a video on my son 's camera , but apparently I pushed the wrong button and it didn 't work . I was trying to capture the sound of the wind coming closer and closer , it was so cool . I will post the pictures as soon as I can get them off of the camera and onto the computer . Apparently , I have been holding my kids captive this summer . Well , at least that is what my 13 year old son has told me . I made some comment about the kids not hanging around the house so much and actually going outside to play and was rewarded with this comment , which was said partially under his breath , " Well , if mom wouldn 't hold us captive , maybe we could go out once in awhile . " Are you kidding me ? ? ? ? ? ? ? There is nothing I would love more than all of my children being out of the house at the same time for even an hour this summer ! So far , that hasn 't happened . I 'm holding him captive ? Hmmm , that must be referring to the fact that I refuse to jump in the van ( that only gets 13 miles to the gallon ) and drive him and a bunch of his friends to Busch Gardens every time one of them calls . I like to plan trips to conserve gas , so if I have to go to Busch , I will attend to other errands or business I have on that side of town . My 13 year old seems to think that I just sit around the house all day , hoping for him to plan a last minute trip to the amusement park . Yeah , that 's happening ! Hannah hasn 't had a rage since June 11th . That was the one where I took her to the emergency room because she was beating the heck out of me and I didn 't know what else to do . Jack tried to hold her and keep her off me , but she is way stronger than all of us put together when she rages . Anyway , two days after that rage , the doctor added abilify to her meds and she has been doing much better . She has actually been sweet to me a few times ! The last couple of days , she has been a little " on edge " . Today she got mad because I talked to her about leaving the house without permission and not doing her daily chores first . She hit Alex , even though it was me she really wanted to hit , and then called me a bitch . Then about 15 minutes later , she hit Shauna . She only hit each of them one time , which is a huge improvement over what has happened in the past . She didn 't throw or break anything , either . She removed herself to her room to calm down and I brought a dose of the abilify up there , which she took without too much arguing . When she came out of her room , she was pretty calm . Let 's hope she stays that way for the rest of the night at least ! Alex and Hannah PrimingThis door goes out to our upstairs porchI 'm taking a little break from priming Alex 's new bedroom walls ( Drew 's old room ) . Jack and Alex went to pick up more primer and paint samples . Shauna , Alex and Luke helped with taping , washing windows ( which isn 't quite done yet ) and priming . Luke is getting everything we can 't reach . Jack and Luke are going to do the ceiling , which they aren 't thrilled about , but the rest of us are too short . Shauna paintingShauna painted ! I 'm so glad the pleated shades that are on the door and window in there are still in great shape and are a color that Alex wanted to use anyway . They are navy blue and will look perfect with the tan he wants on the walls . Now I just have to work on getting him a new bedding set to match . We had a great thunderstorm yesterday . Most of our storm - obsessed family spent time on the front porches , watching the lightening . Before the storm started , it was beautiful and sunny . Shauna came in and told me that she heard thunder , so I suggested we go out and look at her garden , quickly , before the storm got close . We did that and less than a minute after I walked in the house , Alex came running downstairs and said that he had seen lightning hit the house across the street . Those neighbors are on vacation , so we kept a close eye on the house , but no damage appeared to be done . I love our porch , the was it is angled , it is almost always a perfect shelter from storms and we can watch them in safety . Alex and I heard some loud cracks that sounded like when the trees went down during Hurricane Isabelle . They didn 't sound like they came from our backyard . The seeds we planted have not fared too well . Not surprising , since we planted about 2 months too late for the area . We seem to have only a few carrots , even though we planted 8 square feet of them . None of the 3 square feet of lettuce we planted in the back came up at all . The lettuce in front is growing slowly , but surely , as evidenced by yesterday 's pictures . There is one golf ball sized tomato on the Red Celebrity Bush . I spotted at least 6 tiny tomatoes on the Yellow Pear Bush and one or two on the Red Beefsteaks . The Yellow Pears will probably be the first to ripen since they are a small salad variety . I was expecting Early Girl to be first , but I don 't think there are even blooms on those . Interesting . At least all of the tomato plants survived the transplant . I was looking at my next door neighbor 's garden and his tomato plants are way bigger than ours . I know I should have picked off the blooms and let the plants develop first , but I just couldn 't bring myself to do it . Of course , Trevor got his in on time , I 'm sure , so they 've had a lot more time to grow . The cantaloupe and watermelon seem to be doing pretty well , but no blooms yet . The plants are still rather small for that . I 'm not sure if they will get big enough to set fruit , but time will tell . The zucchini have been growing nicely and two of them even have blooms already turning into tiny zucchini . Yay ! The cucumbers were from seed and about half of them took . I guess we should think them to one per hill , as we planted 3 per hill . Several hills have none . They are still really tiny , just starting to get their true leaves . I 'm not a big cucumber fan , but Mike is so I hope we get at least a few . I would love to make pickles , but I don 't have the right kinds of jars and such , so I 'm not sure I 'll do that this year . When I was in fifth grade , our class made garlic pickles and they were the best pickles I ever tasted . I would love to have the recipe and make those . If I recall , they were very easy to make . I can 't wait until next year , when we get everythinPosted by Mike and I went out to brunch by ourselves this morning . This never happens , as a matter of fact , eating out is pretty much a thing of the past . With prices so high and the fact that we are still struggling to recover from Mike 's three year lay - off , eating out happens very rarely . A few months ago , some radio station or something was running a deal where you could buy gift certificates to various restaurants for half price . Drew and his friends bought some . Two of the certificates he bought were for Opus 9 , a fancy ( for us ) restaurant in our town . After they had them , they decided that they would never go to Opus 9 , so Drew gave his to Mike and I . He reminded us the other day that they expire on July 14th , so we decided to go there for brunch today . Now , when we have a little extra money , we enjoy restaurants like Denny 's and Golden Corral and a really fancy night out would be a family trip to TGI Fridays . Let 's just say that Mike and I felt a little like fish out of water at Opus 9 , which is why we decided to go for brunch , not dinner . It wasn 't too bad , but we were definitely the least dressed up . When we first got there , they seated us and then we sat there for an awkward few minutes , while we tried to figure out if we were just supposed to go up to the buffet , wait for our waitress , or what . Good thing we decided to wait , for what seemed like quite some time , because when the waitress came , she explained that she would bring us a plate . It would have been pretty embarrassing to have gone up without a plate ! She then gave us honey butter , which she piped into a small bowl from a piping bag . She also gave us a roll basket with a cloth napkin in it , but no rolls . Hmmm , that was odd . I guess we were supposed to get our own rolls from the buffet and put them in ? The food was pretty good , but certainly not spectacular . We had a good time except that Mike had a little trouble hearing me because we were seated right next to the jazz band . It wasn 't that loud , but he has trouble with his hearing anyway . It was nice to Posted by Let 's just say that our dog isn 't the smartest one from his litter . You know how an infant gets it 's days and nights mixed up ? Well , our puppy had inside and outside mixed up . He thought that when you are taken outside , you sit quietly and look around . He also thought that as soon as you are taken inside , you immediately pee and poop on the floor . This went on until he was about 7 months old . I was so ready to give him back . One day , he finally figured out what he was supposed to do . Well , anyway , last night I was the last one still downstairs . I decided to go to bed and turned the tv off . Wrigley immediately got up and went into his cage , even though he had been sound asleep on the couch . I hadn 't even gotten up off the chair yet . It took me completely by surprise , maybe he is smarter than I thought ! My son , Alex , age 13 is an aspiring actor . He is sure that he will be discovered if only I post some " good " pictures of him . Soooo , here you go , Directors , your next star ! The cherry tomatoes and lettuce on the front porch , getting a good soaking A closer view I hope the rain is cleaning the windshield chalk off of the van . We decorated for the swim meet last week and never undecorated . What a great rain today . Just what the garden and new lawn needed . Not just what mom needed , as the kids were stuck inside most of the day . It went pretty well , even though Hannah was home all day , which usually makes her crazy . The only really bad part was when they got hyper , which in turn got the dog all hyper . When I told the kids they had to go out onto the front porch to calm down , the dumb dog ran out , too . It took about 10 minutes of 4 kid chasing him around the neighborhood before he was finally corralled . Ugh ! Homemade banana breadThe rest of Shauna 's homemade chocolate chip cookiesTaco Salad and watermelon for dinnerYUM ! P . S . Jack , if you ever read this , I can blog about whatever I want to , including pizza ! Nananana Boo - Boo ! Bad Monkeys ! ( After reading this I figured I better come back and explain this , lest anyone think it is a racial slur . The term " bad monkeys " is one I started using , jokingly , for all of my kids and animals , many years before I adopted any African American children . It is a quote from a Ghostbusters movie . All of my kids are well aware that the word " monkey " is sometimes used in a derogatory way , but they know that I do not mean it in that way and they are all comfortable with me using it . ) Ever the diva modelCranky Shauna & Mommy ( with the dreaded fanny pack ! ) These were the only pictures I got before the rain started . I wanted to get some of Tatum in her cute red , white and blue outfit . My climbing New Dawn Rose Bush in the backyard Hannah in front of same rose bush My backyard pink Fairy rosebush almost ready to bloom Climbing , thornless ' Zephirine Drouhin ' next to back deck and sunroom . This rose bush is awesome ! Shauna on the back deck , May 2008 My name is Michelle and I live in VA with my husband of 29 years , Mike and our 7 kids . Jack 28 , Drew 26 , Steven 22 , Luke 20 , Alex 17 , Hannah 15 and Shauna 14 . We have 8 cats and one dog .