RALLY DAY 2008

The first weekend after Labor day for my church as well as many I suppose is "Rally Day" It is the day that (we all come back to church after maybe a few weeks here and there through the summer sabatical) we officially start the Church Education year. Sunday School starts back up, classes change just like in school. It is fun, the pastor today did his sermon today from the book of Deuteronomy - and it was the passage with Moses final sermon - where he says to love your god with all your heart... It was fun for me to hear this sermon today because only 3 no maybe 4 years ago when I was the Director of Christian Education for my church we were all asked to select a scripture passage and do a "talk" short cermon (yes it freaked me out - not the talking in front of people but the talking in front of people at a pulpit yikes!) this was the same passage I selected. I think it says a lot about what we as parents need to do - pass on our values, pass on the love that we have, the knowledge, how we treat one another, how we look at the world but even more than that it is not always about what we say but what we do - how we intereact with others and how our children see us be in the world. I guess in a weird way I felt hmm confirmed in some way that four years ago when I was freaking out trying to figure out of all the passages in the bible which one should I pick - would it make sense - how would it be received, etc. It was a great ceremon - and it was a great start to our Sunday school program at church.

The cooler part - back to politics - our adult Sunday school class is going to be talking about Church and politics. What role Religion plays in politics and how the differnt political parties are guided through scripture. We are going to attempt to discuss this in a non partisin way and I think it should be very interesting. The leader is an Ethics and religion teacher at Eastern University and is brilliant at bringing ideas around and discussing them. Here is a link to a Church and Politics Quiz we will all be taking to start us off on our discussion - it is from Christianity today so it is from a christian perspective.

http://buildingchurchleaders.com/assessments/individuals/churchandpoliticsquiz.html

I have not taken it yet but at the end it will tell you where you if you are a Radical Reformer, Thumpin' Theocrat, Quiet Critic or a Private Patriot. It might provide interesting.

Politics & Motherhood

A good friend of mine mentioned on her blog about politics and I know I know it is a touchy subject for many. I grew up with my mom always saying that who you select was private and I suppose that is a good way to keep things with out argument.

I have spent the last two weeks watching the democratic as well as the republican conventions and it was interesting to me to listen to what they all had to say. I grew up hearing about Bidden in this area so what he stands for and how he handles the media and issues is not new to me. (Apparently my dad actually had a run in with him when they were in high school - funny to hear my mom talk about it). I think that both parties have grown up with some form of adversity in their lives and I do believe the old saying by Friedrich Nietzsche, "That which does not kill us makes us stronger" I think both men vying for the presidency are strong men with conviction.

I was anxiously awaiting who was going to be selected as VP running on the republican ticket and was surprised to see that a real non entity was selected. I suppose that has it's good and bad points to it. I was most impressed or I should say I enjoyed Palin's speech. As a woman I think she is amazing. As I learn about her she seems to be such a very strong woman, an excellent role model for other women. She came across for, those that never heard of he before as incredibly strong, likable and capable. I then listened to the follow up to her speech and what others said, what the opposing side said it does have you thinking.

As I was thinking more and more today I realize I had conflict in what I was feeling. As I mentioned I give her credit for all that she has done and accomplished. I then started thinking about her as a mother of five children. One only 5 months old and with down syndrome. Having four of my own children and knowing how much time, energy it takes to care for and raise them. My husband John does a lot with the kids and it is still difficult. It is hard to think about how difficult it will be for her and her family should their ticket win. How will she be able to be there for her own children as well as our country? I know this probably sounds petty or judgemental. I am not to say that women can't do it all but I wonder if she has really thought about the impact on her family. I suppose some would put her in as a strong patriot putting country first. As a mother I just find it hard to see how you could balance all of that.

I am anxious to hear the debates in another few weeks, see how they handle themselves and what they have to say. I dare say that I have other issues as well but not go into them just now. This of course is a ramble of my thoughts and nothing more.

What We Did Labor Day Weekend...

We ate ALOT of Southern Cooked Food!

We Rode a four wheeler!























We built a playground dome.






We saw Dolphins, went to the beach, went boat riding and ocean kayaking, played in the mud and just had a really great time with College Buddies!

First Day of School Photos

How cool is the first day of school? I am both sad to see the summer end and so excited to watch my kids prepare for another year of school. The excitement of waking up in the morning, getting dressed - oh wait picking out just the right outfit the night before - wearing their backpacks around the house for a full 40 minutes before they even hae to leave for the bus. It is just really cool.

This is Kyler's first year in elementary school - a big Kindergardener- yet it seems like he has been going with the girls for years. He will be 6 in about a week so he is a year older than some of the kids going off to K and he is so ready. He has the most amazing curioustiy and I am sure he will have great fun learning and exploring.

Michel is in 4th grade and Nicole is in 2nd grade. They all love their teachers and came off the bus with huge smiles on their faces - that is a good thing. Ahh another year has begun - now next week we will have Eliza off to her first experience in school. I would keep her with me but she keeps asking to go to "big School" so I don't think I can hold her back anymore. It will be a whole differnt world around here 3 mornings a week when they are all gone. What will I do? Where will I go? How will I keep myself busy? ha ha of course I will find a way - and I am looking forward to it too.

College Friends + Holiday weekend + Southern Food=

Well lets just say that today is Wednesday so as you know I didn't post on Monday and I think we are going to pretend that this week was a bi week in terms of WW. Why you ask? Well we went to visit one of my dear friends in Moyock, NC. She is a college buddy so the beer was cold and available. She is from the south and her husband LOVES to cook so the food was never ending. (I don't usually do breakfast except for a small piece of toast or something and this weekend we had more bacon then I beleive I have in a year, along with eggs, eggs, eggs, home made french toast, sausage, hash browns - and that was a daily thing)

It was a great weekend of fun but not for the ole weight game.

Girls & Junk

Why is it that girls collect so much junk? I have 3 girls (9, 7 and 3.5) and they all share a room together. Today I decided it was time to do the clean out the baskets, drawers and stuff under the bed. I dumped everything in the middle of the floor and it was quite overwhelming for my girls but I told them we were sorting, throwing away, giving away and organizing it all. It is amazing to me the things they keep as precious items. So it was a rocky start to the sorting mix but then we put the radio on and reminisced about the stuff they had in their possession. Okay so I guess the bag collection starts at an early age as I think I counted about 12 -15 bags they got from different parties, they bought at different times with their own money - it was crazy. Then the even crazier thing was when I found a back pack filled with candy wrappers. Apparently that is a hot item to collect - I drew the line on that - we simply do not have the room to have a candy wrapper collection - not unless they are going to make some creative items with it and make millions marketing them.

At the end my 9 year old was so excited - she was now ready for school, she had a place for things and felt very organized. That made me smile. So all is good and clean in the Bentley house of girls & junk. (p.s. my son has the disease too - guess that goes with having 3 sisters - that we will save for tom.)

It's Monday Again

Okay so I had a stale mate this week, ended up at the same weight as last week (168.5) However I was so not good about record keeping what I ate and how much water I drank. That seems to make all the world of difference for me. I also had a fun Saturday night with too many Molson Golden's to count - so all and all I can't complain.

With the school year beginning just around the corner and with all 4 of my kids off to school for some potion of the week I am anticipating much more focus on what I eat, when and my exercise routine. I have 13 pounds that would be wonderful to see come off - I don't actually know what I would do if I did reach that goal but it will be my personal challenge to try - maybe I should be a end date for my goal? Kind of like training for a marathon or studying for some big exam, I can set my target -drop dead date - plot my course of action and then dig my heals in and get to it. I think I will do that - have to look at the calendar, and figure out what would be reasonable goal for myself. I will plan to nail that down by next week for those of you who care. (tee hee)

Wordless Wednesday

We havn't rode bikes all season really and these two cutties were still on training wheels until this past weekend. They took them off, tried once, maybe twice and off they went like rockets. They rode around and around and around - there is nothing stopping them now.

A really Cool Give away

Head on over to Musings of a housewife for a really great giveaway from Swede at heart. They have so many beautiful items to choose from - check out them all. I love the heart and soul necklace and so would like to win it.

Olympics & Friendship

While the Olympics are going on over in Bejing China, my kids and I participated in the fun, spirit and competition right here in our own backyard. My very good and special friend Dawn and I put our heads together for a 3 day mini camp for our children and their friends ages 18 months-almost 6. Thank goodness we had help from many of my older daughters friends and brothers (thanks Anne, Dan, Alex, Sarah, Sydney,Nicole, Moira, Conor and Kyle!)

We opened up each day with a song around the "friendship flame" (their own hand made torches of course). We did a craft and learned about the olympic flag (Did you know there are 5 rings on the olympic flag and that each ring represents a continnent? Americas, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia.) We also learned that the white background on the flag stood for Peace or in our case Friendship.

Here are some of the pictures from our fun week of events. We had so much fun with all of our olympic friends that came out to share the week with us.

Eliza and her buddy Madison at the gymnastic station.

Kyler and all the big kids in the trike race.

Nicole and Dan showing the latest fencing techniques.

Weigh in...

Monday a.m. 168.5 lbs.

Yea a small decrease and I am in the 60's again. The trouble is staying there. Last week I was so busy with a mini Olympics camp (more about that later) I was running everywhere no time to snack. Then I got sick in the middle so I could only eat soup, that helped I am sure. Let's see what this week brings, I am getting back on track with exercising as well and for me that is the kicker. I didn't use to have to work out to stay in shape now, over 40 well it is needed if I want to keep any pounds off. I just need to stay focused and try to remember not to pop any "junk" into my mouth. Speaking of which, today I had what I thought was an innocent marshmallow with the kids, well after swallowing it practically whole I decided to look at the point value - well it is all sugar so I do not know what I expected but it was a whopping 2 points all on its own - bummer and I don't even like marshmallows that much, good thing I had my morning coffee black today huh!! keep focused that's all. Keep focused.

Missing My Angel- my Angel Came Home

Last Sunday a week ago my brother and his 3 boys came up to visit mom and pop. While they were here they decided to take my darling Michel home with them. This was a good thing because I was suppose to be taking her down to VA on Thursday anyway as they were all (my brother, nephew and Michel) going to New York City for a "night at the musuem". I thought no problem that will save me a trip early, I am doing the olympics here with the little guys - great.


BOY OH BOY did I miss her. It was cool having some time with the other three but I really really missed her. The only other time she was away from me for a period of time was a simple overnight at mee mee's, a friends overnight but this was 6 nights we were talking about. We did make do but it was incredibly hard. The cute thing was that while in NY my brother took the kids to the Toys R Us (it is huge) and she was shopping, picking out a purse (cause she needs one of them (she has tons)) and she couldn't decide which one to buy so she asked Uncle Eddie. I guess being a guy and having only boys (who was picking out leggos) he didn't know how to answer her so he sent me a text picture with her holding up each bag. It was so cool cause I got to see her and help to influence her - she needed her mommy.

Starting Over - The Battle of the Bulge

Look at the rap sheets in the grocery aisle and you will see all the latest ways to loss 10 pounds fast. Or maybe some miracle diet that the stars are doing and how you can do it too! In addition to these you will also see the pictures of stars being too thin or too fat and the absolute worst pictures of them.

There is definitely an obsession over weight in our country and fortunately through the years I have not had to seriously worry about it for myself one way or the other. I do worry for my girls and how they will feel about weight or if they will get sucked into what is the "right" weight, I actually do not know how I will handle that. With that being said I am not one to diet and never have been. I like food plain and simple. I have been pretty fortunate to have maintained an average weight all my life, guess because I am active. I also have been fortunate after having kids and gaining a TON of weight 40+ each time I have successfully gone back to at least my starting weight of 161. Now that 161 is still a bit heavier than I would like to see myself but at least I got back to it each time except with baby #4. The last 15 pounds were just hanging on and deciding that that was the new set weight for me - no good. A year and a half ago I did start weight watchers with a friend of mine and it was fantastic! As I said I LOVE food so it was great to be able to eat what ever I wanted but only in set amounts that didn't' allow me to go over my points. I also trained for and ran a marathon so I am guessing that helped a lot as well.

Well friends I am now sad to say my weight has been creeping up on me and I am again frustrated. I am also all inspired by so many of my girlfriends who are currently active in weight watchers and look fantastic. (Shannon, Yvonne, Jenn K.)

So today I am starting over. I do not have the time or the money in my budget to officially "attend" weight watchers but I am going to post here on Monday's my weigh in and progress.

weigh in 8/11/08 171 lbs. a.m.

weight watchers 10% would be 17 lbs

Ultimate goal 154

Wish me luck!

DIG IT

The kids are doing such an awesome job. I couldn't be prouder! Here's a sneak preview, to see the rest call 610-363-7075. We have lots of seats for our Saturday night at 7:30pm.

The young and then the aging

So I am a mom of four young kids and I am really enjoying it (most days). I love to watch as they learn new things and even as they struggle with some of those new things. Most of us will have our moments of "oh my goodness - where have the years gone and what am I doing or what have I done for me?!" My oldest is 9 now and I have those days often. My youngest will be off to preschool 3 days a week and I am not sure at all what I will do with my time when that happens. I truly go back and forth over sending her or just continuing with "mommy school".

Then we have our parents who we are now and always will be "their baby". I am thankful and fortunate to have my mom near and I beleive she is also thrilled to have me near at least on most occassions. I have 3 brothers and a couple of step brothers and a step sister as well. They are all farther away then I am. Good thing for my mom and me we have a great relationship.

Then if we are very very lucky we have our grandparents and our kids great grandparents. I am lucky to say that I have great genes in my family and I have not only know many great grandparents but great aunts, uncles and even some great great aunts and uncles. I also have had most of my grandparents into adulthood, at my wedding, etc. My one grandmother died just about 2 months ago. She was 94 and an amazing example of a life. I had the opportunity to see her, talk with her, tell her how amazing she is and how much I loved her before she passed. It was sad for the loss of my grandmother but amazing in how gracefully she lived her life and passed on to the next life. Two of my other grandparents (on my mom's side) are also still alive. They are 93 and soon to be 90. These are the two that have been causing much grief and stress in my moms life and then by default mine. It is amazing to me to see how much your relationships with your children as they are growing up truly impact how they are as adults. My mom did not have a good relationship with her parents and left - bolted as soon as she could at age 18. Now she is stuck with feeling obligated to care for them when she never felt loved by them. I am in the middle being daughter, counselor, support, and so much more. I suppose I went off here on this blog, so much of my last year has been handling my mother and assisting in getting my grandparents to a place they will be safe and cared for. The circle of life.

Days and Nights

Days and Nights come and go and when you have kids they sometimes come and go so much faster than you even realize. It is now the end of July and summer is really only just beginning, for us anyway. But.....the stores have the newest backpacks, lunch boxes and school supplies out and in your face - you can't walk into a store without seeing a yellow school bus or something -
Why does everything seem to be passing by so fast? Why does it seem like there is so much rushing and running all the time? It is the summer and I am still exhausted with the amount of running and with how much entertaining I have to do with/for my kids. Don't get me wrong I am a very active person that does enjoy being busy but I feel I long for the slow, lazy days of summer and they are not coming. So.... what will I or can I do about this?? I am making a plan to really take Sunday, the Sabbath to just relax with the family and friends if they are available as well - just relax and enjoy the day. That is my plan anyway. Yesterday was a wonderful day, We went to church, headed to moms for a swim and then home for a neighborhood birthday party. Just a really good day!

Hmm the preassure of a blog

What really is a blog - who started this phonemone? What have we come to? I love to journal and find my peace but it was always done curled up in a chair, pen in hand scratching on paper in my journal. I started or was introduced to blogging back when my youngest daughter was born in 2004 - wow four years ago. I had done the whole web page, pictures up date for friends and family far away when my oldest daughter was born in 1999 so I guess the blog 6 years later was the new and improved way to go. As you can see from my posts - or lack there off I started it - meaning I signed in and gave it a name but nothing else. Then my girlfriends from a moms group went wild and so many started blogging - and I started reading - and some of my friends are so funny I love to read their stories - they really should be in a book somewhere. So this whole blogging thing started to again intrigue me and now here I am attempting to put words and thoughts to a computer screen to share with family and friends. We will see how this goes - my lack of time on the computer or I should say lack of a real computer that is just mine limits me along with the daily duties of every day life but I will keep pushing forward and try to get those crazy moments down on paper for me to remember and for those who wish to read my ramblings as well. Thanks for looking - comments are always welcome.

First Day Of Vacation

We arrived at Myrtle Beach yesterday, Sunday around hmmm 4 ish - took about 9 hours of driving time so we did well leaving at 4:45. The kids and John went off to the beach yesterday as I went to the super walmart for some food for the week - it was amazing to me to watch the people in that store - you would have though it was the depression as they were grabbing stuff off the shelves and the items that were left were often the super size containers. It was a mad house but I think I got what I needed for the week.

The weather for the week does not look to good for us but we will still work to have a relaxing, fun, family vacation. The day today started out fantastic - we went to the pool an dhten the beach

It is only just beginning

I am really just testing my posting out here to the world of bolgging - i have no idea what i am doing. let's see if this works.