The Owens Family

Boys and their Toys!

2011-05-16T08:07:00.000-04:00

Daniel is all boy. The kids LOVES anything with wheels or scoops or power. :) Recently our neighbors had some large trees cut down. We were sad, because two of the trees were great shade trees for our house, yard, and driveway. But we understood - the trees were getting old and branches came down every storm. On the plus side, they gave us most of the wood! I'll have to get a picture of the huge pile in front of our barn that is waiting for Garr to cut, split, and stack! It is much appreciated as wood heat is our only heat! We have rarely had to pay for wood. Garr is very resourceful and does things like put ads on Craigslist for people who have trees down in their yards that they want removed. He goes and cuts them up and takes them away for people and we have free heat! :) He also has a friend who has a lot of acreage and they spend time working together cutting wood.

So back to Daniel. The other positive was my boy got to sit and watch men work with power tools and bucket trucks and tractors ... to his heart's content. Nothing better for a little boy.

Here is the wood we were given -

you can see how big the chunks of wood are

compared to our recycle bin!

Ugh!

2011-05-13T12:38:00.001-04:00

Well, I'm not sure what the problem with Blogger is, but I haven't been able to access my account since last night (until right now) and I am missing some of my posts! Yesterday's post is gone and I had a post all ready for today and it's gone also. :( I'll keep checking back and try to post when it shows up!

Chickens

2011-05-12T10:44:00.000-04:00

Daniel checking out the chicken door :)

Abby cuddling one of the chicks

The white leghorns as babies

Eme peeking through the chicken door

Abby and Daniel settling the chicks in

We decided to get chickens this year. We like the fresh eggs and the girls are excited to have yet another pet. :) So yes, some of the chickens have received names... such as Cheeseburger, Nugget, etc. LOL They have decided if we get a rooster, he will be called Big Mac. :) One particularly sweet and friendly white chicken has earned the name Matilda.

We first bought 6 white leghorn pullets. They have all thrived and are getting big. They have learned to go in at night and roost (which makes putting them in at night a whole lot easier, let me tell you!) Then we bought 10 of a Rhode Island Red variety. Unfortunately one of the chicks died in the first week. Then another chick was lost (we think taken by a hawk) one evening. We had originally thought the hawk had gotten two chicks, but Garr found one chirping and scurrying around the barn the next day. It must have just gotten lost. We do have them fenced in but the babies could (and daily do) squeeze through the fence and run around until we herd them back in. Which is highly interesting with Rocky running around! (not really - he has caused lots of screaming and a little cussing around these parts lately!)

The kids do great with caring for the chickens. My parents bought the chicken coop we have and the chickens seem very happy in it. :) The kids get them fresh food and water each day and spend time playing with them. Yesterday they cleaned out the coop but said it was no big deal. :) I love my kids - they are such hard workers and rarely any complaints.

Last week, they proclaimed that they love this house, this garden, the chickens, and they don't ever want to move. So there you go. :)

White Leghorn - around 2 mo old

Rhode Island Red - around 1 mo old

The coop

The White Ladies roosting

The white leghorns as babies

A better view of the inside

Abby talking to the chickens

Another angle of the coop

The white ladies around 1 mo old

My girls - probably feeding them worms

Wordless Wednesday - Pure Cuteness

2011-05-11T06:22:00.002-04:00

Our Garden

2011-05-10T07:53:00.000-04:00

Here you can see the orchard,

the smaller melon/berry garden (L shaped) and

closest, part of the big garden

The rest of the big garden

The last part of the big garden,

our chicken coop, barn, and back of the house

Dad ducking for the sprinkler :)

Green things growing!!!

We planted a garden this Spring. Not just a little, bitty garden either. A BIG garden! I'm so thankful for my parents and their gardening experience. There's no way we would have pulled any of this off without them. The main garden is quite large and we've planted corn, peas (2 varieties), beans, onions, scallions, radishes, carrots, lettuce (2 varieties), peppers, and tomatoes. There might be more, but I can't remember :) In the second garden, we have lots of strawberries! We've already gotten to taste them and they are SO good - definitely make the store bought taste like nothing! The third section of garden has melons, pumpkins, potatoes, and cucumbers. I can't remember if mom was able to fit the zucchini and squash. :) We also have 8 fruit trees planted - apples and peaches. We planted blueberry bushes (two of the four look very sad and I'm not sure if they will make it!) And for beauty, we've planted a pink dogwood tree in the front yard and two lilac bushes out back. We are hoping to do lots and lots of freezing and canning to help supplement during the coming winter. :)

The gate has to stay latched to keep Rocky from digging monster holes in the garden :)

The kids enjoy climbing over it!

Dad and Mom working

Great Grandma came for a month long visit.

She got to enjoy the sunshine and watch the grandkids play.

We loved having her here.

Livy labeling the row markers.

Can you tell who was hard at "work" here?

Dad did a lot of rototilling and

working on the rototiller this Spring!

The girls found quite a bit of broken pottery and bits in the garden -

rather like their own archeology dig!

They had fun examining the pieces and

trying to figure out where they came from.

Daniel works hard emptying our buckets

as we fill them with weeds!

Mom weeding with the girls

lovely Livia

Dad mowing the perimeter so Abby could mow the inside :)

Daniel trying to feed a worm to the chickens

Abby - working hard weeding

working together

Dad talking with Daniel over the gate

Mom and Liv working together

some rows of greenery coming up! sans weeds!

Mother's Day Photo Shoot

2011-05-09T07:53:00.004-04:00

So while writing my post yesterday, I realized I don't have any photos of myself with all the kids. Apparently, I'm usually behind the camera instead of in front of it! So I asked Garr to take some pictures of us for Mother's Day. The kids were happy to do it - well, except Danny, who wasn't in the mood for pictures as you can see from his face :( I did manage to get him to stand near us by bribing him with a sucker... hey, you do what you gotta do! :)

The most wonderful father to my kids!

My oldest, who now is as tall as me.

And soon will be taller I'm sure.

All 4 kids, and of course,

Rocky had to get in the photo also.

Abby and I

almost 12 weeks pregnant with #5

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T06:21:00.003-04:00

In honor of Mother's Day, I thought I'd share some special news. I'm going to be a mother of 5 soon. Our baby is due November 21! We are so excited to have the blessing of watching another little one grow. If I do say so myself, we've got some of the best kids in the world. They are sweet, hard-working, caring little munchkins. (Although one in particular is not so little anymore!) It was so nice last night to watch all 4 of them playing out in the backyard, having races - one little boy being cheered on by big sisters and finally carried on someone's back in the race. Yes, they have their fighting moments between them as all siblings do, but overall they are quick to stop fighting and quick to put another sibling over herself. (Daniel's not quite to the selfless part yet lol) At any rate, I'm proud to by their mother. And quite blessed, in the process.

Easter, Baptism, and Birthdays

2011-05-04T10:43:00.009-04:00

We had a busy, fun Easter weekend this year. Abby's 10th birthday was the day before Easter and her party Easter afternoon. Olivia was baptized on Easter morning. We got to meet Nathan and Peter, the Logue's newly adopted boys, on Easter morning. Easter afternoon and evening we spent as a family working in the garden. Easter day was finished off with dinner to Ihop. Super nice day indeed!

Olivia had to have a "chat" with Grandad re. baptism. Dad does this with all his baptism candidates to make sure they understand what they are doing. So Olivia says to Grandad at the dinner table "Da-dad, I want to be baptized." He says "ok," and she seems to think the deal is done. I mention to her that she still has to talk with Grandad about the baptism. She gives me this look like "Are you kidding me? I just told him - what more is there to talk about?" SO Olivia! lol

So Dad sits down at the table with Olivia after dinner. He begins to talk to her about baptism and what it means and she interrupts him and says, "It's like when you go under the water, you are dying with Christ, and when you come up, you are a new person." Ummm, yeah, exactly.Dad and I just look at each other and smile. I asked Olivia how she knew that. She gave us the "duh" look and said Grandad just taught on that in Sparks (AWANA) a few weeks ago. Well! I guess she was listening! After that she said, "Is that it? I thought we had to talk for awhile?" Grandad shrugs and says, "Well, there's nothing to talk about - you already understand." Livy just beamed us a smile and ran off to play. Too cute!

Olivia, with 2 of her bffs, the Logue girls, who were also baptized

The birthday girl!

Emelyn

Waiting for the homemade ice cream cake!

Silly cousins - Justin and Livia

Jen Logue with Nathan

One of the oldest Logue sisters with Peter

Easter morning

Daniel all decked out in Easter finery

Just waking up on Easter morning

The girls - Easter morning

They've got the boys!!

2011-04-18T09:47:00.000-04:00

Many of you know we've been supporting our friends through the adoption of their 2 little boys from Eastern Europe. Well, Greg picked them up TODAY from their orphanages!! Yay! I couldn't be more happy for them! I can't wait to love on those boys! Check out their blog for photos and funny stories of the boys' first day with their dad! :)

A difference to this one

Homeschool Room

2011-02-17T07:55:00.011-05:00

When we moved, we decided it would be a good chance to start homeschooling. I had felt drawn to it since the kids were babies and with Garr's schedule, it seemed like it would be a better fit for our family.

In our house, there is a room -- the realtor called it a family room -- it is connected in an L shape to the room that leads to the bedrooms and near to the mudroom. It could have been closed in to make another bedroom, I suppose, although it would close off one of the two routes to the bedrooms. When I saw it, I knew it would make a great homeschool room.

The first year we were here, we were so busy trying to make the house livable that we didn't have much time for decorating. We painted the ceiling and walls, washed everything down, tore out the nasty green carpet, and installed a vinyl floor that looks like hardwood. We bought a folding table and painted a chalkboard on the wall and that was it. Oh and we installed a wood stove for heat :)

Here's the school room before we did anything - Sorry - can't get it to work - will keep trying

(I had some after photos from the same perspective as the before photo. However, after fighting with this for over an hour I can't get them to load...SO you can just look at the following after photos instead)

This past year though, when I was sure we would continue homeschooling, and I had a better idea of what did/didn't work for us, I decided to do some decorating. When you spend many hours of a day in one room, you want it to be cheerful and welcoming!

One thing I knew was that sharing a table was not working. No one seemed to have enough space "of their own!" There was arguing over cleaning up the table ... "that's not mine!" Anyone with kids knows what I mean, I'm sure! lol Also I was having to get their books/notebooks off the bookshelf between each subject. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but often if I wasn't available to get it (working with a sibling,) that child couldn't find their books themselves and so would sit and wait, wasting time. It seemed to me that I was doing a whole lot of hand-holding when my kids didn't really need it. We searched around and found a local school that was downsizing. We were able to get 3 student desks from them! I was thrilled and so were the kids! (I should have grabbed 4 b/c Daniel is going to be schooling with us before we know it!) The desks have worked out wonderfully. Each child can keep track of their own notebooks and supplies. Each child is responsible to keep their own desk clean. Ahhhh. Sweet, sweet, sweet! :) During the week, we keep the desks out in the center of the room. On the weekends, the desks get cleaned off and we push them up against the wall under the chalkboard. That way the room can get used for other things also.

I love our chalkboard. We used chalkboard paint and painted it on the wall. Then this past summer, Garr trimmed it out and added a chalk tray too.

I liked these letters. They are by Eeboo. I strung twine between two nails and used some mini clips to hang them from the twine. They are really beautiful little paintings. The pictures just don't do them justice.

The girls are always moving their desks around :)

You can see our computer table in the far corner. I keep our household filing cabinet and calendar there.

This hall leads into our homeschool room. On this side is our timeline and map.

This side holds our books and games.

Here you can see where the timeline/library hall is off the school room.

In the opposite corner, you can see where I keep our school filing boxes. I will try to do a post about that sometime - how I organize our schooling.

These are the curtains I made for the room. I thought the fabric was fun. We chose the blue for the walls from the blue in the fabric. This was my first time sewing lined curtains and I was really pleased with how they turned out!

Just a little addition to tie them off with :)

Daniel and his Deere

2011-01-31T09:41:00.008-05:00

Daniel is a HUGE tractor fan! Really, the kid loves anything with wheels... trains, cars, trucks, construction equipment. But he has a special place in his heart for the Deere. He received a tractor puzzle and movie for Christmas. But he also got a tractor! Garr's mom and Buddy bought Daniel a battery powered John Deere tractor for Christmas. And boy, does this boy love it! He can be heard giggling furiously as he rides circles around the house. (generally chasing the animals and banging into things - making him laugh harder!) But Mama loves the days when boy and tractor head outside to ride. And I actually went out and got some pictures of the cuteness this morning.

Thanks Great-Grandad for the awesome John Deere hat!

Danny wears it all the time!

Organizing and Sewing Fun

2011-01-30T18:01:00.006-05:00

We've had a busy, yet relaxing, weekend here. Yesterday I got a lot of cleaning and organizing done! I just love that :) I heard a couple of quotes recently that I've been mulling over: "Flat surfaces should be clear" by Peter Walsh and the old favorite "A place for everything and everything in it's place!" First of all, flat surfaces in this house are commonly piled up with stuff! I keep telling myself that flat surfaces (like desks, countertops, and FLOORS) should not be covered with stuff. That stuff should have a home. Finding the right home for it is the problem.

So yesterday I started out with Daniel's toy area. Since Christmas it has been overrun. He can't get to most of his toys or find the ones he likes. I was more than tired of the mess! So I got a couple of rubbermaid containers and filled them with little used or too young for him toys. I took these upstairs. In a few months, I can switch them out and they will be like new toys to him. :) I also took the toy kitchen upstairs for awhile. I was able to reorganize his toy bins and we moved his toy box out filled with his big trucks. Now most of his big trucks have a home and he can easily see his legos, puzzles, and smaller trucks and trains that he likes to play with. I didn't take a picture of the area, but I'll tell you, I just smile when I look at it now! It's no longer a cluttered mess. It makes my heart happy. (I hope my MIL is reading this - that's something she says a lot :) )

My cedar closet has also been an absolute mess! And since Christmas, with all the new games and puzzles, it has gotten even worse. My shelves were overflowing and the floor was getting completely covered. I wanted to clean it up, but I was frustrated. I just couldn't find a home for everything! I wanted it all to belong in the closet, but it just didn't. Finally, I had a "lightbulb moment" :) Ya gotta love those! I looked on top of our homeschool bookshelves (just around the corner from my cedar closet) and saw that they had random stuff on top - nothing really necessary. Those things were not where they belonged. So I took the majority of the games out of the cedar closet and moved them to the tops of the bookshelves. It will make it a little trickier when the kids want to play a game, but it will be worth it!

We have a room that all our bedrooms enter off from. This room has been another spot that drives me nuts. I keep a dresser there with our sheets in it. On top is the gerbil cage. We have another smaller dresser in that space too - one that Daniel grew out of and has also been filled with sheets recently. I had another "lightbulb moment." I decided to go through the drawers and move a stack of sheets and baby blankets that we don't use regularly upstairs. Too often I think I keep things just in case - but they just get in the way and make life more difficult to navigate. I moved the larger dresser into the cedar closet. I moved the gerbils onto the smaller dresser (for lack of another place to put them.) This worked out so well! Now it feels so open leading into our rooms (and hopefully will help the heat from the woodstove make its way into our rooms better too!) Now whenever I walk by the cedar closet, my heart smiles :)

the cedar closet after

(I don't have before pics,

but use your imagination -

I'm sure you can figure it out lol)

I've also been doing some sewing. I found this awesome tutorial for pillowcases and so I made pillowcases for Eme, Abby, Daniel, Justin, and Cole (my nephews.) I ended up making another for Daniel today. Unfortunately we lost our Christmas pics, so I don't have pictures of them all. But here is the one I made for Daniel today and one for Abby.

And here is a blanket I made for Livy for Christmas

This morning I found this tutorial and decided to see if the girls wanted to make some headbands. They were excited and picked out their fabric and braided it. Here they are modeling them :)

Last night I had some friends over. One of which is a Stampin' Up Consultant. Wow have they come a long ways! We had a lot of fun making cards and plan to get together to craft more often!

love, love, love the sewing themed stamps, paper, AND fabric!

Abby made a card too. Next time we promised we'd do cards with all the kids first.

We've been keeping busy! Hopefully I can find time to update more often :)

Some iPhoto fun for Wordless Wednesday

2011-01-05T10:10:00.004-05:00

Adoption Benefit

2010-11-10T09:04:00.005-05:00

Our church put on an adoption benefit for a local family. It was a great success! Not only did we raise a good amount of money for them, but many people were made more aware of the plight of the orphan!

This family is such an inspiration to so many. They started out with their biological daughter, and then proceded to adopt 3 little girls from China (some with disabilities.) Now they are in the process of adopting 2 little boys from an Eastern European country... one with Down Syndrome and one with Cerebral Palsy. They guys are awesome parents and have such a burden for children around the world without families to love them.

Currently the mom and her bio. daughter are in Europe visiting their 2 little boys. They spend 5 days with them and then have to come home. In a few months, when everything is finalized, they will be able to go back and bring the boys home with them! If you want to read about their amazing story, you can on their blog, A difference to this one.

You can also make a tax-deductible donation to their adoption by following the Reese's Rainbow Sponsorship link on their blog. Every bit helps to bring these two boys home!!

The Proud Parents, Greg and Jennifer

We spent most of the day getting set up and practicing

Jimmy Passwaters came and sang in 2 bands and helped with sound
Greg and Jennifer

Ryan's family helped a ton - here we are having a decorate the basket contest :)

Ryan's wife and mom :)

They put on an amazing dinner for the benefit!

The Pickin' Pals with Jimmy Passwaters

some bluegrass gospel!

The Bay City Quartet

Greg and bio daughter, Morgan, singing along

I love this photo!

What a blessing to know these children!

Two of Greg and Jennifer's treasures with my Olivia

Our church praise team rockin' out!

Greg, Jennifer, and Sharon D

Myself and Jen :)

Birthdays and Halloween

2010-11-09T10:01:00.006-05:00

We spent Emelyn's 11th birthday in VA, visiting Garr's Mom Linda and her fiancee Buddy. It was also Mom Linda's birthday!! And it was Halloween too. We had a great time. We came up with some creative gifts (read: inexpensive) for Mom for her bd and Eme got an ipod from Mom and Buddy. She loves it! We have recently gotten a membership at the YMCA and it is so cute to see her working out with her ipod strapped to her arm. :) Buddy agreed to dress up as a pirate with Abby - he's so much fun :) Daniel had a costume but refused to wear it (as usual.) He did carry a sword though... Here are some photos from our weekend:

Eme was a SWAT member

Eme and Abby battling

Pirate Abby
She was so cute posing!

Olivia was a Snow Queen

Daniel is too cute!

This was so funny!

Daniel kept bopping Buddy on the head with the sword

and they were both belly laughing!!

Buddy and Abby dueling it out!

We went to a car show trunk or treat

Buddy, Mom, and the kids

The best photo of all 4 kids taken that weekend,

with one of our favorite neighbors, Ms. Shirley

Danny waiting to trick or treat

Our snow queen

From July -- Olivia's Birthday!

2010-09-20T11:15:00.008-04:00

We've had a very busy past few months! I'm going to try and play catch-up over the next few days so you can see all the cute pics I took and so when I finally get around to scrapbooking, I'll know when these photos were taken :)

In July, we celebrated Olivia's 7th birthday! It's hard to believe she is 7 years old already. She is a bundle of fun and energy - a very happy, loving child. She is all about "fashion" (as she calls it) and makeup and clothing. Although lately she's been telling us that God is talking to her heart and trying to tell her something. She feels that "maybe God doesn't want her to make fashion so important." It's really sweet how open her little heart is to God. Garr and I haven't said anything to her re. her interest in fashion so this is all coming from her. She is also a natural little gymnast! You should see her do cartwheels -- and if you are close by, I'm sure you've seen her do many! She cartwheels her way around. We would love to get her into gymnastics classes eventually as she seems to have a real talent for it. She had a pool party for her birthday and a bunch of her friends came. They had a great time.

A pool photo

"Poor" Justin was the only boy!

Having lunch

The birthday girl!

Probably not the best choice - but it sure was cute!

Dancing to the Seeds Family Worship!!

A little music by a couple of the dads :)

Daniel enjoying his cupcake

Emelyn

Abby

Liv - missing a tooth!

Justin - rockin' the frostin'!

Yay! Makeup!

Wow! Barbies!

Matching dresses from Grandma

A little "before bed" snuggle time with Mama

Mining

2010-07-15T18:48:00.004-04:00

My MIL took some photos while we were mining and sent them to me today. They turned out pretty cute :)

Abby, me, Liv, and Emelyn...

identifying and trading their gemstones.

Livy and Eme
Abby and I

Daniel and our nephew, Cole

Isn't this the neatest photo???

Music

2010-07-13T12:20:00.005-04:00

We may have a little musician on our hands also. He likes to stop and dance to the music whenever it's on. He also loves to practice on the guitar and watch out when he gets some drum sticks in his hands! No, really, watch out! He likes to drum on anything ... sisters included! :)

Playing guitar with Daddy and Mr. Ryan

He didn't like playing this way - it's not the way Daddy does it!

Couldn't resist a cute 4th of July photo

Squinting in the sun!

Garr has recently started playing music again - he is playing bass on our church worship team. They are amazing. We have an acoustic guitar, drums, bass, saxophone, and a lead guitar. They have this jazz/rock/pop sound. It's really great! They have played outside the church a couple times now, most recently at the 4th of July festivities in town. I took a few pics to share. Unfortunately their time slot was late in the day and a lot of people had left. Many of our church people came to support them which was so nice! Not only is it a great group of guys to play music with, they are also very supportive of each other - faith/work/hangout wise. And the wives and kids like to hang out too, which makes it even better!

The little groupies :)

Garr

The band, Garr, Ryan, Ryan, Jim, Jim

hmmmm... we need another Garr :)

nevermind, I'm sure many would agree,

one Garr is enough :)

Our trip to VA Beach

2010-07-12T12:07:00.014-04:00

We spent a fun few days with Garr's mom and Buddy! Linda (Garr's mom) took the kids mining ... yes, mining. It was cool! They got a bucket of sand and then "mined" it in the river. You could choose fossils or gemstones. The girls chose gemstones and they were so excited to see what gems and arrowheads were in their buckets. We all sifted through the sand left by others and found some shark teeth and fossils too :) They had so much fun. After they mined their gemstones, they laid them out on the table and compared them to a chart so they could figure out what kind of stones they had. The lady working there was so kind and informative. She helped us figure out some of the tricky ones :) They are looking forward to doing it again next time we go. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so no photos of that :) (I made up for it at the gardens though, lol...)

The next day, we visited the Botanical Gardens there. What a great place! We had so much fun... riding the tram (Daniel's favorite!), visiting the Butterfly Gardens and Butterfly house, and playing at the Enchanted Forest Children's exhibit. Unfortunately, before we could go anywhere else, a major storm hit! There was lightning and thunder right over our heads!! And then it downpoured! There was no place to go for shelter and no trams nearby. We walked, for what seemed like forever, in the pouring rain and the lightning! It was kind of scary. Garr carried Daniel and when Liv got upset, Buddy carried her. By the time we found our way out to the truck, we were all soaked to the skin. It was an adventure, though, and Daniel hasn't stopped talking about the "Boom!" and the "water" and "Daddy run!" It's rather cute :)

I was able to get a ton of great photos before the storm and am thanking God that my camera didn't get ruined in the rain. It was totally dry when I took it out of the diaper bag at the car. I couldn't believe it because the bag was so wet I could wring out the straps. We will definitely make another trip to the Gardens next time...as long as we check the weather first :)

Garr and Daniel waiting by the fountain for the tram -

Daniel was SO excited!

Riding the tram

Liv, Mom, and Buddy on the tram
Abby

beautiful view in the distance,

but this photo made me laugh when I saw it.

Can you tell why?

views from the tram

In the Butterfly Garden,

Liv, Eme, Daniel, and Abby

The Girls with Ama and Mr. Buddy

finding our way through the maze

a gladiola that Abby wanted a photo of
In the Butterfly house,

there were all kinds of caterpillars, eggs,

flowers, and butterflies.

It was beautiful.

This butterfly was wounded

and the man volunteering there said

he was going to take it to the "butterfly hospital."

A view from inside the butterfly house.

Garr, Liv, and I -

Abby took this photo.

Garr, Ab, and I -

Liv took this one. :)

Mom and Buddy

Laughing together

Another great photo-op for the 4 kids :)

I'm telling you these are Christmas card material!

Ama and Abby

Mom thought I would never stop taking photos

I'm guessing, by the look on her face :)

There were all these little tables and chairs

cut from stumps of wood.

They had games like checkers, tic-tac-toe, and more.

Here the kids are pretending the wood circles are cookies :)

Daniel takes a bite :)

A "train"

The 3 little pigs house of straw

The house of brick

"Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?"

Danny and I

I love this boy SO much!

After the storm, wet and bedraggled!

Memorial Day Weekend

2010-07-07T11:26:00.007-04:00

I'm a bit behind on posting...as usual! We have been very busy...as usual. But I had to share about Memorial Day weekend. We have some amazing friends here who turned out to help us install our fence. And boy, is there a. lot. of. fence. We started Saturday morning and worked all day long. The women made tons of food, the kids had a great time playing and swimming, and the men worked hard on the fence (and we women joined in on the fence when we weren't in the kitchen.) We made so much progress, it was amazing. Everyone (and more people) came again on Monday to help us finish. We got the whole perimeter fenced in, in just 2 days. We felt so blessed! We still have some fencing left and we intend to pull out the chain link fence around the pool and replace it with the rail fence. We also got the siding on our eaves done (it had been bare before) much to the delight of our neighbors. :)

Here are some photos from that Saturday. I was bummed to not get any on Monday, but it was so hot and we just wanted to get done!

Starting out.

We were so thankful to have a

'professional' fence installer come to help.

What a difference that made!

Daniel, Greg, Dad

Notice Daniel standing just like Grandad!

Another friend brought his tractor and post hole digger to help out
Daniel loved being out there watching the guys work
and studying all the equipment they used.

Ryan, JimBob, and Garr

Hanging out with Dad-dad

Some of the ladies - Amber, Kristin, Mom

We had fun in spite of all the work!

The kids!

Too cute!

My nephew, Justin

bffs

Kate, Mom, and me

Kate, Mom, Daniel, me, Kristin, Amber

Danny and I

You love me for posting this, don't you, K?

where the fence meets in the backyard -

we did split rail for the front and sides

and privacy fence for the back

the side yard (the gray fence is the neighbors fence)

Garr working hard

Kenny

Dad

The Simple Woman's Daybook

2010-07-07T09:11:00.003-04:00

Outside my window...the sun is shining and the heat is building. Another 100 degree day is on it's way. Soon we will be jumping into our pool for a swim and then heading indoors to enjoy the air conditioning during the afternoon heat.

I am thinking...about friends and the gifts God has given us in them. The chance to support and be supported in our Christian faith is priceless.

I am thankful for...walls coming down and hearts joining together - a very special baptism coming up on Sunday.

From the learning rooms...menu planning and sewing curtains if I can get my nerve up (first time sewing lined curtains!) :) No other "schooling" going on except for reading. It's SUMMER!

From the kitchen...a mess right now. Garr is eating out tonight as he is going straight from work to praise team practice. The girls and I are attending a bd party where we'll be having pizza. No oven on today!!

I am wearing...cut-off jean shorts and a green t-shirt and gray flip-flops. My hair is still wet from my shower and I think I will let it dry naturally today because I'm too lazy to mess with it and it's too hot to wear it down anyways!

I am creating...a playlist of camp songs for Abby's new iPod from her Ama and Mr. Buddy.

I am going...to return overdue movies to the library and pick up a bd gift from the store later today. Hoping I can help Daniel understand the gift is to be given - not a new toy for him. It's tough at this age!

I am reading...fiction and historical fiction this week. Enjoying the summer break and taking a break from school reading. If you are looking for a good book, I just finished Michelle Moran's "Neferiti" and "Cleopatra's Daughter" and Monica McInerney's "The Alphabet Sisters."

I am hoping...Garr can take a vacation day tomorrow so we can leave a bit earlier for his mom's.

I am hearing...little girl's voices raised to a higher pitch than normal as they pretend play with their dolls.

Around the house...paint cans. We are doing some repainting as I didn't care for the neutral "mud" color we chose previously. Caribbean blue in the school room and a light green in the living room.

One of my favorite things...hearing my husband play music again.

A few plans for the rest of the week: a visit with Garr's mom in VA Beach; Abby's baptism and Daniel's dedication in church on Sunday, as well as baptisms and dedications for other friends at church.

From my Bible: Ephesians chapter 4 - which of these traits "humility, patience, gentleness, bearing with one another" do I need God to work on in me? How about all 4?

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Moments

2010-05-19T23:16:00.002-04:00

I love spying moments like these taking place outside my window...

More kids???

2010-05-18T09:16:00.000-04:00

Let me just start by saying this post has been ruminating in my heart for some time. But today I finally sat down and took the time to finish writing it and posting.

A few weekends ago, our good friends, KimB and Pushpyar and their 4 kids, and KimB's mom, Kim, who came as an extra set of hands, stayed with us. So we had 5 adults and 8 kids in our house! Thank God it's a big house! :) We had lots of room and everyone had a bed, except Emelyn (who let Mrs. Kim have her bed) and slept on the couch instead. What a lovely time we had catching up with these "old" friends before they leave for India in the fall. Now we didn't get many photos -- probably because there were 8 kids and 6 of them were under the age of 6! Yep, busy!! So here is the one I did get :)

As much as I could, I tried to help them with their little ones (who were such a joy to have around) and I tried to get as much snuggle time with baby Rebekah as possible. It's not often I have a baby to snuggle and I know I have to enjoy it when I can! On Sunday morning, Mrs. Kim had already headed home, and in order to "help" KimB out, I took Rebekah and snuggled her during the song part of church service (I'm such a good friend! lol) Oh how wonderful to hold a little one!! My husband was sitting behind me trying to keep tabs on our busy 2 year old and keep one of our older girls from goofing off. :)

A few days later, we stopped at the local super store to pick up some groceries. As we were walking, my oldest daughter asked us (again!) if we could either have or adopt a baby. My husband and I laughed and told her (again) "We'll see!" Then Garr told me that after seeing me snuggle baby Rebekah in church on Sunday, it made him want to have another baby. He said I looked so happy and content holding her, and he would love to give that happiness to me again. Awwwww.

Alright, let me stop here and say :

NO WE ARE NOT HAVING ANOTHER BABY .... RIGHT NOW.

Ok, on with the story.

We continued on at the store and got into line. Now our family of 6 in line at the grocery store can look pretty crazy, I admit. Normally, I'm loaded up the belt with our items, and the girls are learning how Mommy likes it done! So they help out some too. Daniel is usually out of the cart at this point and he'll find some toys (on those low to the floor, last minute, 'what else can we convince you to buy bc $250 worth of groceries just isn't enough' shelves) and he will just play with the toys while he waits. So then the girls come around and start loading the bags back into the cart and one is usually staying next to Daniel making sure he doesn't take off.

There was a couple behind us who were smiling at our chaos and seemed friendly. At that point I don't have much time to pay attention so I just smiled back and went on with the race of getting the cart unloaded (so we could reload it with bags) before the cashier ran out of room for the bags she was filling. (did that make sense?) However, I did overhear them say to Garr, "Wow, you guys need another kid!"

Ok. I do realize they were trying to be funny, but their comment, said in jest, really hurt and made me angry. I know that what they were really saying was "enough is enough!" Really? Is it enough? Why? By whose standards? America's standard of 2.4 kids? Why does it matter to them how many kids we have if we are supporting them and feeding them and housing them ourselves?

I'm not saying I'm going to have ten kids, but I'm not saying I'm not! Children are a gift from God! And frankly, there are days when I would LOVE to have more kids and there are days when I can't imagine being able to keep up with anymore! But if God called me to take in more kids, I would do it and do it gladly.

Did you know there are 147 million orphans in this world? Can you imagine growing up without parents ... without someone to hold you when you're sick in the middle of the night ... without clean clothes and food ... not sure if anyone really loves you? The thought makes me just want to cry. I think about my children and how blessed they are (even though I won't buy them their own cell phones or ipods) and I think how blessed my life was ... even if I didn't have a lot of material things. My parents loved each other (and still do!) and loved me. How many kids in this world don't get that basic need met? The Bible says "Of all these, three remain : faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is LOVE." 1 Cor 13. It also says in James 1:27, "True religion is this: That you care for the widow and the orphan in their distress."

God has given me a love for children. A desire for children. I'm not sure if we are physically going to have more children of our own. I'm not sure if we will adopt children. I'm not opposed to it, but I'm also not convinced that this is the time. HOWEVER that doesn't mean I can't help orphans get home! There are people in this world who are sacrificing SO much to bring these children home, to give them a forever family, to love them and meet their physical and emotional needs! Even if we don't feel called to adopt ourselves, we can still help a child come home.

We have some local friends who are doing just that. They have adopted 3 or their 4 daughters from China. Can I tell you how blessed I am by this family? I see them (in person!) raising their daughters to be kind, responsible, caring people. It's amazing. And now? God is calling them our of their comfort zone (as He so often does!) and they are in process of adopting 2 little boys with special needs from an Eastern European country. If these boys are not adopted, they will soon be put into an institution and no longer be "adoptable." (not a word, but works for me!)

Am I in a position to bring these little boys into my home and care for them? No, not at this time. Can I still help? You bet! And guess what? So can you! If you click on the link to the right, you'll see Potato Bags. I'm making these to help her raise funds to bring her boys home. If you click on the link, it will take you to a page that explains what they do :) If you click on the link "Bringing Nathan home (and Peter,)" it will take you to the adoption company's web-page where you can "meet" the boys and make a tax-deductible donation to help bring the boys home.

I know there are so many great causes out there to give to. But I'm asking you to consider helping this family - helping these little boys come home. I told Jennifer (the mom) that I wasn't sure it was worth the $10 she would make from each potato bag. Really, it doesn't seem like much! But each time we talked about the bags, God poured out His blessing and multiplied the funds in other ways. Our God is a big God and He loves these boys so much!! I know it's His desire for them to have a home and it's our responsibility to help. Even a little bit - God can take and multiply. Please consider helping to give these boys a home.

Do you see what I see?

2010-05-18T08:22:00.000-04:00

Do you see what I see?

Our girls LOVE this tree!

Some guy fun

2010-05-14T12:29:00.007-04:00

The guys in my life love things that have wheels, loud motors, and that break/chop/cut really strong items down to size. Imagine their excitement over this... a new log splitter!

Our main (or I should say only) source of heat is our wood stoves. Garr installed both of these this year and we love them. We love watching the flames and feeling the heat. I don't love cleaning up the dust and wood chips but... they do save us a lot on heating costs. So I get over it. :) Garr knows some people who offered for Garr to cut down some trees so we get our wood for free. Well, it doesn't cost money, but it does cost a lot of time and muscle. Thankfully, my husband has muscle. (Time is another subject!) The past year though, he has been wishing and hoping for a log splitter. However anytime we saw one for sale, it was either too much money or sold before we got ahold of the people. Recently, we found one! We called and we went that night to look at it. And we towed it home. And we got a practically (used once) new splitter at a large savings!!

I was pleased.... and the men in our family were in heaven.

Daniel was nervous at first, but when he saw that it wasn't too loud (he's the only guy that doesn't appreciate the noise... but I have a feeling that will come with time!) he was quick to try it out. He liked putting smaller pieces of wood (bark) on top of the log Garr was splitting. Garr even let him use the lever and the boy was mesmerized!

So even though I'm loving the muscles that chopping wood has given my hubby (along with the hard work of training he does,) I'm happy for him. He has a new ~~toy~~ tool and it will save him a lot of time and effort keeping our house warm in the winter.

All 3 of my guys - Garr, Danny, and Dad

Man, can that thing cut through a chunk of wood!

It really is amazing.

Daniel after adding his "log."

He is a very "careful" boy.

(sigh of relief)

Mesmerized

Trying it out

putting the lever back up - see big sis helping out :)

All done.

Wiping the dirt off his hands :)

Pleased with a job well done.

Daniel was also amazed by the hitch.

He was very interested in it.

The next day he wanted Garr to hitch the splitter back up
and take it for another drive! :)

Apparently he was very into

the arm crossing thing that night! lol

A Simple Woman's Daybook

2010-05-10T20:30:00.005-04:00

My friend, Mindy, does this on her blog and I enjoy reading details and snapshots of what's happening in her moment. I thought I'd share one here as well.

FOR TODAY

Outside my window...it is getting dark and Rocky is still barking off and on

I am thinking...that I am tired and I hope Garr will get home soon and I'm loving the quiet activities my girls have chosen tonight....drawing, coloring, and reading

I am thankful for...a hardworking husband, sweet children, and a big, warm home

From the learning rooms...currently reading, coloring, and drawing. Tomorrow that will be joined by fractions, multiplying, borrowing, pronouns, conjunctions, Moses, Japan, and Gladys Alward.

From the kitchen...fresh baked (Joe Corbi's!) chocolate chip cookies.

I am wearing...blue yoga pants, a comfy t-shirt, and my Uggs.

I am creating...potato bags and nursing covers.

I am going...to bed soon to snuggle up with my little boy (who insists on sleeping in Mama's bed lately.) (I totally don't mind :) )

I am reading...A Well Trained Mind, various blogs, and American Patchwork and Quilting magazine.

I am hoping...to finish the school year in the next 5 weeks and to visit Oswego this summer.

I am hearing...the sound of fans humming and my daughter rustling through sewing stuff.

Around the house...extra beds from our company last week...waiting for hubby to have a chance to carry them upstairs

One of my favorite things...sewing

A few plans for the rest of the week: school, Awana, sewing class on Sat, family bd party for my dad here on Sat, cleaning out the barn on Sat morning!

Praying for: clarity, friends, funds

A scripture for today: "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous...For the Lord your God will be with you..." Joshua 1:9

A photo to share:

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A new Playset

2010-05-10T10:31:00.008-04:00

We spent Mother's Day weekend picking up and putting together a new playset for the kids. We were very blessed to get an awesome deal on an Amish built swingset through my mom's work. We picked it up from her office. I so wish I'd brought my camera. The tower of the set was SO heavy. Garr thought it might help to use the forklift. My mom said "That's fine - do you know how to drive one?" I thought I heard Garr say yes as he walked away from her. I looked at her and laughed - "Ok let's see! Garr is famous for saying he can do something (that he has never done before) and pulling it off!" Sure enough, he drove that forklift like a pro. :) Over and over, I'm reminded how blessed I am to have such a handy husband!

We finally got the set loaded, stopped for lunch, and then headed home. We got almost all of it together that day (and when I say "we" I mean dad and Garr!) Only the roof of the tower and the sandbox were left for Sunday. So Sunday morning, we went to church, and stopped for some supplies on the way home. We had a yummy Mom's Day lunch (Garr grilled the chicken and Ken and Dad did the dishes!!) and then finished up the playset. I love how park-like our yard is getting. It is such a blessing, this house of ours!

Garr getting started

Giving orders :)

A Happy Boy!!

There were no directions
(I doubt the guys would have read them if there had been!) lol
But the picture definitely came in handy...

Daniel was a big help -

he loves to get right in the middle and use the tools :)

First time sliding down!!

apprehensive but excited

too bad this photo is blurry, I still like it a lot!

Me helping

Mom helping

I do love the photos we get when I hand Abby the camera :)

Dad studying the picture :)

This is awesome!!!

Here it is all together!

We added the sand underneath and it is a big hit!

Kenny helping out

Eme monkeying around

Liv making sand creations and ....

holding them against her shirt?

Emelyn

Garr and Eme

Katie, Mom, Dad, and Ken

My nephew Justin

Rocky and Eme

Garr and I

Best Buds

2010-05-06T14:44:00.004-04:00

For the Rocky fans out there...

2010-05-04T11:39:00.004-04:00

Our "puppy" Rocky is now 15 months old and 115 lbs. He had a trip to the vet the other day where they did x-rays (having some hip problems we think.) The vet told my husband that Rocky is still not full grown - he has another 9 months of growing to do! yikes! :) He also has double ear infections and has been keeping us up some at night with his whining. I thought I'd share some recent photos of him for those of you who are in love (GINA!) If you're not a fan of Rocky, feel free to skip this post :)

Well even, if you're not a Rocky fan, this picture is sure to melt your heart.

Liv spent almost 2 weeks gated in her room after we got Rocky

(she was a bit scared of dogs!)

Now though she is absolutely in love - hugging and kissing on him.

(note that his head looks bigger than hers! lol)

Rocky absolutely loves Garr and I'm sure the feeling is mutual.
Notice - there will be NO photos of me kissing Rocky included in this post,
so don't hold your breath waiting for them! lol
Rocky is definitely NOT allowed on my bed.
However, we do let him get on the girls' beds if they want him to.
And Emelyn especially enjoys a good Rocky snuggle.
Here she is camped out on Great Gma's rollaway in the homeschool room.

Rocky is very social and loves having "friends" over.

Here he is with Rebel, Garr's co-worker's dog.

Note the mud they are lounging in.

And Garr wondered why I flipped out when I was mopping

and heard the dogs come running into the house! lol

Rebel is a great dog and we love having him come visit!

a typical Rocky face - he almost looks cute here :)

hanging out upstairs while Garr builds a room for the girls.

Rocky loves to be right under your feet no matter what you are doing!

Abby's 9th Birthday

2010-05-03T14:09:00.007-04:00

Our second born daughter, Abby, recently celebrated her 9th birthday! The celebration was drawn out over 2 weeks - starting with a small sleepover with 2 close friends (and no sisters!,) followed the next week by her actual bd and dinner out at Applebee's, and then a family party the day after. Not to mention a fishing trip with Grandad the morning after her bd. This girl sure knows how to party!

Abby is a very smart, caring girl who loves to laugh and be silly. She likes to read and write almost as much as she loves to play video games with her cousin, basketball with her dad, and go fishing with Grandad. She is very unselfish and quick to compromise, often giving up what she wants for her sisters or friends. She is very excited and interested in missions. We recently began sponsoring a child in India and she cannot wait to get a letter and pictures mailed out!

Abby's name "Abigail" means "a Father's delight!" And she is definitely a delight, to both her father and mother. Part of the reason we chose this name is because when I found out I was pregnant with her (just 10 short months after delivering her big sister and just 2 days after taking a promotion to management in my job) I sat down at the kitchen table and cried. When I told her dad later that day, he sat at the same kitchen table and cried...with delight. He was so excited to be getting another baby! Well, she has certainly turned out to be a delight to us all. And I have no doubt, she is a delight to her Heavenly Father as well. We love you, Abby!

"Abby, Did you catch any fish?"

"No,but Grandad caught 3 ....

Well, he caught the same fish 3 times anyways!"

LOL!

Abby practicing fishingin our driveway...

she's a natural!

Looking behind her so she doesn't hit anyone!
When Grandad arrives, Abby says...
"Umm, Grandad, you have something on your hat."
"I know, it's my fishing license. You have to display it where it can be seen."
"Oh. You can't, like, pin it to your shirt or something?"
"Abby, are you embarrassed to be seen with me?"
"Umm, no Grandad, no."
LOL
At Applebee's - the waiters sang to Abby - she loved it!

Daniel

Garr, Emelyn, and Liv

The Birthday Girl!

Abby opening gifts

Daniel was the first to try out Abby's new scooter --

he's only a bit spoiled!

Ice cream cake with friends

Crazy girls!

BFFs

A (little) Boy and His Trucks

2010-04-08T21:25:00.008-04:00

Daniel loves trucks, trains, tractors, and basically anything with wheels! I took these photos of him the last day of February. You can see snow in these pictures! Considering we made our first trip (of the season) to the ocean yesterday and it was 90 degrees, these are a bit overdue! I guess it's about time I posted them! :)

Note the favorite train-conductor hat. This was a Christmas gift from Mom Linda and Buddy. Daniel LOVES this hat - he won't even let us take it off him for bed, naps, or bathtime! He does look pretty cute in it, so I don't mind. :)

"Hey Daniel, want to go outside?"

He heads straight over to the snow pile to do some 'work.'

Notice his tongue sticking out -

he does this whenever he is concentrating -

much like his Daddy! lol

I love this picture of him :)

another tongue shot :)

heading over to the barn to 'work' with Daddy

gotta love how serious he is about playing!

He's saying "MOMMEEEEE" in this photo!

Trying out photoscape

Thankful

2010-03-26T19:33:00.005-04:00

Today, I am super thankful for the husband God has blessed me with. We met during a youth group function (30 hour famine - anyone remember that!?) when we were both in high school. We started dating a few months later and endured two years of me living 14 hours away, at college, in IN. I returned home after my sophmore year and we got married the following fall. Sometimes I think back to how incredibly young and stupid and full-of-ourselves we were, and I can't believe all we've been through. I truly believe God heard and answered my mom's many prayers for a Godly, good husband for me. Frankly, at the age of 20 (he was 19) when we married, I really don't think I knew much of anything! I was in love and that was all that mattered! But anyone who has been married knows that love isn't enough. There's got to be faithfulness, honesty, caring, and above all, committment. At 20, how was I supposed to be sure that this 19 year old, drum playing, grocey store maintenance worker, smart-mouth guy was going to be all that? I couldn't possibly know. I prayed... a lot. I felt very strongly one night, as I was begging God to give me peace, and rattling off a list of who I thought my husband should be, that God spoke to me. And I felt God tell me, "No, Garr isn't all of that yet, be he will be." And so, our marriage was a walk of faith for me. Each partner in a marriage has to trust and rely heavily on the other partner to not break their heart! And I'll admit, I was scared of getting my heart broken! (I still am sometimes apparently due to the rash of rotten dreams I've been having! blah!) But the truth of the matter is, I don't know if I'm blessed or lucky or what. What I do know is I am thankful. For whatever reason, I've been given a wonderful man for a husband. A man who has done a whole lot of growing up from the boy I married. A man who loves me and cherishes me. A man who loves and plays with his children. A man who works hard at his job, not content with getting by, but continually challenging himself. A man whose heart is soft and pliable for God to work in. A man who takes care of his body and stays in shape. A man who is super talented musically. I could go on and on. But today, I just want the whole world (or at least whoever stumbles upon my ramblings) to know that I love my husband and I thank God for him!!

A Spring Day

2010-03-09T07:46:00.006-05:00

These pictures were actually taken last week when the weather was "warm" (for this time of year - note the snow), but not quite as warm as yesterday! Yay for nice weather! I hung a couple loads of laundry out on my clothesline yesterday and the kids played outside a lot. And we walked to the mulch pile after Garr got home from work. So nice! And another nice thing lately? Garr working days. sigh. So wonderful. Only two weeks left and then he's back to second shift. But for now, we are totally enjoying "normal working hours."

One of Abby's favorite things

about our house is this Japanese Maple tree.

She loves climbing it!

Olivia

Abs and Liv

All three girlies

Daniel driving his car

Emelyn

Eme and Abby

Abby's not the only one who likes to climb...

Liv climbs too - just not as high as her sisters

Hooray! Spring is almost here!

hard at play

helping Daddy - -

Daniel went and got the shovel to help

after I took this photo :)

Helpin' Daddy...Carry in Firewood

2010-03-03T07:50:00.007-05:00

Can I just point out how sweet it is that

my husband will break his back to allow our boy to 'help?'

What a great Daddy!

If you click on this photo to enlarge it,

you can see Daniel's "concentration tongue" sticking out!

Just like his Daddy! lol

(ooarghuh! "grunting noises")

Our boy gave me a thumbs up at this point and it was

SO cute!

Unfortunately my camera missed it!

ALL DONE!

Helpin' Mama...

2010-03-02T19:03:00.002-05:00

(you can see how he has already 'helped' on the wall beside him! lol)

see how he holds the cord in one hand? what a pro! :)

He thinks he's a lapdog...

2010-03-02T14:35:00.002-05:00

Our big boy

2010-02-28T13:48:00.003-05:00

Daniel and I went to his speech evaluation this past week. It went well. I was amazed to discover how very smart and talented my boy really is. :) Even though he barely speaks, he answered her many questions, built tall towers, blew bubbles, said the word "bubbles!" (which shocked this mama!), matched colors, and completed puzzles. He was checked by a dr., and aside from having some concerns over needing more oral stimulation, is perfectly healthy. All in all, he is super smart and although delayed in his speech, "he'll catch on soon enough," was the general consensus. The changes we need to make here? Let him grow up. Take away the pacifier and bottle (my only child to have these past the age of 18 mo), and make him say the words of the things he wants (rather than just giving them to him after he points.)

So when we left the office, I very gently told my boy that he is, in fact, a big boy now. And then I broke the news to him that we left his pacifier behind with the lady in the office. He cried, and it broke my heart. When we got to the car, I asked him which video he'd like to watch? He pointed and grunted and although I knew which one he wanted, I made him say the word before I would start it. and he did, his version of the word, but he did try to say it.

We decided to take away the pacifier and wean him off the bottle (which he gets at naps and bedtime.) Apparently, he's taken me seriously as I've whispered in his ear so many times over the past few days, what a big boy he really is now. And so, he has stopped taking naps. We are on day 3 of no naps, but bedtime? That is going fabulously. After two initial nights of crying, he seems to have forgotten all about his pacifier. Now weaning from the bottle, we'll see how that goes. But I have hope that it will be fine. That he will believe me when I tell him he is too big for it, and he will continue to grow faster than I am ready for. And I'm going to have to let him. And celebrate every milestone.

And the words? They're coming, slowly. He signs most words, and is struggling to say others. But I have no doubt the words will be along shortly. He's such a big boy now.

Family Visit

2010-02-18T15:19:00.004-05:00

Garr's Grandpa Dan, Aunt Shirl, and cousin Cindy stopped by last Sunday morning on their way home from visiting his mom in VA. It has been years since we have seen Grandpa and Aunt Shirl. It was SO nice to catch up with them, even for a few minutes. We are hoping to make it up north for a visit this summer!! It is long overdue!

Our family with Grandpa -

Daniel wasn't so thrilled about getting his picture taken! lol

Aunt Shirl - Rocky was in love with her :)

Cindy!! ~ who promised to come back in the Spring and do family photos for me!

YAY! She is an awesome photographer ~ can't wait!
Garr Daniel and Grandpa Dan -
from the looks Grandpa is making some kind of smart remark :)

Garr and Grandpa

You can't have one without the other...

2010-02-14T12:27:00.001-05:00

Daniel

2010-02-14T12:16:00.010-05:00

Our boy is definitely two. Lots of independence, snuggling, and tantrums. :) Here are a few photos of our boy in January/February.

Our kids have always enjoyed books, and Daniel is no different. He gets very excited over books with trains or trucks in them especially.

Daniel is all about wearing his sister's winter hats around the house. Try to put one of his own on and it's a no-go. But if he's seen his sister wearing it, he loves to sport it --- but only inside. Why in the world would he wear a winter hat (or gloves!) outdoors?

All snuggled up watching Thomas, Barney, or Bob the Builder most likely.

A few of his favorite things... trains, trains, and trucks. Here his sister's have lined them up on the windowsill for him. I do believe he has the best seat in the house.

Emelyn lets her bunny, Honey, run around in her bedroom. I walked past the door one day and looked down to see DANIEL sitting INSIDE the bunny's cage! It was really too funny. I ran to get the camera but he got out before I made it back. (yes, he's our 4th child if you haven't noticed yet! lol) Later that evening, we were watching a movie with the girls. I noticed that Daniel wasn't in the room with us AND he was being awfully quiet. I decided to enjoy the moment and deal with the inevitable mess later. :) See below! The girls found him like this and starting hollering "We have a dalmation in the house!" too funny ... and yes it was washable marker. So Daniel was both a bunny and a dog that day. :)

(Can you tell he didn't want me to take his photo?...)

Meet Bob (or Ba-ub) as Daniel says it

When I was pregnant with Daniel, I took the girls to Build a Bear, and we made a bear for Daniel. They each made a wish on a little heart and tucked it inside the bear for their brother. This bear has been in Daniel's crib since he was born. It used to play a lullaby, but it had to be washed a time or two and so the lullaby no longer plays. But he loves it already. (and so does Rocky, as you can see by looking at it's chewed ear!) Anyways, it has been heartwarming to see Daniel loving this bear. He carries it around and pushes it in his sister's stroller (or in his Tonka dump truck!) The other day, I came into his room to see Daniel standing outside (but looking inside) his crib, yelling, "Ba-ub! Ba-ub!" Apparently he wanted to Bob to come out and play.

Toy Nostalgia

2010-02-12T19:54:00.004-05:00

My kids are growing up, slowly but surely! Actually some seem to be growing up faster than others (Eme)! And lately, I've found myself having some toy nostalgia. :) Toys that my older girls played with when they were little - wishing we still had them. At the time (as they outgrew the toys) I'm sure that either A) pieces were lost or B) I was sick and tired of the toy :) so we gave most of them away or sold them in sales. We weren't expecting Daniel - we were "done" and so I got rid of the "baby toys." Now, though, there are a few toys I'm wishing we kept.

We were at this awesome toy store a few weeks back and I came upon this little gem. I loved these eggs - there are shapes on the bottom that you match with the carton, faces to match, and colors. Lots of learning. I can remember the girls enjoying them so much. I don't know what happened to our egg carton (probably both A and B.) Anyways, we were there to buy a bd gift for a friend, but I couldn't resist picking these up for Daniel. So now we have a set. And believe me, I'll be hanging onto these for the ~~next child~~ grandchildren. (and btw, I didn't pay as much for them as Amazon is selling them for!)For Christmas when Eme was a toddler, and Abby was almost a toddler :), Emelyn received this tea set from Garr's Grandmother and Aunt. We loved it. I have photos of Eme having tea parties with it. Abby loved chewing on the spoons. I can't remember why we no longer have it - I think we lost some pieces. I may have gotten really tired of the song "I'm a little teapot." :) But now that my girls are basically "too old" for a tea set? I'm really missing this toy. I'm thinking about snatching one up - just because. You know Olivia might not be too old yet - her birthday will be coming up this summer. What do you think - is 7 too old for a tea set?

And this one, is from MY childhood. It is one of the books that I owned. I loved books so much and this was one of my favorites. I have looked and looked for this book since then. I found it on Amazon. They want $30 bucks for it!!! Can you believe it? SO should have held on to this one!

So am I the only one out there with toy nostalgia? Anyone else have fond memories of certain toys?

Christmas 2009 Photos

2010-02-11T20:41:00.007-05:00

I never did share any Christmas 2009 photos because our computer was "under the weather." So considering that it looks like it should be Christmas outside right now, I thought I'd share them. That and I don't feel like watching UFC with Garr right now and I'm waiting for Daniel to stop yelling from his crib and go to sleep. So this gives me something to do in the meantime. Cause I'm too tired to start anymore cleaning tonight. Oh but that reminds me - I need to switch the laundry. So I guess I'll go do that while these photos load. (Fair Warning: there are a LOT of photos!) :)

We woke up one morning to our ceiling leaking. Garr had already left for work. Thankfully his boss let him come home. Here he is (in uniform - note the stripe and the gun belt - lol) scraping ice off our roof. I'm sure people driving by may have looked twice!

Of course the water was falling right beside our tree! Our tree skirt was soaked!

The only photo I was able to get of all 4 kids together.

Abby, Livy, and nephew Cole!

Daniel rockin' his conductor's cap and VA Beach Choo-Choo shirt!

Mom Linda, Buddy, and the fam celebrating Christmas

Daniel - not posing for pictures with his sisters like he was supposed to!

Livy after Aunt Amy dolled her all up!

Liv rockin' her pink Emu boots from Grandpa Jef!

My girls - not too thrilled at getting their photos taken

See? This is what happens when Mommy starts making threats for smiles!

Abby, age 8

Emelyn, age 10 (gasp!)

Livy, age 6 (tears all dried up)

Daniel being a goof

This is what Daniel was doing while I was trying to get photos of the kids - flipping from the chair over the back of the couch. Yes, he did end up on the floor once, but he didn't care. BOYS!

Daniel in his adorable Christmas jammies staring at his new train table. He just walked around it and stared for the longest time. I'm sure it was quite confusing to him to wake up to a room full of toys and gifts! He shook it off though and dug in! lol

Daniel checking out his train backpack and gifts from Grandpa Jef

Reading a Thomas book with Grandad (note what's on TV in the background.)

This kid can't get enough trains!

Emelyn's Poem for Daddy

2010-02-11T12:31:00.003-05:00

Someone Call the Cops!

Someone call the cops!

He has run a bunch of stops!

Someone call 911

The robber is about to run!

What's that you say?

You're not working today!

This totally cracked us up. Garr is an awesome officer, and he has been an officer for about 4 years now. So his days off? He wants them to be his days off! Apparently the munchkin picked up on that lol!

The Chore Bucket

2010-02-10T15:48:00.008-05:00

In order to keep things fresh and exciting around here, we sometimes implement the chore bucket. This is something my mom actually started when we lived at her house. I write down a list of chores that need to be done, each on their own little strip of paper. The papers get folded in half and then into the bucket (or bowl or hat or whatever you have handy!) they go. The kids then pull out a piece of paper and go do the chore listed. Since I have 3 girls participating, I sometimes write the same thing 3x's and they know to throw that one back in if they've already done it. :)

Some of the chores we do:

Find 10 things in the living room (bedroom, dining rm, wherever) to pick up and put away!
Sweep the living room floor (or kitchen, dining rm, mudroom)
Clean the bathroom
Fold laundry
Put away laundry
Take your sheets off your bed, put them in the laundry room, and remake your bed
Dust the entertainment center
Empty the dishwasher
Straighten the bookshelf
Feed/water animal
Vacuum rugs

Today I added some fun chores also. Things like:

Give Daddy (or Mommy) a hug
Say something nice to your sister
Give Daddy a 2 minute back scratch
Do 10 Jumping Jacks

I also add in school chores. They might say:

Read for 10 minutes
Do one page of Math
Say your Awana verse (scripture verse) to someone
Play the geography game with your sister
Do a page of English

Sometimes we incorporate a little FlyLady love also. One a slip of paper I write "Hot Spot!" Whoever pulls that paper has to YELL "HOT SPOT!" Everyone drops what they are doing and runs to the kitchen (where we keep our bucket.) On the paper it will say what the hot spot is - ie. dining room table, bookshelf, kitchen counter, etc... any spot in the house where "stuff" seems to pile up! Then we set a timer for 5 minutes (or 10) and everyone races against the timer to get the area cleared off.

Under chores, we have the paper that reads "Find 10 things to put away." This one is great! Remember I have 3 girls, so that's 30 items in whatever room that get put away! There are some other variations on this one we've done over the years - specifically when cleaning bedrooms. These variations are great for helping kids learn counting, colors, and shapes. It can also break a big, overwhelming job into small, fun parts and shows the kids that it can be fun to clean...well, maybe that last one is exagerating! :) I usually am in the room helping clean up but will give the following directions (one to each child) as we clean:

Find 10 pink toys to put away
Find 8 purple toys with legs on them to put away (ie Barbie's, dolls, polly pockets)
Find 13 toys with rectangles on them to put away (blocks, books, etc)
Find 6 books to put away
Find 4 things that you could wear to put away, etc, etc. (clothing, dress up clothes, shoes)
Find 15 toys with wheels (toys cars, truck, doll strollers, riding toys, etc)
Find something that could keep you warm to put away (blanket, clothing, shoes, etc)

A Poem by Emelyn

2010-02-08T11:56:00.014-05:00

For Christmas, Emelyn wrote and framed poems for some of her family. This child has a gift! Not only is she excellent at writing poetry, but she can pinpoint a person's personality and portray it in words SO well (with humor!)! We had a lot of laughs reading through her poems on Christmas morning. Today, I'll share the one she wrote for me. Maybe later I'll share some of the other poems also.

Thursday

It's Thursday! Oh me oh my!

I have to bake a pie,

Gotta do school with the girls,

Oh no, the dog's chasing squirrels!

We're late for co-op,

Can't let the kids grow up,

Wait! What's that you say?

It's only Monday.

This is so me. Always have too many things that I am trying to do at once. Always running behind. Always wishing my kids would stay young. Always aggravated with the dog! and then I find out...I don't even have the day of the week right! She totally pinned me. Hilarious. What a girl!

More about the Blizzard

2010-02-07T13:11:00.002-05:00

Olivia has been staying at Justin's this weekend. I'm sure it's been nice for the two of them to have each other to play with. However, we're ready for her to come home (and I'm sure K&K are too lol.) Normally our neighbor plows our driveway out for us (I say normally, but we've only needed it plowed twice this winter...and even that is a LOT for DE) Today he is busy plowing his contracts and so Garr headed out to shovel us out. We don't actually own a snow shovel. So he was out there with a garden shovel and Abby and I joined him with rakes. Then Abby had the bright idea of using a dustpan. I'll tell you that sitting in 2 feet of snow "shoveling" with a dustpan brought back memories. Memories of when we lived in El Paso TX and I would stare in shock at women cutting their grass with scissors! Scissors! I'd never seen anything like it before. I wonder if that's what our neighbors (who were all out shoveling with snow shovels) were thinking of us this morning. lol!

After a while, we got in touch with our plowing neighbor. He has an extra shovel that he said we were welcome to use (he was still out plowing accounts at this time.) Garr asked me (probably because I am being SO helpful with my dustpan at this point!) to go over and get the shovel off the neighbor's porch. Now we are at the front of our driveway and the road from our house to our neighbor's is plowed. But I decide to walk in 2 feet of snow, around the back of the house, out around the fence that runs between our houses, and back up to his porch. Can I just say that was the dumbest thing I have done in a long time!?! Apparently since it has been almost 7 years since I have lived up north, I have forgotten what it feels like to walk through snow. Not only that, but walking through snow that is 2 feet deep when you are only 5 feet tall is, shall we say, NOT EASY! I seriously had to stop and catch my breath a couple of times. I wondered if Garr or the neighbors would hear me if I had to call for help. I weighed in my head whether I wanted to finish the walk to the porch or completely embarass myself by calling for help! I finished the walk. And then I took the plowed road to get home. :)

Well, now we are finally inside, toasty warm and dry! We just finished eating some chicken taco soup and playing a game of Rummicub. I'm trying to decide if I want to start a new quilt (here's a link to the one I'm toying with -- Crazy Nine Patch Lattice Quilt,) do a puzzle with Emelyn, or start reading a new book (while lounging on the couch while Garr watches TV.) It all sounds fabulous! A little later we'll be settling in to watch the Superbowl - GO SAINTS! (that's for you Bud-man! :) ) And hopefully one of the local stores will get some shovels in before the next storm is supposed to hit on Tuesday. Ahhh!

The Blizzard of 2010

2010-02-06T15:07:00.007-05:00

That's what they're calling it. It's definitely more snow than we have seen in a very long time. And we are not going anywhere! (even if we wanted to, even with our 4x4 super duty truck) :) I thought I'd share a few photos from our day... a glimpse into what's happening here ... along with a lot of relaxing, laundry, cartoons, and the like...

"Dream"...

I've had a hankering all day to watch "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas" lol

a view from our living room
our new wood-insert - it rocks!

view of our front porch and beyond

view from our dining room

in the kitchen...Chicken Taco Soup in the crock-pot, Banana bread and muffins in the oven, chocolate chip cookies already put away...

our wood stove in the homeschool room

Abby working on her bag - Eme is making one too, but I didn't get a photo of hers.

Potato bags!

A sewing machine cozy (cover) - too big for this machine, but hopefully will fit my new one!

Stay warm everyone!

Happy 2010!

2010-01-09T21:28:00.002-05:00

We had a great, albeit super busy Christmas and New Year's. We had out of state company four weekends in a row. It was wonderful to finally have a house where we can fit not only ourselves, but a bunch more people! lol But it was tiring keeping up with it all. Thankfully our New Year's company are almost as rambunctious as us and we mostly just sat around the fire and relaxed!

My FIL graciously took our computer home and took it completely apart (he sent pics of it- I have no idea how he gets it back together - all those parts!) and is fixing it up for us. My SIL is graciously letting us use her computer in the meantime. I don't really want to load her computer up with our family photos (your welcome Ames!) so I don't have any photos to share today.

Instead I'm going to share some stories from this week. This could get long and boring so if you want to stop reading, I don't blame you. :) However, I decided I might want to look back at these crazy days a few years from now for a laugh.

Daniel was both a rabbit and a dalmation this week. While Honey (our bunny) was hopping around Emelyn's room, I came around the corner to see Daniel IN the rabbit cage! Unfortunately, he got out before I could take a photo. (yes obviously he's our 4th! lol) The next day, we were watching Little House and Daniel was being so good and quiet. (yes, he's our 4th - why didn't this set off an alarm??) The girls walked into the hs room and started hollering about a dalmation. I got in there to see Daniel, with a black marker in his hand (washable thankfully.) He had a large black spot colored in around his right eye, and multiple other spots on his face, hands, and body. After my initial groan, it was rather cute. lol

We started school back up this week and Garr started a new position/schedule at work. He's basically working 2nd shift now, which is nice that it is a more steady sleep schedule (rather than 2 weeks on days and 2 weeks on nights.) I'm used to him being gone most evenings, but I guess because he had been on vacation over the holiday, I'd forgotten how hard it can be to juggle everything alone! So the kids and I had a couple rough evenings this week...

I mentioned that we are starting school up again. We've been staying up too late and, subsequently, sleeping in too late. So I had plans of everyone getting to bed by 9 and up by 7 (yes that's early for us!) Tuesday night, I did my workout (not really a New Year's resolution - more of an "It's about time I get in shape no matter what time of year it is!" resolution.) So I waited too long that day and had to do it in the evening. Then I was supposed to catch up with a friend at 8 on the phone. I figured I'd get the kids into bed at 8, talk with my friend for an hour, and get myself into bed at nine. Ok, I knew we'd talk for two hours, but 10 pm isn't bad! lol

Well that's not how my night went. My friend called at 8:30 and because of my late workout, I still didn't have the kids settled into bed. I was trying to get the fires lit with the wood Garr had just brought home (not working well - smoking a ton!) Then I could hear our dog outside barking. So I ran out to tell him to come back inside (he was not on a leash) and he looked at me like, "yeah right!" and continued to take off across the road. I ran back inside and called Garr to see if I could open the front door to release some of the smoke, now filling the living room. As I opened the front door, I could hear Rocky barking and the neighbor across the street yelling at him. (Meanwhile Daniel was in his crib, supposed to be going to sleep, crying instead.) I ran out the front door (still in my shorts and t from the workout and it was freezing outside), across the road and over to the neighbor's. He was outside with a pretty little pug that Rocky was checking out. She was holding her own against our 100 lb blockhead puppy. After exchanging niceties with the neighbor, I grabbed Rocky by the collar and start pulling him home. Or maybe he was pulling me. It kind of went back and forth a few times. He does weigh nearly as much as me, so needless to say, it was a struggle to get him home.

After giving him some discipline, I went outside to carry in some other wood to burn. Once I got the fires burning, I finished getting the girls to bed and then got Daniel (who was still crying) out of bed. I collapsed in a chair, feeling like crying, and decided to call my friend instead. She can always make me laugh - even if it was 10 pm and I had wanted to be in bed asleep by then! So I gave her a call, and her sweet "Hey you, how are you???" put me right in tears. I had a good cry and a good whining session. By the time I got Daniel into bed (midnight) and myself I went right to sleep.

I felt much better the next morning. I managed to get up at 8:00 am (after getting up at 6 to load the fires - Garr loaded them at 3.) Then got the girls up and we started school around 9. Everything went well with school. I was feeling so good I decided to take the kids out for the evening... Do you see it coming?

We went to the library and then to Chickfila for dinner. I even let the kids go inside and play. While there, Daniel finished his food and wanted to go play (I was seated right outside the playroom door.) So I let him down and sent him in to play.

Emelyn immediately looked alarmed "Mom, are you sending him in there alone?"

"Um yeah, it's a glass wall, I can see him."

"But he can't do the slide alone!"

Realizing she wasn't going to let him stay in there alone, I said, "Ok Eme, just eat, I'll go in and watch him."

A few minutes later, she comes in, "Mom do you want to go eat now?"

"Are you done eating?"

"No, but you can go eat."

"No sweetie, you finish and then we'll trade places."

That girl gobbled her food up to get back into the playplace to care for her baby brother. A lady looked at me the first time Eme came in and asked, "Is she your daughter too?" I said yes. She told me she could tell because Emelyn looks just like me and then commented on what a little mother she is. Oh yes, she sure is.

She came in to play with him so I went back out to finish eating. By the way, Daniel was doing just fine going up the stairs and down the slide by himself. He didn't need someone right with him. But about 10 minutes later, Emelyn comes out "Mom, are you finished eating?" "Yes honey, why?" "Well, I was wondering if you could watch Daniel so I could play?" Oh my goodness! That kid! She is the sweetest! I didn't realize she thought she was watching him still. Even though I had been watching right through the glass, she was still worried about him. So I went in the room to watch him so she could feel free to play.

After Chickfila, I decided to go to the local "super store" to get our groceries. I should know better by now. I totally should. After fighting the crowds to get all our groceries, we got into line. A very long line. With a very slow cashier. Man, I know how to choose 'em. Every time! While we're in line, Daniel is obviously tired out and sick of being confined to the cart. Especially since he could see the candy right next to us. He is grabbing grapes out of the cart and eating them. (I know I hadn't paid for them but I figured if it held off the screaming, a couple grapes wasn't a big deal.) Then he was half chewing them, and throwing what was left of them at Olivia. lovely. So I move the grapes so he can't reach them, and then the bread, and the eggs, and the cookies ... you get the idea. While I'm trying to change the overflowing cart around, he is wiggling out of the restraint and standing up. After that, there was no way he was getting back in the seat. So I was holding him, and I wasn't about to put him down. So there we are, wrestling - I'm trying to hold him and unload the cart (finally it was almost our turn to get checked out!) He's crying and trying to get down. Can you say frustrated and tired? We finally get through and pay! I took the kids over for a pretzel, which I had told Emelyn she could have after dinner (instead of ice cream.) I had also told the other girls they couldn't get one (because they chose ice cream.) But at this point I am so tired and worn out that I choose not to fight about it and everyone gets a pretzel. Amazingly Daniel sits in the cart, smiling, and eating his pretzel.

This is my fourth child. Shouldn't I have figured all this out by now? Why do I push myself? And why didn't I buy the pretzels before we stood in line for 15 minutes with him screaming and carrying on??

So we head home and the girls are wonderful and immediately start carrying in groceries while I deal with the way-too-excited mutt and the wood stoves. We'd been gone quite a while so they needed to be reloaded.

Once I get that done, I join the girls in carrying in and putting away groceries. As I juggle a gallon of milk and another fridge item, I realize I can't fit the milk into the fridge. So I try to pick up the item in the way and maneuver the milk into place. Unfortunately I lost my grip on the milk. I didn't just drop it because I thought I could catch it and so I ended up fumbling it higher into the air. You know what's coming next. Yep. It exploded when it hit the ground. Milk flew all over. me. the fridge. the counters. the table. the window. the kids. the dog. my Uggs. :( not pretty. The girls (probably sensing I was about to blow!) immediately started running around to get towels and help mop the mess up. The dog, we found out, loves milk and did his part too. We did finally get it wiped up and the floor mopped and the other groceries put away.

Then the phone rang. At this point it was after 9 pm (remember our new bedtime, yeah that one.) I checked our phone - we never get calls on it unless they're sales - actually my mom didn't even know we had a home phone until today. lol really. so I check and it's a local number.

"Hello?"

"Hello? Is Patricia there?"

Now I'm exhausted. I haven't yet lost my temper or cried, but I feel like I could, if I wasn't so numb. "No you have the wrong number."

"Is this --- - -----?"

Yes."

"Then I don't have the wrong number, I have the wrong name!" all perky-like. And then.... "Can I speak to your mommy?"

Yes, she did. "Ummm, I AM the Mommy."

And then she went on to tell me how young I sound (really?) and also to give me the great news that we have won a 3 day vacation, blah, blah, blah... Meanwhile, Daniel came in crying and whining, and the kids are asking me a hundred questions. I finally said, "I'm sorry, this is a bad time, I need to go." click.

What a night. The next night the kids were wanting to go do something. (It's cold, we feel cooped up some.) I kind of wanted to do something too. Garr's firm response? "Honey, don't do this to yourself." Right. So we stayed home and I cleaned our bedroom! Love it! And I got curtains hung in Daniel's room and it was so great! And I re-evaluated my goals for us. I get up at 8. I get the girls up at 8:30. We start school at 9ish. (I still try to get them in bed by 9 and myself by 10) Maybe we'll move it up as we go but for now, it's fine!

School rocked this week! We had homeschool rollerskating on Fri afternoon, so the girls understood they had to get their work done and done well! (no whining!) (if they wanted to go...) And they did. They are amazing. Liv is starting to read SO well. We've switched some things around (not really using the curriculum anymore - just books I've pulled together) and she is taking off in reading and math. I'm so proud of her. Eme and Abby are doing great also. They took their exam in geography on North and South America. They scored 97% and 99%. Their test was to take a map (no names on it, just numbers.) They filled in all the countries' names (correct spelling!) - 13 in South America and 17 in North America. They also had to know all the country capitals of South America and a few for North America. They did awesome! It's great to see them loving geography! And now when we are reading, and I mention "Quito" they go "Oh we know where that is! That's the capital of Ecuador!" Wow.

And we did go rollerskating and it was SO fun. Garr came and watched Daniel so I could skate! I was nervous at first (it's been years!) but it came back quickly. Then he let me go out to dinner and some fabric shopping with a girlfriend and it was a much needed, fun time!

All in all, a great week, with a couple difficult nights. But hey, it's life, we're alive and healthy, and for that I am very grateful.

Quilting Kitty

2009-12-14T22:50:00.003-05:00

Over the past few weeks, there has been a flurry of sewing activity around here! We have had two sewing machines set up in the homeschool room (thanks Linda!!) Eme, Abby, and myself have all been quilting up some special projects. I am so proud of my girls - they are making some cool things for Christmas!

I made a quilt top for my MIL back when Abby was a baby (8 years ago!) I gave it to her for Christmas - just the top - and promised her I'd finish it soon! She took it and used just the top for awhile and gave it back to me this past year. So this Christmas, she received it again, this time, finished! Unfortuntely I was so excited to see her open it that I forgot to take a photo!! (much like another quilt that I made and gifted this year! - I've got to get better about that!)

As I was quilting it, I had a surprise visitor!That's Eme's hand - I started taking photos :)

Can you see her curled up next to the sewing machine on the table? She snuggled right up to it all the while I was sewing - even putting her paw on my hand as I guided the fabric through - too cute!!

Mount Everest

2009-12-09T22:34:00.006-05:00

Down the road a little ways is a development, err , an almost-development. I'm not sure what happened, but there are only 2 houses in this development, and then a long windy road, a mulch hill, lots of trees, wheat and nature-beauty. And it's a great place to take the kids and the dog and go. So we have been.

The kids ride their bikes, Daniel rides in his stroller, and Rocky pulls us along. (just kidding - he's getting better at walking beside us!) The kids (and Garr and I too!) are loving the mulch pile. The girls have nicknamed it "Mount Everest." And it is rather fun to climb and race up. Until you can't breathe anymore ... lol. Then we walk/ride around the circle while Rocky is let loose to run through the woods and chase whatever moves. We finish the walk out by checking on our vultures. Yes it even has a Disney-es tree with 3 vultures (quite fitting because we just finished learning about "decomposers" in school last week!) So we make it a point to wave and show them we are very much alive on our way out of their development.

A good time, I tell you! Here are some photos as proof! (And please excuse my messy hair and sweats - we roll our of bed and take these walks you know!) (And those of you who really know me know that's how I look all day haha!)

Wordless Wednesday

2009-12-02T10:31:00.001-05:00

Daniel turns 2!

2009-12-02T10:02:00.005-05:00

Daniel's 2nd birthday was on Mon, Nov 30. We had a great day. Garr was home with us and we spent the day hanging out as a family. We took the kids for a walk in the morning and climbed a mulch hill. The rest of the day was spent hanging out and I had to run a couple errands.

Daniel surprised us by climbing out of his crib at naptime. I walked by his door to hear him calling "Mama!" I realized he sounded a lot closer to the door than he should and opened the door to have him walk out "Mama!" Garr was able to get him back down a little while later. We had a repeat performance the next morning - Daniel knocking on his bedroom door for someone to let him out. Then again at naptime, he got the door open on his own and just came waltzing out. What a funny kid! We've since moved the changing table (which he was climbing onto and then onto Eme's bed and down) so I'm hoping that will discourage future break-outs!

We had a family party for Daniel that evening. It was a lot of fun. I made ziti, Italian bread, and salad. We had chocolate cake and ice cream too! I bought root beer for Daniel - he loves it! He totally hammed it up at his party and had lots of fun opening gifts! I'm sure he had no idea why he was getting so spoiled, but he's a good sport and went along with it! LOL! All day long, he showed everyone his new sneakers - we gave them to him in the morning before our walk (Rocky chewed up his other pair!) When it was time to get changed later, I asked him what he wanted to wear and he picked up his sneaker and said "this! this!" Too cute.

He had his 2 yr well visit yesterday. He's doing great physically! 30 lbs and 33 inches. They are referring him to a speech therapist for analysis. He isn't saying more than 10-15 words (most are expressions "Whoa! Wow! Oooh! Yay!" etc. He says "Mama, Daddy, Abby, No, Bye, Go, Hi, Mine, Ow" and a few other words that I can't think of now. Even though his speech is limited, he has no trouble communicating! He uses sign language, gestures, and certain noises so we can understand him. And he understands everything we say to him. The dr said it's a difficult case because his communication is so good despite his speech. So the question is if he just doesn't want to talk and isn't or if he is really having trouble making the words in his head into the correct sounds. I'm partial to the idea that he just doesn't feel like it! lol But we'll see!

Here are some photos from his day!

Our 2 year old boy!

The mobile on the ceiling is all Thomas the Train! Mom found it for us.

Getting ready for dinner
Showing everyone Thomas on the mobile!

How old are you Daniel? ummm, not quite, bud!

"WOW" play food for the kitchen

Thomas trains - a favorite!

Love reading Thomas books

Justin and Liv in their conductor hats

The big kids :)

Blowing out the candles

Awww is he not the cutest thing ever???

House Update

2009-11-25T08:17:00.011-05:00

Since my "readers" have been requesting a house update - here it is! LOL

(Yes, that's you, Jenn!)

These pictures were taken in our homeschool room. It has been rearranged a little since then because of the wood stove, but it's pretty close. This is Daniel's little play area where I can keep an eye on him while the girls work. Garr's mom gave us the rack and bins and it has been great for keeping Daniel's toys organized and close at hand. We really like it. Below that are Daniel and Olivia working on patterns at the homeschool table. Too cute!

We tore out that disgusting green carpet and replaced it with this Brazillian Cherry hardwood. We love it! It is a bit tough to keep swept up between the kids, the animals, and the wood from the stoves, but it is way easier than carpet! These photos were taken back in Sept. before we arranged the living room. The flooring runs the whole length of the living and dining rooms - about 44'x20'. Garr installed it - he did a great job! I'm so blessed to have such a handy husband!

Here is our living room fireplace before we got the insert. I haven't really done any decorating yet in these photos. Everything on the mantle was just stuck there for lack of a place to put it. Garr and I aren't thrilled with the colors in the living room and will probably repaint - the wall color just looks like mud to me (it's supposed to be "Linen") and I want something warmer - maybe "Cocoa-ish." The next two photos are our dining room (still nothing on the walls yet.) It's our favorite room of the house though! And the last two photos are our "game/puzzle/folding laundry" table in the living room! I've always wanted a table set up for games and now I have it!

The kids have enjoyed making smores in the living room fireplace!!

Our house has only a fireplace for heat. And our house is too big to heat with one fireplace. There is also baseboard heat, but the people before us took the fuel tank. And there are cracks in the baseboard (it's solid steel) so that has been tricky to fix. Add to that the price of fuel oil, and the fact that we have been offered a TON of free wood (that Garr has to chop and bring home, but still!) So we decided to heat with wood. We bought this wood stove and Garr installed it in the homeschool room. The kids were helping to carry wood in these pictures. I wish I could have gotten a better one of Daniel - he looked so cute carrying his little log into the house!

Garr cleaned out our fireplace chimney and installed an insert (more efficient and better heat.) This is him afterwards, finally sitting down. We joked about him looking like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins!! lol Poor guy! I made him smile for the first picture, but the second photo is how he really felt. lol What a great husband I have!!

Mount Vernon

2009-11-24T09:54:00.007-05:00

This fall, we have begun our homeschooling journey. It has been great! I really enjoy teaching (and learning alongside) our children. We've gotten to do some fun things together as well.

In September, we visited Mount Vernon - George Washington's home. What a beautiful, interesting place!!! If you have a chance to go, I would highly recommend it! There is so much to see and do. George Washington was a truly remarkable man. Garr had to work, so my mom and dad went along with me. We went through our homeschool co-op (a great benefit of co-ops!) Some friends (thanks Sami, Kimi, and Katie!) tag-teamed Daniel and Liv for the day, so just Eme and Abby went.

This is a life-like statue of GW's inauguration. Amazing how they used science to find out exactly what he would have looked like at this age. There was a lot of information on how they figured this out. Very interesting!

In the play room for the kids, GW, his wife Martha, and step-children.

Abby and a friend from co-op dressing up in period clothing

Eme putting a shattered pot back together

One of the many livestock on the premises

Enjoying a rest on the bench during the trail through the woods

Beautiful view from the trail. Amazing to think what our country looked like back in GW's day.

Feeding hay to the horses.

Reading about the history of this land.

Sitting on the wharf - GW had many business enterprises running from his property.

This is a building that GW invented for treading grain. Just amazing.

Eme and Abby checking out the sheep.

The wharf

Abby

Eme found a perfect spot in the this tree!

We were amazed at the size of some of the trees on the property. This one looked like someone's fist to us. The girls enjoyed climbing on the "knuckles."

Above the burial tomb that GW designed was this Scripture verse. The girls and I enjoyed thinking of meeting GW and Martha someday in heaven. Eme has lots of questions for him! lol

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house (it was AMAZING) but we could take pictures out here in the kitchen. There were so many examples of how life was lived back then - so interesting!!

The view of the Potomac River from GW's veranda

Waiting outside to go in

How did I get on that tangent?

2009-11-23T21:56:00.009-05:00

I haven't blogged in a while. That's becoming a theme around here, isn't it? It's not that I don't want to keep this little scrapbook of sorts up to date or share our lives with you all. It's just that with a new house (that requires a lot of upkeep and fixing,) 4 children (one at age one and 3 that I am spending my days teaching,) and 5 animals to clean up after (one in particular I have to keep chasing down the street,) well, life just is busy. Too busy to get photos uploaded and sit and wait for them to appear on my blog. And too busy to tell you all what we've been doing. And then when I sit to do it, I get overwhelmed by how far behind I am. (I have this 'thing' about doing everything in order.) I hate to make dinner if there are dirty dishes in the sink - in fact, for some reason I can't bring myself to. Yet I'm so tired after cooking and feeding everyone, that most days the dishes don't get washed right after dinner (gasp!) and so I end up doing dishes before I start cooking the next meal. Which means we start eating later, and I get done cleaning up later, and then I'm too tired to do the dishes, and ... you get the idea. And yes it's the same with uploading the photos. Well, it is to me anyways, but you all are probably thinking I'm crazy by now. So I haven't actually decided if I'm going to post all those pictures and try to tell you about the events, or just pretend all the fun things we've done for the last 3 months didn't happen. Ok you know I'm going to post the pictures, I can't stand it. Here goes!

On October 29th, our baby turned 10 years old! It is hard to believe. We are so proud of who Emelyn is becoming though. She is a wonderful helper, smart in school, more like a second mommy to her little brother than a sister, and genuinely cares about others. We had a little party for her to celebrate and she also received swimming lessons at the local Y as a gift from Garr and I. She loves to swim and is a natural at it.

Daniel still says very few words - mostly he grunts, giggles, uh-uh's, or says mama, daddy or dad-dad, abby, and no. Oh and he can say "mine" too, of course. :) I'm proud to say he said his first sentence this weekend, in sign language! Here he is talking to Grandad - he said ...

EAT

FISH

(goldfish crackers)

Here they are laughing about it together! :)

This past weekend, my aunt, uncle, cousin, and his son came down for a visit! What a great time we had! We took them to the beach since my nephew had never seen the ocean. We had a big (practically Thanksgiving) meal at our house on Sunday afternoon. It was so great - we love having a house big enough to entertain. All 16 of us (the girls had friends over also) sat comfortably in our dining room, with room to spare. Daniel is pouting in the picture of him at the beach. He loved the waves at first, but once he realized they "chased" him, he wanted to go back up on the boardwalk with Grandad. He was not happy with me for making him wait! The next is Eme, who just turned 10. Everytime I look at her I can't believe how beautiful she is. Next is my parents, followed by Abby, Liv, and my other nephew Justin. Then our out of town family!

We have a Japanese Maple outside our window that turned the most gorgeous shade of red this fall. The leaves have recently fallen and the kids have had so much fun with them. Here they have raked them into piles around the driveway, making an obstacle course to ride their bikes through. Rocky loves laying in them too. The tree is also great for little girls to climb and hang from. Unfortunately there was a glare (I was taking these pics through a window) but if you look carefully you can see Livy hanging from the tree and her friend playing inside it. And Daniel has fun with them also :)

That's it for now. I really should head to bed. I'll do two more posts - one an update on the house, and another a school update!

Updated Guest Post on Memorial Monday

2009-11-02T20:39:00.004-05:00

*My first guest post and I didn't even copy it right! lol If you read my blog last night (on Monday), please re-read it - the ending wasn't on here last night. Thanks!

Ever since I first learned about Memorial Mondays here, I've wanted to share this story. But it isn't really my story to share. I was there at the end, during the rejoicing, but my parents didn't want to worry me and never told me what was going on until the end. I didn't really know the whole story to share so I asked my mom if she would write it up and "guest post" for me. (I feel almost like a famous blogger having my own "guest poster!" lol) So here, it is ... written by my mom:

Spring 1993

“Honey, sit down,” I said seriously. “We need to talk.
As my husband sat down with me, I told him “We need $1000 by March 1st. I showed him the bills that had to be paid by then. Everything listed was a necessity – housing, car insurance, etc. I don’t believe I even included groceries in this list. Then I showed him our checkbook. We had a balance of about $30 on that day with no prospects of any additional income anytime soon.
“Dan,” I said. “There is no way we can come up with the money we need on our own. Every church we’ve ever had contact with has already sent us support. No family member has this kind of money. The Only One who can make this happen is God Himself!”
Dan and I, with our two teenage children, were serving the Lord on the mission field in Mexico, living out the Scripture that says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27 Smuggling food, clothing, medications, blankets into the communist colonias in Mexico, we were also helping feed children in 4 different orphanages.
My pastor husband and I agreed to meet daily, sitting on the couch, telling God of our need. We had over a month to pray. Every morning at 9 a.m. we would sit before God, reminding Him that His arm was not too short, Numbers 11:23; that He owned the cattle on a thousand hills, Psalm 50:10; that nothing was impossible for Him, Luke 1:37. Every day we reminded God that we needed this money no later than March 1st. We covenanted with God to tell no man of this need, only God Himself knew. A lesson we had learned from George Mueller, the man of God who ran several orphanages in the late 1800’s by faith alone.
As one day dragged into the next, with no answer from God, our prayers became even more urgent! “God!” we cried. “You’re running out of time! What will become of us? How will You be glorified if You do not provide for Your children?” To say I struggled with doubt would be an understatement.
March 1st dawned a beautiful, sunny day. At 11:30 a.m. my husband said to me, “Well, shall we drive downtown to pick up our mail?” I admit I was discouraged. It seemed to me that God had not heard our desperate plea. “Sure, “ I answered. “Whatever.”
When Dan handed me the pile of mail I went through it quickly, stopping at an envelope with a return address of Florida. FLORIDA? “Who do we know from Florida?” I asked. My husband shook his head, answering that we had no acquaintances there. My hands shook as I opened the envelope, only to have a $1,000 CHECK FALL OUT!
“What?” I screamed. “We have received $1000 on March 1st!!! Our deadline day! We began to shout our praises, lifting our hands, tears streaming down our faces as we worshipped the God who can do the impossible!
There was a letter enclosed. I proceeded to read how my brother had gone to his church board the beginning of January asking if they would be willing to release some mission funds to his missionary sister. The board agreed to send us $1000. After a few days their treasurer forwarded said letter to the district treasurer. Turned out he was vacationing in Florida for the winter. His mail was eventually forwarded to him where he admitted he hung onto the check for a few days so that he could send us a letter along with the check.
A check which JUST HAPPENED to arrive in our mailbox on…..March 1st.
Psalm 37:25 - 26 says, “ I was young and now I am old yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed.”
Are you up against the wall today? Do your problems seem insurmountable? Do you feel like you’ve prayed and prayed and heaven is silent? The same God who delivered my family is still in business. Do not waver. Keep praying. He will never forsake you, He will meet your every need.
“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your Faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.” Lamentations 3:23-24

Memorial Box Monday (on a Tuesday, almost Wednesday...)

2009-10-27T23:07:00.002-04:00

As I mentioned on an earlier post, Linny at A Place Called Simplicity is challenging my faith. Linny does something called Memorial Box Monday. She has a box that she keeps small reminders in of the things God has done in her life. It is often the case that my head hits the pillow at night, and my stomach clenches up with anxiety - and oh how everything seems so much worse at night! And I know it's all going to be ok, but I wonder how much stuff I'm going to have to sacrifice and I don't want to! And yet, I know nothing is impossible for God. So on nights like this, it calms me so to read through all the posts of how God has worked in the lives of His people! He loves us! Linny's recent post was a story about an eye contact (I would highly encourage you to head over and read her post and the comments following!) God has done many things for me over the years - some, though, I have forgotten about or they've bccome hazy in my memory. Her post helped me remember a story of my own. And I guess if I had a Memorial Box, I would put a contact and a blade of grass in it. Here's why:

During my sophmore year of college, I was an RA (Resident Assistant) and a group of us were taken out late at night to a campground for training. (This was college! Crazy times!) So we are in this field with just car headlights for light. It was cold and there was a dew or frost on the ground. As we ran around playing the team-building game, someone yelled out that they'd lost a contact. Now it's dark, there are 15 or 20 of us running around on this wet/glistening grass and someone loses a contact. But they couldn't see and it wasn't like they could run home and get another pair. So we began searching in the darkness. I can't remember how long we searched - it doesn't seem like it was too long. But with soft contacts, they dry up fast and I was worried it would dry out and crack. I could remember times when as a child, myself or my brother would lose something. My mom would have us stop and pray. And God would inevitably show us where the item was. So I stopped everyone and told them we needed to pray. I was nervous, but had this strange boldness too. I was kneeling down in the grass and prayed outloud asking God to show us where that contact was - He knew!! He could show us if He chose to. As I opened my eyes, I felt like I should look at the ground to the right of me. I glanced over to my right area in front of me and saw something glistening. Now all the grass was glistening from the dew/frost/whatever it was, but I reached down and it was the contact! It was amazing! God had answered my prayer. Out of that whole field, He had made me kneel right in the correct spot and impressed on my heart to pray - not so I could get the glory for finding the contact, but so HE could! We do serve an awesome God, who cares about even the small moments of our lives. It's hard for me to comprehend and then I know He cares for the small moments and still I struggle to trust Him with the big moments. Shame on me! God is good to us - all the time, not just when He feels up to it. He always wants to take care of us and He always wants us to rely on Him. I so need reminders of that on a daily basis.

On another note, please continue to keep my Grandpa in your prayers. Although he is home from the hospital, he is very weak. He will fail and then he will rally. Pray especially for my Grandma too as she is losing her best friend ever. My heart breaks to think of it. How glad I am that they both love the Lord Jesus and have accepted the work He did on the cross for them! I know they will be reunited again, but I'm sure the time in between will be painful. So please pray for my Grams and Grandpa, and the rest of my family, too. Thank you.

Swimming, septics, and a coffee hunt...

2009-10-27T19:34:00.003-04:00

Everything is going well here. Eme just completed her first swim class at the local Y! She loved it! There were 3 other girls in her class. I have been praying, praying, praying that she would make a good friend! I was a bit sad when we got there and out of the two girls there, one was older and one was younger. BUT God is good and another little girl came late and she is in the same grade as Eme. Yay!

We weren't sure we put her in the right class, skill-wise. Eme is a natural swimmer, but has never taken lessons. It was obvious that she wasn't as "skilled" as the other girls in her class, mechanics-wise. The teacher saw me waiting in the hall outside the locker room and stopped to chat. She told me that when she heard Eme had never taken lessons, she thought for sure they would be putting her in a lower level class. But then she saw her swim and said she is a natural and just needs help with the mechanics. She doesn't see any reason why she shouldn't be able to keep up and excel in this level! Double yay! So it was a great experience for her. Hopefully in January, we will sign the whole family up and then the little girls can take lessons too. :)

Our septic is still too full. Garr is trying to figure out how best to handle it. We aren't sure what step to take next and could really use God's wisdom on this. Thankfully there are some good friends giving good advice - just a matter of which way to go!

This morning I came out of my room to find some coffee spilled on the floor. A few feet away, there was more coffee spilled on the floor. The strange thing was there was no mug of coffee around. I kept walking and walking and walking until I got to the other side of the house (it's a big circle.) And then I laughed. And laughed and laughed. Apparently Daniel thought Rocky needed an energy boost (not!) and filled his water dish with the rest of Garr's coffee. I found the mug sitting empty next to the dish. Life is rarely boring around here! :)

This is SO me lately...

2009-10-26T10:46:00.003-04:00

Update!

2009-10-23T08:50:00.003-04:00

***My Grandpa has congestive heart failure. His lungs were full of fluid. He has completely turned around - Praise God! And is doing great now!!

***I should have topped my Thankful List with my Husband! I am so so so blessed to have a husband who can fix things around our house and who is willing to! He is such a hard worker - spent his entire time off working on our septic and wood and helping with Daniel while I had a crazy night at Awana. He doesn't complain or whine. He just does what needs to be does and then keeps loving on his family - I don't know where he gets the energy from! I am so thankful for him!

***Our draw money finally arrived yesterday!! I was jumping up and down when that UPS truck pulled into our driveway :) After a very long wait, we have finally been reimbursed and can now continue with our house projects!

***Garr was able to rent another roto-rooter (and a generator this time) and it worked! He roto-rooted the septic lines again and so far so good!

***My knee has gotten swollen and is a bit itchy, but nothing terrible. Hopefully it will go away soon. I wish I could take some Benadryl, but unfortunately, it's kind of important that parents are awake to take care of their children. Darn! :)

God is good! All the time! Even when it doesn't seem like it, we are trusting that He has a greater plan :)

Squashed Bugs and Thankfulness

2009-10-22T00:00:00.001-04:00

You know how somedays you're the windshield and somedays you're the bug? Well, yesterday was definitely a bug day. In the morning we got the call about Grandpa. Then Garr went to pick up a load of wood (we were completely out and currently only have a fireplace for heat.) When he got home, he checked our septic to find that it was completely backed up. Now when we moved in, our septic did fail inspection. But we really thought it was fine as we've had absolutely no problems with it to date. So after getting the girls to help unload the truckload of wood, Garr headed to the home store to rent a roto-rooter. While he was gone, the girls and I stacked all the wood. After getting the electric roto-rooter set up, we found out that it didn't work. It worked for about 5 minutes and then we couldn't get it turned back on - even though we changed it's position and tried to get it closer to the outlet, etc.

While doing this, all of a sudden I felt like there was a bug up my pantleg, near my knee. I started to carefully pull up the leg of my jeans and WHAM, I got stung. The bee was still in my pantleg, so I was trying to carefully get my jeans up to get the bee out! (I seriously considered for a moment just pulling my jeans right off in the backyard to let that thing lose, but decided I better not - LOL) After pulling the leg of my jeans up, I couldn't find the bee - he was stuck in between the folds. I gave Garr a "help me!" look and he swatted it away. It was still alive at that point and Garr said he was BIG. I had forgotten how bad a bee sting hurts!

So back to the roto-rooter. We wheeled it back out to the septic (me limping along). This time Garr pushed it into the septic lines and I manually rotated the wheel. Can you say gross, disgusting job??? And everytime I thought my job was so gross, I'd look at my poor husband and see him up to his elbows in you-know-what and feel even worse for him! We must have worked those lines for 2 hours or more. And nothing. It still didn't drain.

By now, it's 5 o'clock, so all the septic people are closed. Garr decided to get the sump pump from our crawlspace and see if he can pump some of the liquid out of the tank. So he crawls under there, gets it screwed off, takes it back to the tank, ties a chain to it, lowers it in, and guess what? It barely works!

Meanwhile it is almost 6:30 and I have yet to start dinner. Garr goes to take the malfunctioning rooter back to the store while I get started on dinner. (I love this meal and I'll post the recipe later!) While making dinner, I slice the palm of my hand - a good 1 1/2 inches - not deep, more like a papercut. But boy does that sting! So I can barely use my hand and my knee still hurts like crazy from the sting and then my egg beater breaks. blah.

What a day! And this is where the "thankfulness" comes in...

I've been reading a very interesting blog named "A Place Called Simplicity." And the name really drew me in when I realized that she has 10 kids. 10 kids! A place called SIMPLICITY? Are you kidding me? And many of them are adopted with special needs. And she homeschools. And the more I read her blog, the more I realize she is a real person with a real (loud and crazy, I'm sure) family. I only have 4 very healthy kids and that is the last name I would give a blog about our family! lol So why would she name her blog that? I can't really answer for her, but I think it is because she lets God direct their lives. When you give up the reins to Someone else, there is this peace that overtakes you. Less focus on self and stuff and more focus on others. And she's thankful. Thankful for everything and in everything.

She started this thing called "Thankful Thursday." She plays this game with her children where they have to tell 10 things they are thankful for (and she strategically has them play this game when they are whiny or cranky) It brought back memories of a game I used to play with the girls when they were little, inspired by the movie, Pollyanna. I hadn't played it with the girls in a long time and during a particularily cranky school moment, I decided to start it up again. They loved it. Well, they didn't mind doing it and it did change their attitudes lol. So I've been trying to play it myself whenever I feel cranky or well, "like the bug." So all day yesterday I kept trying to come up with things to be thankful for. And actually (surprisingly!) there were a lot. And since I already told you my complaining list, here's my Thankfulness list (and it happens to be Thursday, sweet!)

1. It was a beautiful warm sunny day - mid 70s - not hot like in the summer (can you imagine doing the septic job in 90 degree heat? gross!) and also it was not raining!!

2. The kids were happy and occupied. Daniel napped (took an extra long one) while we were working with the septic and the girls played.

3. Rocky obeyed and didn't run off :)

4. Our draw hasn't come in yet, but at least we haven't spent it on house needs other than the septic thinking it was fine!

5. Garr controlled his temper! This is a big one! I've been praying for my husband and his temper (which really should be a no-no, I've realized, because God will just give him more opportunities to get mad and practice controlling his temper! lol) But really, he did great and he even mentioned it himself! (And yes, he knows I'm writing this and is fine with it lol)

6. My knee is starting to feel better and hasn't swollen up as stings have in the past.

7. My husband was right there to swat that big bee away from me!

8. The girls and I (and Garr) had a great Bible time during school yesterday morning and everyone took a turn praying. Their requests? Eme - a friend's salvation and the orphans in the world who need homes; Abby - her kitty (badly hurt her foot) and people in the world who don't have Bibles/don't have the Bible in their language and the "weird lady who won't give us money"(our draw lol); and Olivia - a friend's salvation. Oh and Garr and the kids wanted to pray for another puppy... (but that's a whole other story!) I am so proud of my girls!

9. The craft we are doing in school is actually a hit and turning out well! The kids worked on it while I read the Cameron Townsend (founder of Wycliffe Bible Translators) to them and they are loving the story!

10. Abby is psyched about Awana and has learned 3 verses and all the New Testament books this week!

11. The people at the home store DIDN'T charge us for the roto-rooter! YAY - since we did all the work! :)

12. My girls are hard workers! They helped me stack all that wood so that Garr didn't have to!

13. We had a yummy dinner and a warm, beautiful fire tonight and still got to watch 2 episodes of Little House. And they were funny, not sad!

14. I got a call and my Grandpa is doing better!!! They were able to drain some of the fluid off him and put him on O2 and he is responding well!! Praise God!

15. Finally, I'm thankful for "A Place Called Simplicity" and the challenges it has given my heart.

What are you thankful for today?

Saying good-bye

2009-10-21T15:29:00.004-04:00

We got a call this morning that my Grandpa may be dying. He is having trouble breathing (we think his lungs are filling with fluid.) They are taking him to the hospital by ambulance. My parents are rushing home (6 hour trip.) It's hard to be so far away. We are so lucky though to have recently made the trip and celebrated Grandpa's 88th birthday with him. So blessed to have that chance to tell him again how loved he is. I am so grateful to God for the grandparents He has given me. Good, solid people who love each other, love their families, and love God. My Grandpa was never rich, but he gave generously to anyone who needed it. And I know there is a crown waiting for him in heaven. And I am SO thankful that I will see him again someday. And he can give me one of his big hugs and kisses, and say "I love ya" again. I know Grandpa has lived a long full life. I know he is going to be running and living again in heaven, as he hasn't been able to here on earth. I know he will be SO pleased to be reunited with my Aunt Thelma, who was taken away from us too early in life. But I will miss him so. And so will my children. The girls spent a good part of the morning crying, sad to be losing their great-Grandfather, worried about Great Grandma being left alone, and upset that Daniel will never really know Great Grandpa. I told them they could tell Daniel all about him. And reassured them that they will get to see Grandpa again and prayerfully, so will Daniel. But it is still SO hard to say good-bye.

Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup

2009-10-20T06:39:00.003-04:00

My mom found this recipe and shared it with us last week - it is SO good and easy! It's a lot like chili, but made with chicken. We are loving it this fall!

SLOW COOKER CHICKEN TACO SOUP

1 onion, chopped
1 (16 ounce) can chili beans
1 (15 ounce) can black beans
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer (you can use non-alcoholic beer or substitute chicken broth)
2 (10 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning
3 whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts
shredded Cheddar cheese (optional)
sour cream (optional)
crushed tortilla chips (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Place the onion, chili beans, black beans, corn, tomato sauce, beer, and diced tomatoes in a slow cooker. Add taco seasoning, and stir to blend. Lay chicken breasts on top of the mixture, pressing down slightly until just covered by the other ingredients. Set slow cooker for low heat, cover, and cook for 5 hours.

Remove chicken breasts from the soup, and allow to cool long enough to be handled. Stir the shredded chicken back into the soup, and continue cooking for 2 hours. Serve topped with shredded Cheddar cheese, a dollop of sour cream, and crushed tortilla chips, if desired.

Try, Try Again :)

2009-10-19T18:02:00.002-04:00

We are doing great! Homeschooling is great. I really enjoy it. The hardest part is getting everything done. I had in my head that we would have all this free time when we started homeschooling, but we really don't. It's tough to get everything done. I think it will get better as we go along and keep working out our routine. I have heard that the hardest part of homeschooling is staying home~ it's very close to the hardest part! :) I would say the hardest part is dealing with the attitudes you get over school work that a public school teacher wouldn't get (or maybe just wouldn't know about!) But we're coming along.

The house is coming along well. There are just a few things left to accomplish - touch ups, curtains, etc. Right now our main concern is getting some more heat! We have a wonderful fireplace in the living room that we use a lot. We are hoping to get a wood stove this week. We have awesome baseboard heat but they have some leaks - not to mention the previous owners took the fuel tank! So we need to get that replaced eventually also. I'm loving the dining room with our furniture in there. I need to start getting pictures put up!

A buddy of Garr's offered us his pool table - for free! (We have to go get it and haul it back here, but... :)) I'm really excited about it. (Garr was a bit surprised at that!) But some of my favorite memories as a child was playing pool with my cousins at my grandparents house. It will be fun to have our own. My mom's first question was "Where are you going to put it???" Which I found funny, because if you've seen the size of our house (and the amount of, er, lack of, furniture we have) you wouldn't ask that question! Anywhere we want! :) We are even considering putting it in the living room - we have this big open space with nothing there.

The animals are all doing well. Rocky is 8 months old now and 95 lbs. He continues to give us a run for our money! But overall he is a really good dog and good with the kids - he just likes to chew and visit the neighbors, which drives me crazy. :) The kitty and bunny are as sweet as ever. The gerbils are tolerable. lol

That's it for now. I need to go make some dinner and we still have some school to finish up. I'm sure we'll be finishing out our evening with an episode of Little House. We've gotten up to Season 8. Not sure what we are going to do when we finish - Avonlea maybe? Any good suggestions?

Homeschooling

2009-09-12T08:50:00.003-04:00

I completely forgot to mention in my post last night - we are homeschooling this year! We have just completed our first week. We actually have a homeschool room in the new house and I love it. We have our maps up on the walls, a chalkboard painted next to a cork board (just waiting for hubby to trim it out...in all his spare time,) 4 bookshelves, and a "toy center" for Daniel. We also have a computer desk and we opted for a table instead of individual desks. The walls are painted and the floor is new. I can't wait for this space to be finished, but I am loving it already.

We are using My Father's World 'Exploring Countries and Cultures' curriculum for geography, science, history, music, and art. For math, Emelyn is doing Singapore, Abby - Horizons, and Liv is doing a whole mess of things :) In English, Emelyn is using ILL and Abby is using R&S. Liv is using MFW 1st grade. So far I am loving this curriculum.

I wasn't sure if I would like homeschooling - I already have trouble finding time in my day for everything that needs to be done - how was I going to add in hours of schooling? But it is working out well. I am enjoying learning right along with the girls (maybe even more :)). And the icing on the cake? Seen on the chalkboard the other day "Thank you Mama for teaching us. We love you." Awwwww.

Our only concern is friends for the girls, especially Emelyn. We have just moved to a new town and don't really know anyone yet. Although we aren't far from our old town (maybe 25 min), it's still too far to see people on a daily basis. In order to meet new people we have joined a co-op. We went Thursday and the girls had a great time. There are a lot of other activities for homeschoolers in the area as well --- bowling, rollerskating, gymnastics, park dates, field trips, etc. I'm sure we are going to meet lots of people in the next few months.

I'll try to post pictures when our room is finished. :)

And you can count on more posts since I finally got that overwhelming 3 mo update post over and done with! :)

The Owens Family

Boys and their Toys!

Ugh!

Chickens

Wordless Wednesday - Pure Cuteness

Our Garden

Mother's Day Photo Shoot

Happy Mother's Day!

Easter, Baptism, and Birthdays

They've got the boys!!

Homeschool Room

Daniel and his Deere

Organizing and Sewing Fun

Some iPhoto fun for Wordless Wednesday

Adoption Benefit

Birthdays and Halloween

From July -- Olivia's Birthday!

Mining

Music

Our trip to VA Beach

Memorial Day Weekend

The Simple Woman's Daybook

Moments

More kids???

Do you see what I see?

Some guy fun

A Simple Woman's Daybook

A new Playset

Best Buds

For the Rocky fans out there...

Abby's 9th Birthday

A (little) Boy and His Trucks

Thankful

A Spring Day

Helpin' Daddy...Carry in Firewood

Helpin' Mama...

He thinks he's a lapdog...

Our big boy

Family Visit

You can't have one without the other...

Daniel

Toy Nostalgia

Christmas 2009 Photos

Emelyn's Poem for Daddy

The Chore Bucket

A Poem by Emelyn

More about the Blizzard

The Blizzard of 2010

Happy 2010!

Quilting Kitty

Mount Everest

Wordless Wednesday

Daniel turns 2!

House Update

Mount Vernon

How did I get on that tangent?

*Updated* Guest Post on Memorial Monday

Memorial Box Monday (on a Tuesday, almost Wednesday...)

Swimming, septics, and a coffee hunt...

This is SO me lately...

Update!

Squashed Bugs and Thankfulness

Saying good-bye

Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup

Try, Try Again :)

Homeschooling

Updated Guest Post on Memorial Monday