Our life for Him

WHAT WE HAVE BEEN UP TO....

2011-06-21T07:18:00.009-05:00

We finished school in mid May. Took three weeks off and now doing our summer session.

We are cooling off via the water hose.

They kids turned the couches into tents.

Peacock, HooDoo, and I are reading "The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Ring." I loved the movie. I never thought I would read the over 1000 page book. I mean, come on that is crazy. Peacock has been wanting to read the book for years and he is finally doing. We are loving the book!!! I bought the comp guide from Veritas Press. It has questions from each chapter. A game to go with a chapter or two. Filled with activities. Totally worth it! Amazing how boys and homeschool can change a person's view.

We are truly enjoying our daily walks picking wild blackberries and american plums. You know you have picked too many blackberries when you start picking blackberries in your dreams.

Our very own Joan of Arc batteling against Savage.

A combined video of My Doll walking and a battle. Error is not allowing me to upload. Will publish later.

INFO

2011-05-18T12:31:00.003-05:00

IF you want to send a note of encouragement or prayer to the Crawford or Lee family:

Sherry Lee–P.O. Box 1246, Ashville, AL. 35953

Kelly Crawford–P.O. Box 1051, Ashville, AL 35953

I recently bought Kelly's cd. It is beyond beautiful!!!! I love listening to her sing the scriptures with her faith in God knowing what they have gone through! What a testimony. So buy her cd here and help her family financially! You will love it!! I promise!

I wish I could express my words better, but today is no brainer day.

YET ANOTHER GIVEAWAY

2011-05-16T16:31:00.002-05:00

My friend Alissa linked about these beautiful and elegant hair clips. Now they are having a giveaway!!!! Good luck.....

Go HERE.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif to enter the contest!

TRIGGER CONTEST

2011-05-05T21:41:00.004-05:00

For Mother's Day PJs All Day is having a contest.

You can win a Clean 'n Flip Chore Charts or the Times Tales DVD.

Go check it out. Good luck. It ends May 8th at midnight!

PRAY WITH US....

2011-05-01T22:19:00.002-05:00

Kelly at Generation Cedar, a blog I read, home was hit by a tornado. Other families that go to her church were hit as well. Plus, a family at our church had family that lived there and lost their home as well. I heard the small area alone lost 11 people from the tornado!

If you have not seen their interviews, bringing glory to God in all of this... watch them!

Aaron (Kelly's husband)

Jordan Lee -- son of Tom Lee, father of 13, gave his life to protect his children.

I personally am still in shock at what happened that day in our state. Not a day or chore goes by when I think about the many folks who lost all their stuff, home, a loved one, etc. The kids and I walked around the property and collected four bags full of debris. Debris that came from across the state!

That day we knew a bad storm was coming. The levels were high. I don't remember the technical term something HI was extremely high. We were watching the ustream on the internet. I told Daniel there was a tornado in Cullman that touched down. We went for our evening walk, or late afternoon on this day. Watched the ustream again to see the tornado in Tuscaloosa. I cannot believe how long it stayed on ground! We got serious in our shelter. We completely cleaned out the kitchen closet. The kids got two pillows each and a sleeping bag. Daniel brought down the big mattress from upstairs and moved everything out of the dining area of the kitchen. The kids were getting nervous. We prayed and we sang song after song. Then the storm was over! Rachel saw a yellow dress fall from the sky. I was like yeah right. It was actually insulation. Then we noticed more.

The death count is high! The stories are amazing! Please don't stop praying for all the families. Please help in any way that you can!!!!

Christ Church Branch Cove

or send a gift to Kathy Brodock

PO Box 455

Oneonta, AL 35121

Thanks. To God be the glory.....

FREE

2011-04-27T13:52:00.003-05:00

I like free stuff! Sara Mae is giving away her e-book 31 Days To Clean -- Having a Martha House the Mary Way for free. Twitter or blog about it to receive it! Hurry. It ends midnight!

Thanks Alissa for informing me.

COME

2011-04-21T14:00:00.001-05:00

join us for a walk while the big kids ride bikes.....

OUR MAMA BIRD

2011-04-20T21:51:00.002-05:00

SPRING

2011-04-20T13:42:00.003-05:00

We have baby birds in our bird house. I found this yummy edible nest!

WARNING.........

NEXT PICTURE IS NOT A FAVORITE OF MINE NOR ANYONE WHO FEARS SNAKES....

I WARNED YOU....

The ugly part of spring is these guys in the yard or pond. Smiley informed me that the dogs were barking at a big snake in our driveway. Not one to get too close to check it out. I just assumed it was a water moccasin. My only solution was for all of us to hop in the van and drive over it. We ran over it at least 50 times!! Just to make sure it was dead!!!! It is dead. Mom could not find any fangs so not sure if it was in fact a poisonous snake. My rule of thumb is a dead snake is a good snake, or safe snake!!! Oh I could not eat or sleep the rest of that night. My mind played horrible games on me!!!

Why did I put all the kids in the van? Well to prevent from any wanders running behind the van while I backed up very fast!!!! What was it like inside the van?? Oh Peacock was beyond excited!!! "Go again, go again! To the left, to the right! You got it, Mommy!!!" he excitedly proclaimed!!! HooDoo on the other hand has my fear of snakes. "Please don't do this again!!! Let me out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" he cried! Myself pulling my legs up and screeching making sure in fact we did see him again when we backed up. Lord forbid he climb up under.... oh not going there with that thought!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Enough of that... shivers just writing that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PARTY

2011-04-18T12:25:00.009-05:00

We finally got to celebrate some birthdays!!!!

My Doll turned one year old!!! She got beautiful dresses and fun books for us to cuddle and read! She is already interested in board books and looks at them constantly!

Vanilla cake with lemon filling. Actually really delicious!

The dress that inspired her cake!

Smiley turned five. He wanted a construction cake. Chocolate with peanut butter icing!! Oh so yummy. I should warn you to use every bit of icing on the cake unless you can stop yourself from eating all the left over!!!

Side note... notice in the background? Various children are reading some of his new books! I love that they love to read!!!

BONUS:
The Peanut Butter Icing

1/2c peanut butter
1/4c margarine
vanilla
4c powder sugar

Mix it all up!!! This amount will cover a small cake. I had to double it for this cake's crumb coat and the top cover. Enjoy!!!

COMPARISON

2011-04-14T08:50:00.004-05:00

I want to be honest. Some days I hate parenting!!! Seriously, it is hard, frustrating, and tiring! It is a smack in the face!

You ever have a child that just frustrates you to the core? This child does not even deserve a birthday cake. I will make that child a cake because I love that child. He has unkind words to people. He never does a chore happily. He never says thank you. He grumbles and complains. Maybe not NEVER but it seems like it!

STOP and sit down with the child. Hug them, love them, and they will have a change of heart! If not, continue to have a hard battle for the rest of the day! Slamming the door on their way out will only hurt the relationship and problem.

Here is the smack in the face. I am a child of God. Do I always say thanks? I grumble and complain all the time. I don't deserve my gifts. Maybe not always but it seems like it. Yet, Christ LOVES ME and everyone no matter what! Do I deserve salvation? No, but he gives it to me as a GIFT!

Do I close my heart to prayer and God's word? If so, then I will continue to face the battle for the rest of the day/life. If I stop, pray, talk to God, REPENT, then and only then will our relationship be healed. Then and only then will my heart be changed!

Our family verse that we are learning right now in time for Resurrection Sunday is Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrated his love toward us, in while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

Thank you Lord that I am learning these lessons even through the hard days of parenting. Through my own selfish flesh. Through my own sinful heart.

All of this seemed worded better in my head while I was sweeping the floor....

MY VIEW

2011-04-11T21:47:00.008-05:00

A day from my view... or a partial view of parts of our day.

Making math fun when math is not so fun.

Preparing lunch for happy hearts.

Little fingers that grow into big hands too quickly.

Our candle countdown to Resurrection Sunday.

Finding excitement from a snapping turtle in the yard.

Daddy taking the snapping turtle away from our yard.

Watching Daddy check the mail and he giving all the "junk mail" to happy little girls!!

Taking turns on the makeshift ramp!

Relishing in the beautiful blue sky perfect weather kind of day!

HIGH FIVE SMILEY!

2011-04-10T08:55:00.004-05:00

Today Smiley turns FIVE!!! Happy Birthday, Trevor. You fill our life with joy, laughter, smiles, surprises, and a lot of love!!!

We were planning a birthday party this afternoon, but due to HooDoo catching the chicken pox we have delayed it until we know everyone is okay!!! Grammy took him shopping and he got a tank, or Bradley to be exact! Grandma dropped off a new bike for him!! He is having so much fun with those gifts!!

CAKES OF LATELY

2011-04-08T14:51:00.003-05:00

Pennie's husband Donald's birthday!

Mom and Dad's 40th Anniversary!

Nephew S's 3rd birthday!

Nephew G's 5th birthday!!!

A FIRST BIRTHDAY

2011-04-08T07:09:00.007-05:00

I cannot believe this time last year we were doing this. Today we are celebrating Julie's first birthday!!! What a joy. What a blessing. What a smile!!!!

She is walking along everything, but has not taken her first actual step yet. She talks and talks and talks and talks, well baby chatter that is!!! Oh! She tried to put on Princess' flip flop the other day!!! She held it in one hand while lifting the other foot!!! I could not believe it! She is happy all the time, and a true joy to our family!!!!

We are grateful to God indeed!

Also she was born on my parent's anniversary!!! Today they would of been married 44 years!!! I got the most BEAUTIFUL picture of her and my Mom, but it is on my Mom's camera. I will post it next time I see her and get the camera!!!

What Guys Think About Modesty

2011-04-03T12:31:00.000-05:00

MOONFINDER BOOK GIVEAWAY -- DON'T MISS IT

2011-03-23T13:33:00.005-05:00

This seems fitting after my last post. My friend Lea Ann is having a book giveaway on her blog. I have wanted this book for some time. Here is your chance to win the book as well.

Whatever State I Am blog

Good luck... and thanks Lea Ann and Jay Ryan for giving this giveaway!!!

ASTRONOMY

2011-02-23T21:26:00.005-06:00

I asked her to rename the last planet because I love it when she says "aaaannnndd Pluto!"

Who knew when we studied astronomy this past summer that our 3 and 4 year old would remember the planets! Actually, Princess was 2 when studied and has just recently turned 3. What a benefit to homeschooling!

I personally love this Exploring Creation series. I should receive the astronomy one in the mail any day now. We plan to do it this next summer.

I have always wanted the Somebody board game to go along with it.

Oh what a fun online game.... "oopps, I don't think so!"

Or this one would be really fun.

And wouldn't this kit be cool too? Who wants to prick their finger first to test blood type? :)

To Cousin I

2011-02-19T08:41:00.002-06:00

"BE STILL AND KNOW I AM GOD"

2011-02-17T17:48:00.007-06:00

Hello? Hello? Anyone there? Can you hear me? Have you forgotten about this little blog space? I am here. I am quiet. I am busy. I am learning.

Let me start with last August when I stopped blogging except for a quick contest here and there. My Mom was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer metastasis to the liver and lungs. We were told she was inoperable and had weeks, maybe months to live. I was so overtaken with stress that I lost my ability to start the van. Seriously, it brought me to tears EVERY TIME!!! It is by the grace of God that school has gone well. Nine rounds of chemo later the tumors have shrunk! She will continue taking chemo until her tumors have shrunk. We are looking at least a year. I regained my ability to start the van! God has carried us this far. Not only us, but others who are in the same boat. Who knew that my SIL and I would both face cancer in our dear Mothers. I love hearing Little Mama pray for our cancer family/friends!

I hold to the "be still and know that I am God" because my life and those closest to me has been challenged to the heart! God is in control. I know. God will take care. I know. God is so good. I know.

In light of all of I will try to be more faithful with the blog. Thanks to every one who has prayed for my Mom during this journey.

In honor of my Mom I had my hair cut and sent off to Pantene which makes wigs for the American Cancer Society.

[hmmm... I wonder if one loses weight when all that hair is cut off? My luck... NO! Bummer.]

Isn't my Mother beautiful? Truly beautiful inside and out! Her strength and testimony through this journey is amazing! You will not hear her complain or grumble... only bring glory to God! Oh I have so much to learn in this life.

I also want to mention how proud I am of my brother! He had his head shaved because of my Mom!!!! Maybe he can send me a photo for me to share? hint hint.... :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T08:06:00.003-06:00

Valentine's Day Giveaway! Raising Homemakers is giving away 2 books "The Princess and the Kiss"

and "The Squire and the Scroll."

Both are beautiful and excellent!

LEGO MOVIE

2011-01-23T13:03:00.002-06:00

Peacock and HooDoo partially put together a Lego movie. Peacock did all the sets, music, and editing. He wanted to email it to his cousin but it was too large.

May all the boys enjoy "The Battle of the Forrest."

CORRECTION

2010-11-20T20:38:00.000-06:00

HERE for the contest!!! Sorry for my mistake!!!

"Be Still and Know" from Scripture Lullabies

2010-11-18T05:31:00.000-06:00

A CONTEST

2010-11-18T05:28:00.002-06:00

Hidden In My Heart scripture cd.

Go here for the contest!!

Thanks Alissa for sharing the contest with me!!!! I love the music.

Sorry this is so ahort. I have been up with Baby Doll coughing. I hate hearing it!! I have not forgotten about the blog and hope my friends have not as well. :)

TEACHER PARENT CONFERENCE

2010-10-07T10:56:00.001-05:00

I am going to have a teacher parent conference today! Here is how it would go.

I would walk into the classroom and sit down. The kind teacher would go on to describe my child during school.

"We have several problems with your child. Your child does not sit still. The child's constant request is to go out and ride the bike. The child is constantly talking out loud. In a one hour time period I heard the "F" word ten times. The horse farted, the pig farted, Ma'am even the rocket farted! The child moans at every request. I ask the child to write three sentences and I just handed the child a death sentence! I request the child to do a page of math and in one hour maybe one problem will be accomplished, MAYBE! Your child's favorite subject is art and will talk excessively about the exciting art lesson! All smiles and all learning. That gives me a glimpse of hope. Or that makes me sad, maybe I am not as good as a teacher as the art teacher is? I try not to get discouraged on that one. Another thing, your child has a really stuffy nose and it is draining. I have had to wipe it and of course, that was injury to the child! Or so the child acted like it was being injured.

Oh I am so sorry to have to ask this one. It is quite embarrassing, but do you actually feed your child? The child seems to always be hungry! I just wondered.... sorry to ask.

My final conclusion is this, can you teach your child at home? The child is too hard for me to handle. Thank you."

In reality this is describing six children.... you can guess which child is which. What fun!

AVIATION

2010-08-21T09:51:00.013-05:00

In celebration of Aviation Day the museum nearby had a free admission week. Just in time for our cousins visit! We spent the afternoon there.

Uncle David the tour guide and instructor!

Cousin J flying high!

Peacock and Cousin I duo flying.

Gramps in front of his past the Vietnam War.

A (Sarah's friend) is flying Mach 2 ... I call the play room the Mach Room because the kids were so fast every picture is blurred!

They also had flight simulators and a theater that we found quiet in! Overall, it was a fun place. Though no comparison to the museum in D.C. It is still fun and educational!

OUR SCHOOL YEAR.... PLAN

2010-08-18T11:07:00.014-05:00

Here is our new year in the works.

Peacock (P) 4th grade
HooDoo (H) 3rd grade
Little Mama (LM) 1st grade
Smiley (S) Preschool

Christ and His Word (all)
Rod and Staff Building Wisely English
All About Spelling (P & H)
Handwriting Without Tears (all)
Phonics Pathway (LM) currently half way through
Math-U-See (all)
Exploring Creation series... currently Astronomy (all)
Mystery of History when we finish Astronomy in Oct. (all)
Building Thinking Skills Level 2 (P & H)
Can You Find Me? Thinking Skills (LM & S)
Get Ready for the Code Books B and C (S)
Latin Primera (P & H)

Math -- previously we used Singapore. Though a good program, I found it did not have enough review work, daily drills and such. We switched to Rod and Staff at the middle of last year for Peacock. Cheap and okay. But... when I first started looking into math curriculum at the start, I was highly impressed with Math-U-See. It made me see! So, I went ahead, paid the price and got it. My kids love watching his video! We are back to loving math now!

Science -- I cannot say enough how much I LOVE the Exploring Creation series!!!! Personally, it is a fun easy read. Great projects. I cannot wait to start Human Anatomy next. The kids REALLY REALLY love it!

Spelling: We used Spelling Power because I got it cheap and well everyone excels with it! I like that! High reviews mean my children will be smarter than smart, right? uh no! It confused Peacock more than anything! Absolute pain! So somehow I found or was introduced to All About Spelling. Works for us!

As for latin.... I need help! What have you used? What did you like? I like Word Roots which is latin and greek. I don't want to just learn vocabulary. I want to be able to identify root words in english words and know the meaning based on the latin root word. I love The Latin Road but $200??? OUCH

I love watching the older children help the younger one.

Do you see a recurring theme in the pictures? We school every where. The bed, the porch, the floor, the table, anywhere we are at the time!

Here is a good funny story. The other day HooDoo and I were sitting on the porch rocking chair doing his English. Little Mama finished her work and caught a frog. She brought it to show us. HooDoo asked to hold it and it peed on his school work! Thankfully he was actually at the end of his lesson assignment. We had a great laugh!

Our verse for the year.
Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. II Timothy 2:15

WHAT A THOUGHT

2010-08-16T15:48:00.002-05:00

THE ROSE

It is only a tiny rosebud,

A flower of God's design,

But I cannot unfold the petals

With these clumsy hands of mine.

-

The secret of unfolding flowers

Is not known to such as I,

The flower God opens so sweetly,

In my hands would fade and die.

-

I cannot unfold a rosebud,

This flower of God's design,

Then how can I have wisdom

To unfold this life of mine?

-

So I'll trust Him for His leading

Each moment of every day

And I'll look to Him for His guidance

Each step of the pilgrim way.

-

For the pathway that lies before me

My heavenly Father knows

I'll trust Him to unfold the moments

Just as He unfolds the rose.

Anonymous.

CONVERSATION

2010-08-11T19:24:00.002-05:00

Conversation with two year old Princess.

Princess: It is dark outside.
Me: Yes it is.
Princess: Why?
Me: Because it is bedtime.
Princess: Why?
Me: Because your body needs sleep.
Princess: Why?
Me: Because people on the other side of the world need daylight.
Princess: Why?
Me: Because God made it that way.
Princess: Okay!

MEMORIES

2010-08-04T16:49:00.002-05:00

Leigh took a picture of her children while shopping and I wish I had thought of the idea all of these years! I want to remember what my children looked like as we went grocery shopping!

It is amazing to have a son old as well as strong enough to push the cart and trust him to not run over people! Also, at Aldi's he asked if he could return the cart for me! Really? He is nine! I could not decide which was best or the right choice, to let him or not! I did ride my bike with a friend to school when I was his age! That was quite a 5 minute bike ride! So, I hesitantly said yes and he did! He walked cautiously, looked both ways, and came back safely! While I stood as high on the van as I could so I could see every move and every person/car near him until he returned safely to the van! Wow! When we unloaded the van he then asked if he could drive the van straight to where it was supposed to be parked! Uh that is a flat out no! Don't grow up too fast son! :)

Spending our evenings on the couch watch "Little House on the Prairie!"

Today is my Dad's birthday! Though he is not with us today I have thought of him a lot! I tried to think of my favorite childhood memory of him! I would have to say the "M-I-S-T-A-K-E." Never heard of that game? Well it is the game where I would lovingly sit on my father's lap! He would tell me that was a mistake. A what? A mistake! What's that? And then he would non-stop tickle me!!!! You know he could trick me with this every time! Sometimes he would slowly spell it out until I realized what he was spelling, flee from his lap only for his long arms to catch me, return me to his lap and TICKLE!

I wonder what memories and stories our children will tell their children of us! How we treated each day! How we made them laugh! How we let them take the old tape player apart so they could have the green hard drive from inside it because "Jason at church has three!" (As two children are desperately trying right now!)

MY HUMMINGBIRD

2010-08-04T15:13:00.004-05:00

I finally got decent pictures of our hummingbird!! I hope you can find the bird and not feel like you are doing a "Where is Waldo?"

You tell me is the best! Here you go....

This is my first time of focus on an object and blur the background. Now if I can only remember what I did!

What fun things are happening at your house?

I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. Psalm 89:1

CREATIVE MINDS

2010-08-04T15:02:00.003-05:00

I let the children create with some left over fondant!

Smiley's tunnel.

Cousin E came over and got to play with fondant!

Little Mama creating and Princess dumping!

I got to make an anniversary cake for Sarah's brother and wife while they were visiting!

RAIN AND SWEETS

2010-08-04T14:44:00.005-05:00

This summer has been hot hot hot and not much rain! We have had to make our own rain and a great way too cool off!

For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dress, receiveth blessing from God.
Hebrews 6:7

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Little Mama made her first lattice pie crust! She loves to bake. Oh if only you could of seen her waffle the other day! Seriously, it was absolutely delicious. I keep telling her she is going to take over my job in the kitchen! :)

CATCHING UP -- THANKS!

2010-08-04T14:03:00.004-05:00

I apologize for not keeping up faithfully with the blog. No excuses just lazy! I so enjoy reading my brother's blog and my friends' blogs. I would probably go crazy if everyone stopped blogging! Thank you for keeping up with your blog.

Also just a favor... if you comment anonymously can you please at least sign your name so I know who it is? Thanks.

Now back to updates from here...

My sister's boys have outgrown playing with Legos. They are more interested in driving real cars and working for a living. Silly boys. The good side is my sister handed down their HUGE container of Legos to my boys. Oh what joy!!!!!!!! Oh what a mess when Smiley dumps them ALL out! They have built awesome vehicles and towns!

Little Mama enjoys playing school. She of course is the teacher while Princess and her baby doll Lippy are the students.

Little Mama teaching us the Lord's prayer AND a Bible verse!

TWO MONTHS PER CHILD

2010-07-27T10:42:00.003-05:00

Okay... here is a picture of each child at two months of age! So, who does My Doll favor the most?

Good job, Alissa, you guessed each girl correctly!

Peacock

HooDoo

Little Mama

Smiley

Princess

My Doll

THE GIRLS

2010-07-25T21:35:00.004-05:00

I cannot believe My Doll is three months old. She giggles, constantly smiles, is such n easy baby, is just PRECIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At two months I take a picture of the girls. Can you guess which is which?

Yes, I am still in shock that we have three girls! Plus, I realized I could make Brady Bunch picture with us in center, boys one side, and girls the other! Will have to figure that out! :)

NINETH BIRTHDAY

2010-07-25T17:28:00.007-05:00

Peacock turned nine this year! Nine! Seriously? How can that be? He had a great birthday party.

J -- Joyful
O -- Obedient
S -- Special
H -- Honest
U -- Unique
A -- Artistic

The night of his birthday he came and told me he wanted to be saved! He said it was about time he gave his life to the Lord, and he knew he was a sinner that deserved hell. We talked and prayed! It is a joy to watch the Lord work in his heart. To see him grow to be who the Lord wants for him.

Lord, help us to guide him in your word. To daily teach him. Help us not to give up in frustration of our sins and short comings. Thank you for your saving grace! Amen.

The party....

TRIP -- PART FOUR

2010-07-25T16:58:00.004-05:00

We finally headed farther to visit more friends! Ah, what encouragement! Our kids played great together! Last time we saw them their first child was a baby and we had our first two boys! We have both added to our family! I LOVED seeing her school room in person! Her oldest daughter was thrilled to show me all her books and tell me about the book series Rachel Yoder that she is reading right now. Of course, knowing her she has finished the 8th book in that series! :)

They even treated us to some smore's. Hey, did you know that chocolate and marshmallows alone are just as good? Yep, they are!

Once again... encouragement from friends! My kids are asking when will we see them again! Or stating they wished we lived closer! Me too, my dears, me too!

Oh and by the way, she makes beautiful cakes!

Then we started for our long drive home! The kids were fast asleep before we even got to the interstate! They slept the whole night on the way home!

TRIP -- PART THREE

2010-07-25T16:46:00.006-05:00

Where it all began.....

We headed east and went to our meeting place. We met while I was taking summer school and he was working on campus! We wanted to show the kids our college and see some friends there. With it being 4th of July weekend they were out of town visiting family! It was still fun to see the campus and the changes made to it since we were there!

The downside... we do not have a dunkin donuts where we live. We knew there was a dunkin donuts right by Daniel's old apartment! We planned and we so looking forward to buying some. We got there and they were about completely out! Seriously, not a single double chocolate! Not a single chocolate cream filled! We bought some glaze and headed to another one near by. They had a few more but still not many!

TRIP -- PART TWO

2010-07-25T15:50:00.002-05:00

One night we went over to Will and Laura's! Will grilled us delicious hot dogs! They are also cool because they have a pool!! Our children were so excited about this part! They could not wait to swim! I told them to wait for Daddy! The oldest two have had swim lessons but it has been a long time since they have gone swimming. I have told them over and over, yes, you can swim in shallow end but I do not trust you in the deep end! Just wait for Daddy! Well they were swimming fine. I was holding My Doll. HooDoo saw Daddy in the deep end and went to swim to him. He got past the point where it drops off and went to come up for air! He could not reach the bottom or alert us for help. Laura was standing there (thank the Lord) and after he reached for her a second time she realized he was reaching for help not just swimming by! She pulled him up and he was breathing but very frightened! He stayed on my lap the rest of the night! Next we saw Peacock swimming in the deep end but not making much progress. We stood by the side of the pool watching him. He had his goggles and snorkel on so he could breath. When he reached for the side of the pool and missed he either panicked or was tired! He bobbed up and down at that point and Will (thank the Lord was right by the pool) grabbed him out. Daniel was watching the smaller one who have never had swim lessons! Peacock said "Wow, thanks for pulling me out of the pool!" and jumped right back in! This time we made everyone stay in the shallow end just to calm our fears.

We made our way back inside for delicious watermelon. Us girls chatted, the men chatted and the kids played!

I have thought about the incident so many times. "What if...." I think it made the boys realize some important things. Kids and even adults get to thinking that yeah I will die one day, but not soon. We never know what God has planned! Maybe this brings them closer to God and salvation for them personally!

Thank you to the whole Kannon family for such a wonderful visit! We only wish we lived closer.

VISIT WITH DEAR FRIENDS

2010-07-14T18:41:00.023-05:00

The first of July found us out of state visiting good friends from college! It was such a great visit! They are all family.

The kids enjoyed their trampoline and water sprayer.

Not sure if Laurance is running through the water or running to catch the football!

Laurance's oldest son.

The twins Miriam and Shira. Miriam just loved Daniel and Daniel tickled her a lot!

The new family member Sarah whom is also expecting their first child! I enjoyed hearing about their life in Guam as well as talking about birth!

Charles tickling the girls!

Dayton swinging Jonathan. Dayton also taught the boys some Judo moves. He, Laurance and Daniel went to a place where Dayton will be teaching Judo for a week. The boys loved watching the kids in action! oh yeah, then they went to a gun shop next door which is an extra bonus for the boys! Not sure if it was more fun for the little boys or the big boys!

Laurance's youngest son.

Charles and Laurance acting out the kids a story of Jonah.

Dayton and Erin, missionaries in Thailand! Always a joy to hear her midwifery stories, and life in Thailand.

These two share the same name!

The guys shooting the Mossberg 591A1 and H&K G3. I shot it as well but shucks the battery died! Bummer... Truth be told, it was actually a lot of fun to shoot!

Peacock found a toy gun to play with. He did get to shoot Laurance's .22 pistol for the first time in which he shot two shotgun shells with his last two bullets. Also, he made a target with points and Laurance shot the target!

Playing on the play area away from the shooting range.

Dayton's kids with ours. Oh I could really kick myself for the pictures I forgot to take... oh really kicking myself!!!!!!

Dayton and Daniel. Once again, kicking myself for not taking pictures of all the guys together.

The future midwife! Oh my word, this girl LOVES babies!!!!!!

It was such a joy watching all the kids interact with one another. It was a great visit indeed!

Bonus video: I had to clip a small part due to lack of clothes on a child. It is also short because batteries were about to die and I had the next day to get more pictures!

More of our visit to come.....

COUSINS CAMP -- DAY 5

2010-06-05T13:35:00.013-05:00

On the last day, we took our group picture with the flag. This picture would be sweeter, but 6 month old girl cousin S was at home with Mommy!

Our guest for the morning was Optimus Prime... later he left and cousin G joined us in the fun.

Smiley saw a picture of a friend's daughter swinging upside down and had to try it! Thanks Beth!

Making the stepping stones.

Trying out the Noise Maker.

Little Mama with monkey and our water safety story lesson.

COUSINS CAMP -- DAY 4

2010-06-03T13:40:00.011-05:00

Our Bible lesson today was on repentance. The parable of two sons. A father asked one son to work in the vineyard. He said no. Then regretted it and went to work. The second son when asked by the father said yes, but did not go to work in the vineyard. The kids saw the difference and knew which one did the right in the end! The first son did wrong, repented and changed.

Then we did a craft.

Do you see Waldo? Yep, under the table. That is where we find the 4 year olds most of the time, escaping the bible lesson, craft, story time, etc.

4 year old cousin J wrote his name.

We read books on story safety.

After lunch we did the most loved anticipated treasure hunt.

Next week we go to the dentist from all the treasure we ate.....

COUSINS CAMP -- DAY 3

2010-06-02T14:39:00.011-05:00

Bible lesson today was how we are to be an example in word and in conduct to other believers.

Then swinging time.

E with monkey. We read a book on snakes. We explained how to be safe and what to do if bitten.

Little ones did a project.

The kids made block heads. very fun to see their individual creativity.

Finished pompom craft from yesterday.

Yummy ice cream.

Grammy's face paint.

We have a bull dog and two skeletons.

COUSINS' CAMP -- DAY 2

2010-06-01T13:53:00.004-05:00

Bible lesson: We studied Jesus as a man and what he did. What it means to believe.

We made pompom animal craft.

The egg hunt. Now this was great! Out their own cheerful giving hearts: H gave her eggs to the little ones since they did not have many, Little Mama was handing out eggs she found from the top of the pirate ship, and G offered Little Mama a tootsie roll since her candy fell on the floor! Now that is what we like to see!

COUSIN CAMP -- DAY 1

2010-05-31T15:36:00.015-05:00

We started another year of Cousin Camp. Our Bible lesson was on Jesus as a child. How we believe and trust in Jesus.

Play time... Gramps built a new swing set for the big kids.

Three legged sack race.......

Non racers.....

Building a catapult..... fire Marshmallow....

Making a candy necklace...............

Making the annual hand print free flag.....

Fire extinguisher safety...
Pass
Aim
Squeeze
Sweep

Then we practiced our fire drill and climbing out the safety window ladder. Everyone met at the meeting point.

END OF MAY

2010-05-28T17:56:00.005-05:00

"O Lord our Lord, how excellent is they name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens." Psalm 8:1

We are reading the old testament studying Abram and Noah. Hoo Doo made an altar and worshiped God. This was his doing, not my idea!

Princess being silly.

NOTE: Our family has had quite the illness. Princess got the worse and was in the hospital for pneumonia. I will rejoice the day I don't hear a cough! Thankfully, My Doll and I have not caught it.

PLAY TIME

2010-05-28T17:52:00.001-05:00

Little Mama and her cousin E playing house.

A common site for the boys with the boys.

LOST A TOOTH

2010-05-28T17:51:00.001-05:00

Little Mama lost her top tooth! She twisted and knocked it out! What a brave girl!

CHASER.. PUPPIES

2010-05-28T17:39:00.004-05:00

Chaser. Little Mama found her and informed me that something was wrong with Chaser's eye. Also that she would not move. I went with them to where she was. I thought she was dead, but she was paralyzed. She was Grammy's house and Gramps carried her back for us. We gave her some benadryl and honey. We knew she had been bitten by a snake. She did not look good. The next day she crawled under the shed. There she died! We had her just under a year. She was a good playful dog for the kids. The kids are sad but as Peacock said, "At least we have her puppies!" That we do!

Here they are....

Po:

Kitty:

Wally:

Lotty:

They attack us in the morning when we open the door! They are so excited! They are quite aggressive when it comes to eating time, so I am having to separate them at ends of the porch. They are still chewing and enjoying bones from a deer!

So.... rabbits and birds... you are safe in our yard now. Unless these puppies of Chaser has the same chasing gene....

MORE STUFF.. BLANK MIND TO THINK OF GOOD TITLES

2010-05-28T17:31:00.005-05:00

Flowers picked for Mama.... warms and melts the heart 100%.

I love how they include a puppy in their play. You will see them in the wagon with a puppy while someone pulls them around the yard. You will see them rocking on the porch. Spoiled puppies, for sure!

Little Mama is always rearranging her room. Seriously, always as in EVERY DAY! She will add a touch here and there. I love how she has the rose from Eliana's ballet in a vase!

NOTE: She DOES NOT sleep in this room, so no fear of the cord.

NUMBER 13

2010-05-28T17:15:00.003-05:00

My brother and his wife had a baby boy!!!! Ah, he is adorable, kissable, and lovable. I only wish he was holdable, but too many states between us!

Congratulations!!! I am so very happy for you guys! It had been a long road in the past years, but look what God has "miraculously blessed" you with!

To God be the glory... great things he has done!

Thirteen is the number of grandchildren for my Mom and Dad!

12 YEARS

2010-05-28T17:12:00.001-05:00

We celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary!

EARLY MAY STUFF

2010-05-28T17:02:00.003-05:00

Little Mama loves to sew. She is sewing all the time now. One night she sewed a shirt for Daddy with a tie for him to wear to church!

Here she is cutting the material.

Daddy trying it on for a fitting.

This is her pattern!

My Doll and Princess.

SAY CHEESE

2010-05-28T16:58:00.001-05:00

For Mother's Day I got the kids picture taken at Portrait Innovations! As usual, a crying baby and a two year old who DID NOT want her picture taken! I don't care, I like it! It makes the picture more realistic.

MUD KIDS

2010-05-28T16:55:00.003-05:00

April 24th brought us some rain. Daddy had been working in the yard tilling, digging, moving dirt piles etc. Needless to say, I have washed muddy clothes constantly. I have mopped the foyer constantly. I think I am going to redo the foyer and pick a muddy color!

BUT, it is fun for the kids!

They say mud is good for the skin. If so, then my kids should have the smoothest skin ever!

BIRTH STORY

2010-04-22T15:36:00.004-05:00

started April 7th -- born on the 8th 12:35am (best guess time)
I had that this is it feeling starting that late afternoon! The contractions were very weak and came and went. I called family around 5pm to let them know tonight or tomorrow morning we would have the baby! I kept busy by baking a birth day cake, washing Daniel's work clothes, shower, and washing dishes! Finally at 9pm I told everyone to go on to bed. I will let them know when contractions get consistent and strong. When we need to head to the hospital! The kids were scared to go to bed thinking we would leave them and they miss the birth. We always take them to the hospital for the birth so they can see the baby right away! But at last everyone went to sleep.

I continued to walk around. I continued to pee every hour. I found that when I swayed, rocked my hips, or squatted the contractions were stronger and lower. Never did I have to stop and breath through the contractions, or stop walking swaying due to the intensity of the contractions. One would be weak and the next stronger. They would be close as in 8 minutes apart and the next 15 minutes apart. I talked to my sister, Sarah, and Mom on the phone. I looked up in my birth books to see if the peeing every hour was my bladder or rupture membrane. I figured ruptured membrane would leak no matter what. I decided that at midnight I would lie down and see what happens. Maybe by morning it would really pick up. I took the phone down stairs and brushed my teeth (11ish pm). I swayed big time while brushing my teeth. It was actually fun! Then I had to go the bathroom. So back upstairs. I went up and down the stairs A LOT!-- I wonder if that had anything to do with it? While going to the bathroom my back hurt really bad! The most intense pain yet still no need to breath to concentrate through the pain! So I as there for a while. Then got up and walked around the rooms upstairs to see what happened next! I then had more strong back contractions really close which I leaned against the doorpost through.

I finally knelt in front of the rocking chair and buried my head into the seat. When the contractions with painful back aches came I pulled the rocking chair towards me and up on the tip of its legs. I had several right on top of each other. I prayed to be near the end because it felt like Smiley's birth all over again (oh the back pain!). Then my water broke! I thought oh my word... it is going to happen now! I felt the head really low and begin to BURN (crown). I was overtaken by the intensity. I could not moan, pant, hee hee hoo hoo or scream. I just breathed and let it go! My son HooDoo, who was asleep in the other room upstairs, heard me making some funny noises. He asked "What are you doing?" I told him to get Daddy! He ran downstairs to our bedroom where Daniel was asleep. He told him. Then Peacock our oldest son said "Daddy, Mommy is having the baby!" He came upstairs to the room and asked if I was okay to which he saw the baby's head out! He ran downstairs to call his Mom who lives right next door to come and help!

The rest of the body just slipped right out. I was kneeling on the floor! I started to worry when the baby did not breath. I noticed the cord went straight from the belly button up and around the back of the neck and down the other shoulder! The baby still had not breathed. I rubbed the back vigorously praying breath baby please don't die!!!! I noticed where my hand was and did not feel a boy part. I checked and sure enough it was a girl! Seriously? a girl? I checked and rechecked and checked once again! I really thought we were having a boy! Finally My Doll coughed up some fluid and was breathing. I suctioned her mouth to get more fluid out. She sounded a wheezy while breathing. My MIL came and had not heard her cry. I was not worried by then because I had heard her cry and she was breathing and pink! Her hands and feet were not very pink. The EMT was called to get checked out. I passed the placenta about 30 - 45 minutes later. We finally got in the ambulance and left for the hospital. My Doll nursed the whole way there which is a 30 minute drive. I noticed I was bleeding a lot and mentioned it to the EMT. He checked my bp and it had dropped 90/50. He started a saline drip. I continued to bleed a lot and pass a lot of clots. While in the hospital my heart rate was high 147bpm and my bp was low! The nurse said I lost 3 units of blood which is close to postpartum hemorrhaging. I never felt so out of it before. I hated the helpless feeling.

I am glad My Doll was perfectly fine! She weighed 8.2 lbs and was 19" long. Just a perfect and beautiful baby with a dimple in her chin! :) I finally felt better that evening to where I could stand up and not faint. I showered and changed clothes. We did come home the next morning.

My thoughts: I tried trying to figure out why I bled so much. Did the placenta tear the uterine wall? Were there pieces of the placenta left? I started researching through my birth books… I know late right? But seriously, I did not read one birth book this whole pregnancy! Anyway, in Penny Simkin’s book she talked messaging the uterus and if it remains soft you will bleed a lot! NO DUH!!! I knew this information. It was a good 2 hrs from birth until arriving at the hospital. Mom R did ask if I had Red Rasberry tea to drink and I totally forgot I have a bag in a drawer in the kitchen! I bought it back when pregnant with Smiley (2007). I did nurse My Doll, but that was not enough to keep my uterus hard and firm so I bled due to a soft uterus. It could have been avoided had I messaged my uterus, or drank the tea! I hate it that I forgot such important info.

In the Sheila Kitzinger book “Birth Your Way” she has a topic on long on/off labors. She recommends walking up and down stairs, squatting, rocking and swaying the pelvis. It helps lower the baby, get in right positions, etc. I wonder if that is why it happened so fast? I was doing all of that because it made the contraction stronger than when walking or sitting.

Someone also asked what I thought when Daniel left me alone! I thought nothing of it! He does not handle birth well and especially blood! I myself have always wanted to catch my own baby. During previous births at that moment I am jumping out of the bed, climbing the wall, or grabbing the nearest person or thing. I joke about dropping the baby out if it was just me! With Julie’s birth everything was different, surreal, and wonderful!! I gently breathed her out. Lifting her to my chest MYSELF was the best experience ever!!! I am thankful to have gotten the chance to catch!

Next time I hope for the water birth. Surely I will get one, right? LOL!!!

A BIRTH AND A BIRTHDAY

2010-04-14T13:20:00.004-05:00

Smiley had his fourth birthday on Saturday! He is so excited to be the same age as his cousin G. He tells me he can do such and such because he is this many holding up four fingers!

The cake... don't you love it? I went with a simple box cake and some toys on top. By the way, caramel icing is fabulous!!!! He wanted a camo tank and a camo helicopter for his cake. Well I decorated it with a war scene leaving me space for the tank and helicopter. When I returned from my shower he excitedly told me he finished my cake for me! He had added all the men AND an airplane AND a helicopter! He was pleased! I just laughed and thought it is his cake... why not let him have fun with it!

Thank you everyone for his gifts. He received a big tank, a head lamp for backpacking, a pack for backpacking, boots for backpacking, camo outfit, and a spiderman bouncy ball which he is slowly sharing.

INTRODUCING...

2010-04-14T12:59:00.007-05:00

My Doll!!!

Born on the 8th at 12:35am (best guess time of birth). She weighed 8.2lbs and was 19" long! I was literally surprised to have a girl! I checked and rechecked at least five times to make sure! I really thought we were going to have Ethan!!!

Princess is in total love for her new baby sister. She hold and kisses her constantly. She calls everything "My Mommy, My Daddy, My Puppy" so it would figure she calls her sister "My Doll" giving us a blog name for her!

SHE'S HERE!!

2010-04-09T16:07:00.001-05:00

We had our baby girl on the 8th at 12:30am, I think. I will get the birth story and my feelings posted later.

WORK IN PROGRESS....

2010-04-07T08:35:00.005-05:00

Daniel set out this past weekend to work on our yard. We have had this plan but no time to put into it. Daniel he made a new planter bed on the side of the house. Extended the walk way. He still needs to dig out the walk way and put blocks around the side of the walkway by the yard. Plus we need more gravel. There is a lot of work still to be done, but I am thoroughly enjoying this part so far. Just having plants on the side of the house makes it look so much more beautiful!
Here are Indian Hawthorns and a Jasmine to grow on the trellis.

This is a roll of hummingbird and butterfly wildflowers to grow.

Golden Eunomymouns (or something like that) to grow in the front planter beds. They are evergreen and will bloom flowers as well. They will grow tall.
/
When the gravel is put in, we will park our vehicles up here. It gives us enough space to have 3 vehicles side by side.

Here are pictures of the excellent helpers!

Waiting and watching Daddy on the tractor.

Smiley getting his practice and turn on the tractor!

Po and Kitty at play! Ahhh, cute huh?

Smiley mopped the front foyer for me since it was muddy from all of their boots! What a helper!!!

BELLY PICTURE

2010-04-06T19:53:00.002-05:00

A friend's friend had a belly shot like this. I thought it was so cute. Of course, mine is not nearly as great as her picture, but it is a belly shot!

ARE YOU SURPIRSED?

2010-04-01T20:33:00.003-05:00

Are you surprised that once again I have gone past my due date???? He or she will be here literally any day... now just to wait for that day. Lord please let it be by this weekend! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LITTLE MAMA

2010-04-01T20:30:00.002-05:00

I wanted to show Little Mama with her "reading glasses" and also the doll she made in sewing class with Grammy!

She so badly wants glasses for reading. It is quite funny. She even breaths on the glasses to wipe them. She also exclaims that she looks like Aunt Leigh when she wears them on top of her head! It is amazes how much she watches people and copies them!

IT'S GUESSING TIME....

2010-03-22T20:41:00.002-05:00

It is that time to pick out the dates, gender, weight, time and all for the baby.
Here are the picking so far... due date (estimated of course) is March 30th!!!

March 30:
Grandma -- girl, 9.1 lbs, 1:58pm

April 1:
HooDoo -- boy,9.1 lbs, 6am

April 4:
Little Mama -- girl, 9lbs, 2pm

April 8:
Smiley -- boy, 9 lbs, 10pm
Me: boy, 8.8lbs, 2:30am

April 9:
Peacock -- boy, 8lbs, 9pm

Anyone want to join?

SPOILED...

2010-03-20T10:59:00.002-05:00

I do believe these puppies are spoiled! They are either wrapped up in blankets for naps, carried in a sling, giving hugs, or curled up in a lap. It is such a joy to see the kids with the puppies. They are making wonderful memories that every child deserves!

2010-03-18T17:06:00.004-05:00

Nature art creativity by Little Mama.

By HooDoo.

Little Mama found a bird nest and had to change her picture!

Too cold to go out so Chaser and two puppies cuddle and hang out.

Dressing up Kitty? um... I have to remind certain kids that they are dogs not toys!

Now that is TIRED!!!! To bad the cuteness ended in a busted lip.

THE GIRLS

2010-03-12T09:41:00.002-06:00

Little Mama and Cousin E are taking sewing lessons from Grammy. Last time she made this pink skirt and a matching skirt for her baby that Princess is holding. Plus she made the frog she is holding. She LOVES sewing class. She asks everyday is she is going to have a sewing lesson!!! She has her own sewing kit that she makes things for us with.

Little Mama in her new "expensive" but got real cheap dress and Princess in a dress that Grammy made. Hence the reason SHE is teaching Little Mama sewing lessons and not me! :) They are all prettied up for church!

Aunt Kimmy bought them the beautiful pink necklace and bracelet!

UPDATE ON PUPPIES

2010-03-12T09:30:00.006-06:00

oh what fun these puppies are!! Everyday Little Mama will ask "Are we going to yard sale the puppies?" Then a sad look on her face. Thank you Chaser for letting us play and hold and swing your puppies!

Wally (the leader, adventure, playful one), Po (the miracle puppy we found), Lotty (the cuddly hugging one), and girl.

The girl puppies

Princess who always has to have at least one puppy on her lap!

Little Mama, cousin E, and Peacock holding their sleeping puppies all snuggled and warm! Awwwwww.....

2010-03-10T13:42:00.002-06:00

The boys worked together and made a fort in the back yard! They had a blast!

CAKES

2010-03-05T10:50:00.002-06:00

Here is the "extreme genius" cake:

Here is the "failure" cake -- according to a website I found while looking at Wall-E cakes.

The simple Mom (or Aunt as in my case here) wall-e cake!

The result is what a cake decorator is looking for. Sammy LOVED his 2nd birthday cake! He kept referring it to as "my Wall-E cake!" Genius, failure, or simple the child is happy!!!!

THE LIBRARY

2010-03-03T00:06:00.002-06:00

This is a very popular play time at our house.

Princess in her little corner at the library reading books.

Little Mama the librarian.

Peacock checking out a stack of books.

Most important part... the librarian STAMPING the book to check out! Mind our library does the computer scan but no this is a true librarian who stamps the books!

I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!

MUSEUM AND MORE

2010-02-24T16:02:00.004-06:00

Last week our out of state cousins came to visit for a week! Well all except the newest smallest sweetest cousin S! She enjoyed her Mommy all to herself while the big siblings were visiting us! We had a fun filled week. We decided to try the Natural History Museum instead of the zoo since the weather is still chilly!

Oh wait... were we there to see animals, rocks, minerals, to learn about weather and other cool school stuff? I thought we were there to race through and snap pictures of cute little kids. Oh well.. maybe next time we can stop to read something and actually LEARN something! :)

Eating our lunch outside.

On the way home I had to get pictures of the icicles! I cannot believe there are still huge icicles on the main highway! I wanted pick a huge icicle to take home!

This is the ridge we drive and the next town in the valley below! What a beautiful site. I just love living up here. On the way home from church on Sunday we saw two hang gliders in the air! It was awesome!

FOLLOWING DEER TRACKS... IN THE SNOW

2010-02-24T15:24:00.004-06:00

Since we still had a bit of snow we decided to go to the back property. To our surprise we found deer tracks from the pond to the back property. We had to follow them all the way to the pine thicket! It was a beautiful day.
We had a science lesson on the snow changing colors and more importantly a biblical lesson how the Lord makes us white as snow and how sin can take over our life.

HooDoo attempting to stand on the ice while it cracks! No danger... it is not a pond... just a puddle!

VALENTINE'S DAY

2010-02-24T15:12:00.002-06:00

Not too many pictures from Valentine's Day due to my batteries being dead! Every single battery!!!!!! We had a fun day with gifts for the kids and a math game called Space Race for everyone!!!! Gotta throw in a school lesson while playing right? :) Yep, that is how us sneaky homeschooling moms think!!!!

HooDoo surprised me with his gift... a ring, a bracelet, a flower, $50!!!! and cookies! Thoughtful gifts for sure!!! Earlier in the week Little Mama made me a necklace. Oh the many things one can make with paper and tape!!!

ARTFUL SKILLS

2010-02-24T14:57:00.004-06:00

Little Mama and I sewed a felt heart garland. She is taking sewing lessons from Grammy and wants to sew everyday!!! I hope she always loves that skill and art of sewing!!!

Peacock took some paint and a cardboard into the old section of the house and shut the door. He talentedly painted Chaser with Po (his favorite black and white puppy) following her!

The finished product.... I love watching their art skills progress!!!

THE BIG SNOW

2010-02-24T14:50:00.004-06:00

On Feb 12th we got 3-4" of snow!!! What a beautiful sight to watch it gracefully fall to the ground.

Cousin G came over to play in the snow with us!

We tried the sleds again.

"FEEDING THE PUPPIES"

2010-02-24T14:36:00.001-06:00

The first thing Princess says when she wakes up is "Puppies!!!" So we go see the puppies and stare for some time. All the kids love watching them. Princess also likes feeding Chaser! I had to document that and of course she actually said words. Normally she said a word once and that's it!

PUPPIES!!!!

2010-02-24T14:25:00.007-06:00

On Feb 10th Chaser gave birth to 7 puppies!!!! Daniel went to warm up his car at 4am and heard her. I ran out to check and sure enough sge had them! I pulled back the wet blanket that was in the dog house and found one dead puppy! Sad but it hapens. It was 20 degress that night and not going to get much warmer that day! I went out not much longer to cgeck and sure enough two more were dead! I was sad... the kids were really sad! In desperation I brought the dog house into the little old section of our house. There I changed out clean sheets periodically. Chaser contently stayed in the dog house. I also carried her ouside for potty breaks! Would you believe later in the afternoon I found a fourth puppy? Now there were no signs of her having the puppy after I brought her inside! We conbsider that puppy a miracle puupy. After the sadness of losing three it was a joyful moment to find another!!!!

Later I found Smiley sound asleep!! All the excitement wore him out!

Here are the four puppies one week old! They are fat butterballs for sure!! She had two girls and two boys.

Cute huh? Don't you just want one?????

A BUNCH OF PICTURES .... OF COURSE

2010-02-24T14:11:00.004-06:00

The boys put their Target money together and bought Halo Lego pieces!

---------------------

The aspiring reader....

You can guess who this is and no I don't know why.....

Where is Princess????

There she is!!!!!!

e

FIRST SNOW FOR THE NEW YEAR

2010-02-24T14:06:00.003-06:00

We were surprised with snow AGAIN! We tried to sled with Grammy's new sleds. Later they figured up a way to pull them down the driveway! They enjoy the snow everytime!

A CHRISTMAS STORY

2010-02-24T14:01:00.002-06:00

The kids made a Christmas movie. I thought of eacg scene, the kids painted the background, and worked on the editing!!!! Aunt Sarah even put it in a dvd case with a cover which according to Peacock made it look like a real movie! They had fun making it, at least I think and hope they had fun!

I will try to download the movie later since it will take a long time and I want to post all of Jan and Feb!! We had some big excitement in Feb and I want to share it!!!

DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS

2010-02-24T13:57:00.003-06:00

The day after Christmas my sister and her family came down for the day! I made them a christmas candle cake! We had a blast and played several rounds of Cranium!!!

Little Mama lost her first toth on Christmas Eve. Later while playing with her cousins she lost the second bottom tooth! I believe Aunt Kimmy got a picture of that excitement!

A CHRISMAS BIRTHDAY

2010-02-24T13:48:00.004-06:00

We celebrated Princess' 2nd birthday sometime before Christmas!! She got lots of fun presents and enjoyed her party!

Flowers given from Daddy! :)

Here she is with her panda, sling made by Aunt Sarah, and in the background some lacing blocks from Grammy! I believe she is wearing the outfit from Grandma!

PICTURES

2010-02-24T11:24:00.003-06:00

I took a few "nice" pictures of the kids! I cannot believe how big everyone is and those who have totally lost their baby face!

SNOW IN DECEMBER AND COOKIES

2010-02-21T19:22:00.013-06:00

On December 5th we woke up to snow! Also a big surprise and amazing for u! We played in it for a little while then headed to Grandma's to make cookies for a soldier!

I almost forgot... when we came home the front door was open and a bird was sitting on top of the cabinet. Daniel was already asleep from working all night and we tried our best catching it! Daniel finally woke up and caught it for us! Little Mama absolutely loved it and wanted to keep the bird. Princess liked it except for when the bird flew right past her. That she did not care for!

THANKFULNESS

2010-02-21T19:12:00.002-06:00

The kids made a list of what they were thankful for....

I had Peacock and Smiley go outside while HooDoo and Little Mama did their list. Amazing that Smiley said heaven, salvation, God on his own doing!

ULTRASOUND

2010-02-21T18:35:00.004-06:00

Also in November we had an ultrasound! Every thing looked great. WE did not find out the gender of course, and really need a girl name!!! I have first names that we like but no middle and none that just jump out as yes that it her name! so... here are the ultrasound pictures.

In January we had to do another ultrasound to check the position of the low lying placenta.

I could not believe how great the ultrasound pictures were at 32weeks. Then the ultrasound technician surprised us with a 4d ultrasound for free!!!! Oh my word!! Talk about awesome, beautiful, amazing... made us cry!!!!!!!!

WE'RE GOING CAMPING YEAH WE'RE ON OUR WAY...

2010-02-21T15:40:00.006-06:00

In November we went camping with Grammy and Gramps! It was such a beautiful place. We love the size of our new tent! Everyone had a great time! Can't wait to go back!!!!

ANOTHER CAKE

2010-02-21T15:39:00.001-06:00

For our church anniversary I made a cake to look like our church! We had a discussion of if we had a steeple and where the steeple was located! Turns out Peacock, the observant one, was correct! They church family loved it!

A BIRTHDAY OF ALL THINGS.....

2010-02-21T15:31:00.005-06:00

How could I not post Hoo Doo's birthday. Shame on me....

He wanted a Skull Mountain Cake so here is what it looked like before we went to bed and skull mountain toppled over. As a rescue I added some palm trees for the birthday! Still loved his cake!

He invented a game to play with his birthday guys.

As a personal note, I cannot believe he is 7 years old! 7 seriously? Time is flying by so fast! HooDoo is the child I learn from daily or I restrain myself daily. He has such a heart of gold. He really shows his love in ways when you least expect it. Now just to get out of his attitude and annoying his siblings... life would be great!

Pumpkin Patch 2009

2010-02-21T15:18:00.003-06:00

I know, I know... I have completely abandoned the blog here. I will try and recapture what has happened since my last post. I broke my promise to getting these pictures posted... oh to quit my procrastination character!!!

MAGAINZINE CONTEST

2009-12-01T22:19:00.004-06:00

I heard about this magazine and they are having a contest. 50 winners will get a yearly subscription for free. You also get double entries for blogging. Plus everyone gets a sample issue! Check it out!

My bad... here are the links.

To enter click here.

To blog and enter follow this link.

UPDATE STUFF

2009-10-17T13:12:00.005-05:00

The kids had heir own yard sale! Peacock put up signs by the road and set up the stand! They had fun. It ended with Little Mama bending down beside the stand to pick up a coin she dropped and Peacock knocking over a cup of "spotted milk" which poured right down Little Mama's hair!!! :) Now some schools have hobo day or geek week but the kids did this impromptu! They were very crazy and very cool! Smiley made his very own play dough HOT DOG!!! Last night I made a cake for Sarah's Mom's birthday today. She loves to quilt and I miss quilting so I got to make her a quilt!!! Next... I promise Kim will be the pumpkin patch pictures! I promise!!!!!!!!!!!

SOUNDS GOOD!

2009-09-18T10:26:00.004-05:00

Wednesday I had my 12wk checkup and got to hear the heartbeat! It was loud and strong! Thank you Lord!!!!!

12 Weeks Pregnant

3dpregnancy has great info about the baby and pictures each week!

WET FUN!

2009-09-18T09:50:00.003-05:00

We have had a lot of rain this week! Who can have rain and not play in it? The kids got dirty and muddy but had such a blast! Later their cousins came over to play in the puddles but they some how stayed clean! I am really surprised Smiley did not pour of boot full of muddy water on Garrett! But he did not! What a nice cousin! :) He sure does not take after his Uncle Dan or cousin David! :) hee hee :) Anyone up for a bath in the Nile River?

THE BIG FIVE

2009-09-13T22:55:00.007-05:00

We celebrated Little Mama's 5th birthday on Saturday.

Daddy got her beautiful flowers for her birthday. She made the crown!

She wanted a ballerina cake. I got the idea from Debbie Brown's "Enchanted Cakes for Children." Excellent book!!!!!

In attendance we had... King George, Bob Toot to disguise his ninja outfit, a Princess, a WWII guy, and Sleeping Beauty. Next came another ninja and a Ballerina!

Little Mama with her cake. Yes, there were 5 candles. The fifth is in front of the doll facing her.

Peacock and HooDoo both had a scavengar hunt for her to find their gifts. Peacock got her a tiara and HooDoo got her a bag of Sugar Babies!

Eliana got her some necklaces and rings.

Grandma got her a jewelry box not even knowing that was on my list of ideas to get her! So it is now filled with jewelry and lip gloss (from Smiley!) Plus makeup from Grammy!

A picture I forgot to take.... She also got tap shoes! She wore them to church and loved the sound on the tile floor! -- Laura maybe Ella could show her some moves! :)

She got her first 18" doll that she has named Emma. Grammy got her a horse to go with it! She is in love with the doll!!! I am in love with the doll. I must get me one! :)

Eliana and Little Mama with their dolls! What fun these two will have!

Last but not least, Aunt Sarah made two beautiful dresses for Emma. Her Grandmother knitted a sweater and crocheted a shawl years ago that Aunt Sarah has passed on to Little Mama! You cannot find such beautiful clothing in any store!

Thanks for everyone for a wonderful birthday party. She had such a girly party and she loved it! Thank you God for such a beautiful little girl with a tender heart. Her laughter echoes through the house. He thankfulness is always shown.

SECOND DAY OF SCHOOL...

2009-08-04T14:33:00.005-05:00

I apologize up front. We have a laptop but still use the mouse until it died last night. I have very little skill on the touchpad mouse. Like how do I copy and paste to move my pictures? I just discovered today that I can tap the pad and it tells the cursor what to do. I thought I had to click the button under the pad! Hope it is not too confusing. Just start at the bottom of the post and work your way up! :)

I forgot to take pictures of our first day of school and thanks to Sarah for mentioning it! See, I told you I am forgetting things all the time!

Anyway... I heard someone doing this and liked the idea. So hopefully I remember each year to take their weight and measurements when the school year starts!

Here are the scholars...

Peacock
Grade 3
Heighth 51"
Weight 57lbs

HooDoo
Grade 2
Heighth 44.5"
Weight 42lbs

Little Mama
Grade K5
Heighth 41"
Weight 37lbs

CURRICULUM

2009-08-03T15:16:00.002-05:00

Since I have some free time I will give a rundown of our curriculum this year...

Peacock -- grade 3
BJU Bible Truth -- A Servant's Heart
Spelling Power
Rod and Staff English 3
Singapore Math 3A/B
Building Critical Thinking Skills
MOH Vol II
Gallopping The World (geography)
Prima Latina
Real Science 4 Kids -- Chemistry

HooDoo -- grade 2
BJU Bible Truth -- A Servant's Heart
Rod and Staff English 2
Reivew the last Exoplode the Code Books
Singapore Math 2A/B
Building Critical Thinking Skills
MOH vol II
Gallopping the World
Real Science 4 kids -- Chemistry

Little Mama -- K5
Bible Truth
Finish Get Ready for the Code Book C
Phonics Pathway with Explode the Code books
BJU Math
Beginning Critical Thinking Skills

Smiley -- Pre
Rod and Staff About Four workbooks
Pattern block shapes

Princess -- toddler
TO NOT CLIMB ON THE TABLE!!
TO NOT COLOR ON SIBLING'S SCHOOLWORK