Things I Think Are Funny Today
1.The fact that I call vegetables real and not real when referring to garden fresh and store bought. It’s mostly in my head, thankfully, but is something I still, at 29 years old, do.
2. Being called a “big meanie” by my almost 5 year old daughter and not caring that she just called me that.
3. How my children’s stomachs always have room for dessert. Where, on earth, did they get the idea that we should have dessert at every meal everyday? I sure haven’t given them that so I’m a little confused.
4. No matter how much I clean each day the house looks like a wreck. Seriously, how does anyone keep up with 9 rooms and 3 children and a husband?
5. How everyone else in our town has huge amounts of tomatoes, but we only get one or two a day. Hilarious! And there is nothing I like better than a good ripe tomato in the summer. I could live on them…if they would just grow and ripen. I think I’ll plant twice as many next year.
Anything funny to you today?
Filed under Kids, News, Rants | Comment (0)2009 in Review
I wanted to highlight some of my favorite moments of 2009 for posterity and I saw a few others blog in this manner this week, so I’m going to copy. I’ve never been one to come up with my own ideas, but I really enjoy taking others!! ;)
January – We celebrated Kristopher and Kody’s birthday quietly with dinner and some cake. Kristopher didn’t get to have a party this year. At the end of the month Western KY was hit by a huge ice storm and we were without electricity and water for almost a week. Our gas fireplace kept us warm and we had to find non-electronical things to occupy our time with. The nights were long since it got dark earlier and we sat around playing cards by candlelight and went to bed pretty early. It was nice to spend so much time together, but we were glad when we could take showers again!
February – Kristopher participated in his first Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. He built his car with some help from Kody, to look like a green pickup truck. It won the prize for most realistic vehicle. Unfortunately it didn’t win in the speed category. We still had a lot of fun with it and the whole family was able to be there:)
March – We started working outside a lot in March, trying to clean up and clear some of our property. The first thing to go was this little old shed. There were two of them right behind our house and we decided to only keep the bigger, nicer one.
April – We had a great Easter, but looking back through my pictures these are some of my favorite memories. The first is of our very dear friends. We hung out with them too many times to count over the year, this is just one of them. Kody found many turtles when he was out clearing the yard or mowing and this is one of them. We thought afterward when we found others that we should have tagged him so we could count how many we actually had. A few we were able to tell some differences. I also have to include this picture of Kameron. He was toted to many soccer games in the spring and he enjoyed playing on the blanket and discovering grass!
May – We bought a new refrigerator this month because we were tired of the old one leaking onto our new floor and ruining it. We really like the new one! Taylor played her first season of soccer this spring and she loves it. I hope she continues to like it or some form of physical activity. She really enjoys being outside and running though, so I think she’ll keep it up for awhile. We also finished Taylor’s room this month.
June – The only memorable thing I could see in pictures this month is that we went to Kody’s cousin Amy and her new husband Jim’s wedding reception. We all had a lot of fun there. Oh yeah…I celebrated my birthday this month too, don’t really remember it though…I think I was getting things ready to teach a week of VBS at church:)
July – So many beautiful memories this month, I took hundreds of pictures! We went to the Independence Day parade and Kristopher walked in it and threw candy with his cubscout pack. We made a trip to Louisville and visited with Grandpa and got to do many things. We spent many days at my in law’s house playing oustide in the garden. But my most favorite memories from this month are of my sweet boy and his cute chubby little hands and feet. I want to remember this forever…
August – This month we started a new adventure…Homeschool. We were unsure of ourselves and wondered if we made the right decision, especially with some of the people we had questioning us. After the last few months of living the homeschooling life, even with the hard days, I wouldn’t trade it back for anything. I really am glad we dove in and tried this and I’m so glad that it is working for our family. I am also very thankful for our support network of families doing the same thing!
September – We celebrated Kameron’s first birthday and Taylor’s fourth all in the same week. It was a busy week that dominated the month in time, energy and pictures!
October – Kristopher learned to ride his bike around the end of August and one of our favorite things to do this fall has been to take a walk/bike ride. The kids hop on their bikes (Taylor’s in a tricycle), Kameron is in the stroller and Kody and I walk. Our street is perfect for family time like this and we all enjoy it. I just love looking at this picture of my “big kids” on their “bikes”. It makes me smile inside!
November – Kristopher and Taylor were outside playing so much at the beginning of this month because it was still so warm. This particular day they decided, on their own, to have a picnic. They covered this old stone well with a picnic blanket, got their little chairs set up and then came and ordered some food. It was fun to watch them with their own ideas:) This month I also participated in a Craft Bazaar at my church – I had a table set up with my handmade things and one for the Usborne books I started selling in August. I really like the books and it has been fun selling them.
December – Christmas was lots of fun and I have so many pictures of decorations and presents being unwrapped, but I don’t think those things will be the ones my mind remembers. The homeschool group that I am in had a birthday party for Jesus (I helped a bit with the organization of it) that the kids all enjoyed. We had crafts, food, cake, bible story, games; what more could you want? We also started tearing up our little bathroom (the kids/guest bathroom) so that we can make it bigger and nicer. It will probably be a work in progress for sometime, but at least it got started! Kristopher was in the older kids musical at church this year and he played the part of a man who lost all his belongings in a fire. He didn’t have any lines to remember, so it waas pretty easy. He did a great job singing too! Taylor also sang before the big kids with the preschool choir. She loves to sing, but I’m not so sure about the being in front of people. Her face is fun to watch.
It was a great year and I feel like we got a lot accomplished not only in our “needs work house”, but in our lives. I feel like we all have grown in our walk with Christ this year and that we have grown closer as a family as well. We still have our issues (doesn’t everybody?) but we’re headed in the right direction. I hope 2009 was the same way for you! Happy 2010 everyone!
Filed under Holidays, Homeschool, House Remodel, Kids, News | Comment (0)Taylor’s 4th Birthday
Our little girl, Taylor, turned 4 on the 21st. Her birthday this year was so much more exciting than last year. Last year I came home with Kameron the day before her birthday and while a baby brother is a pretty good present he made it impossible to have an semblance of a party for her. She ended up opening gifts in her jammies and I’m pretty sure we didn’t even have a cake…pretty sad. So, fast forward to this year. We might have had too much fun! On her birthday we went to the doctor…ugh…for a check up. Then we came home and she opened her presents and blew out candles and we did have a cake:) Then on Tuesday she took cupcakes to school and had a little “class party.” And on the 26th we had the joint party for her and Kameron. She invited some little girls for a Princess party, where they made crowns and, you guessed it, ate more cake! I made her a castle cake for her party, and I thought it was cute even if it didn’t entirely look like a castle. She liked it, that’s all that matters! Anyway, the best pictures from all three days are below. Many of the ones I took didn’t turn out well because of faces she made or blurriness or angle. Oh well. Oh, yeah, the first picture of her in the pink outside is terrible because “the sun is in my eyes” :( But I had to put it up here because that was my dress when I was little! It was fun to see her in it and I tried to get some good pictures, but we were trying not to look too silly taking pictures at the doctors office (their landscaping is nice;)) and I forgot to try again at home. Enjoy the pictures and your day!
Filed under Kids, News | Comment (0)The Bitty Boy Turns One
I meant to do this post a couple of weeks ago when he actually turned one, but you know what they say…”better late than never!”
Kameron turned 1 year old on September 17. It was an exciting day for us although he didn’t really have a clue what was going on:) We told him Happy Birthday all day long and his siblings sang to him several times. After Kody came home from work we gave him his presents. He had several, but I just put all of them in a big bag with tissue paper so that it wouldn’t be so hard for him to figure out. He enjoyed pulling things out of the bag, but his favorite thing was the first toy he pulled out. A little jingly thing that rolls back to you when you roll it away. He wouldn’t put it down! After he finished pulling everything out we had his birthday dinner. His favorite vegetable is green beans (not yucky baby food ones, real ones) so I made those and french fries and he had some applesauce and cheerios too. Then I stripped him down for cake. I made cupcakes and we gave him a whole chocolate one. He was so excited about getting to touch it and eat it. The smiles were so beautiful. However he was not so clean by the time he was finished. After a few bites he decided it would be easiest to just lean down and eat it off the highchair and he was really messy. He got to have a bath and then play with his new things a bit before going to bed. I think it was a great birthday, and even if he won’t remember it, I will.
Then on the 26th we had, pretty much, an all day birthday party extravaganza! Taylor had a party in the afternoon (which I will put pictures of on her birthday post) and then we had dinner with our best family friends and Gram & Grandaddy:) It was fun and I made Kameron a monkey cake for his party. He had a bit of a runny nose and wasn’t quite as excited about the cake, but still ate most of one of the ears. He also got to do some tricycle riding with Grandaddy which he thought was great fun!
Thank you to everyone who made Kameron’s first birthday one-derful! Hope you enjoy the pictures!
Filed under Kids, News | Comment (0)Random Wednesday
I need to get back on track after taking a week off, so random it is…
1. I’ve tried to start shredding with Jillian again. Last week I was able to keep it up Monday through Thursday and it was difficult because I have three children to get ready on Tuesdays and Thursdays and we cannot be late getting Taylor to preschool. So those mornings were basically spent shredding while listening to people cry and I just could not handle that. So Friday & Saturday, when I had to be somewhere early, I just didn’t do it and Sundays are always off. Then I didn’t do it Monday either and Tuesday was a preschool day. I did Shred this morning though, and I am going to try to keep it up for M-W-F from now on. Every T-T-S-S I have a place to be at 9 with all children dressed and fed and I just don’t miserable people anymore!
2. Last night was our September Women on Mission meeting for church and we voted on a slate of officers. I am the secretary now! Not that I had anyone against me, but I am still excited to get to do this. We also talked about fundraisers and are going to do a craft bazaar in November (on my suggestion!) that I am so excited about! If you’re not in WOM and would like to know more about this, let me know!
3. I made 2 Baby Taggy Blankeys as gifts for Kameron and Jakin. I’ve been wanting to make one of these since Taylor was a baby and just now got around to it. I know the boys are approaching being to old for one of these, but I really wanted to make them each one. Kameron’s is the monkey one (of course) and Jakin got the corduroy polkadot one. I have a huge basket full of ribbon, so I just picked out some cute ones and on they went! The back is white minky dot fabric.
4. Homeschooling Kristopher is going great! He is waking up and wanting to get started every morning and we have been having a good time with it. The only part that isn’t really great is the math. He doesn’t seem to have any confidence in himself with math and it isn’t really my favorite subject. He can do it though…that subject just takes longer for us. His Unit 1 tests will all be this week and next, so I can see how he is actually doing with the material. Then we get to move on to some new books! We really are enjoying this for our family and everytime I hear about something that has happened in school this year I praise the Lord that we made this decision. Here is a picture of him at his desk. This sewing desk was in the house when we bought it and my machine doesn’t fit it so we had it out in the garage. We are using it for now since it was free. It is working much better than the kitchen table did on our first day. My desk is next to it and the computer desk is across the room from it, so I can just slide my chair over from where ever I’m sitting to help him.
5. I have been trying to find coupons for my groceries and everything else I buy in the last couple of weeks. I read about a woman who gets a full cart of groceries every week for $4-$10 and that inspired me to at least get a few dollars off ours! It would be so nice to be able to do what she does, but I am not willing to spend 4 hours in a grocery store messing with all of it; 1 to 1 1/2 hours is enough! SO, if you find any good coupons let me know – I’ll take them!
6. Kody has started training his replacement at NCR and will be starting his new job at Ag Connections on October 1. We are very excited, but also nervous about this.
7. I am going to be setting up an informational meeting sometime in the next few months to try to guage interest in American Heritage Girls and getting a troop in Murray. If anyone would be interested in helping me with that or interested in having this sort of program for girls here, please contact me. This is a Christ centered scouting program for girls 5-18. They stress purity and service and stewardship to the girls and I would really like to have this available to my daughter next year when she is the right age. Go to the site to learn more about their Mission Statement and what they do.
8. I have signed up to be an Usborne Books consultant. I will be having a show at the end of September to “announce” my business and let everyone see some books. If you would like to see some before then contact me or visit my website. If you would like to order or book your own show/party let me know as well. Right now, I can get you double free books as a hostess. These books are so wonderful for kids. We have so many at our house and they are the favorite “go to” books for my kids. They really are “The books kids love to read!”
9. I am wondering, this morning, why my children cannot grasp the concept of “being quiet.” Why is this so hard. I think since we moved here last year that everyone has gotten louder…is it because of the extra space? Do they think it has to be filled with noise all the time? I just don’t get it.
10. And because I feel like I need to have an even 10 things… Here is a scripture that I read on Martin’s blog yesterday and have been thinking on. Go read what he has to say – so good!
Filed under Creations, Homeschool, Kids, News, Sewing | Comment (0)“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.” 2 Tim 2:15-16 NIV