Continuing my catch-up in October...

Can it really be possible for November to be only 3 days away?!?!
I suppose spending half of the month away can make it fly by.
Here is a look back at most of October.

A visit to Blake's. Oh I miss that place...the donuts mostly.

Hanging out with cousins.

Rehearsing for a very special day.

A special cake just for Max from Dru. I will treasure this face all the days of my life!

Time spent at a blessed wedding. It was such an honor to be a part of this couple's start.

Relaxin' and having fun on the remainder of our trip.

Playing catch-up and wondering....

My word...how many times do I vow to stay on top of this blogging and those vows vanish in a day or two.

I am left here wondering how in the world some of these amazing moms stay on top of 2, 3, 4 blogs! What am I doing wrong?!? I can't write more than a few posts, if that, a month for one blog! Geez!

Well, here is a bit of catch-up for myself.

Homeschooling is going better than I ever thought it would. There is just so much out there and sometimes I forget that my kiddos are preschooler/kindergarten age. I do have some time to feed it all to them. They began co-op and LOVE it.

The end of September was filled with preparing for our long trip to Michigan and visiting with my in-laws. It was a great weekend and a great visit. The kids LOVE it when their grandparents come to visit. We are so blessed that they are all a big part of each one of their lives.

We really do live in a beautiful part of the country. God's work in the fall is nothing short of amazing. We are hoping to get back there before all of the gorgeous fall colors we are having this year disappear.

Max celebrated his 5th birthday in September. Five. Oh my. All of a sudden he has grown up and has become this little man. Yes, he still taunts his sister, but that aside he did a little growing when I blinked.

Molly began her new gymnastics class. She loves it and can't wait to begin ballet. I think that's why she spends much of her time dancing around the room wishing she was four. (That's how old she has to be to begin ballet. That's ok with me.)

Maggie is growing, growing, growing. I am not sure where the last year has gone. How can she be so close to a year and a half. I broke down in tears not too long ago when I packed away a bunch of baby clothes. I love all the new discoveries and stages, but why can't I remember what the past held? Their baby stage. It is such a fleeing moment.

Updates & Little Stories...

I can't believe it, but we are finishing up our 6th week of homeschooling. The kids are really enjoying it and I am a bit surprised at how much I am enjoying it as well. Honestly, I am a little shocked at how my sanity still seems to be intact.
We began August 3rd and are rolling around to our fall break here in a few weeks.
The kids are amazing in the memorization work. Their bible verses seem to stick into their hungry brains immediately and stay there. They are actually memorizing each other's verses along with theirs.

Max is doing fantastic in reading. I love sitting with him while he reads through his 8 page readers. Sometimes I look at him and he is 4 months old and hanging out with his momma on our bed in our bungalow.
He will be 5 in 6 days.

Molly sometimes tells me that she pretends I am wearing teacher clothes.
I don't know where that came from. She says it with such a cute smile on her face that I can't help but give her a giant hug when she says that.
One day in one of our first weeks of school we were in the dark bathroom with a flashlight talking about how God made everything. Light, grass, animals, the sky, the seas, etc. etc. I asked her who made momma? Max said, "God!"
Molly then replied, "no, Nana made momma!"

Maggie will be 15 months in 5 days. She is quite something. Not walking, but wants to and certainly doesn't let that fact slow her down.
Tonight the kids had on a Tom & Jerry video. All of a sudden Jerry throws a pie at Tom and it hits him in the side of his face. Maggie just starts giggling. One of those laugh from the belly sort of giggles.
Music to my ears!
God's music.

A month from Thursday is our 7 year wedding anniversary.
How.Blessed.Am.I????
My Man. What a gift!!!

Thank you Lord for all you've blessed me with.

I have begun an online bible study. Check out details at http://www.audreycaroline.blogspot.com/.
The book is Crazy Love. Check it out at www.crazylovebook.com

Off to read.

Go here for your chance to win...

Now, of course, you'll have to read this post within the next hour in order to enter the contest to win one of these brand new NaturExplorers studies. Click here to check out the 3 newest studies from them. You will also find their other 12 studies in the right hand column. We have Hard as a Rock and Animal Signs. Our kids love putting on their backpacks, grabbing their waterbottles and taking off for about an hour on a hike.
You can really see the hard work, time and effort these women put into these studies. It truly is worth every penny. Sometimes I forget just how beautiful God's world is and everything that He put in it for us. They have done such a careful job of reminding us of it all.
Even if you don't read this within the next hour or so and miss the contest deadline, be sure to go and take a look at the website. The studies are inexpensive and the kids and you both will love them!

What encourages me...

Writers from a few of the blogs that I keep up with are a part of a new site launched just today.
www.incourage.me
(Check out the new button in the margin).
Checking out this site was quite the treat. I can't wait to have a little more free (quiet) time to dive further into it.

I NEED encouragement daily.
I wish I didn't. I wish I were just that positive and optimistic without giving it a second thought. And honestly, most days the places from which I gather that encouragement takes a backseat to everything else going on in our home.
It should be the very first thing I do EACH and EVERY MORNING.
Some days, I do.
Some days, I am up before everyone else sitting at the kitchen table or the back porch with my hot cocoa, bible, prayer notebook and pen in hand.
Some days, I am not.
You can probably guess the better days in our home.
You got it.
The days where I open up my day thanking my Father for everything He has blessed me with, begging Him to be with me and my family everyday and praying for Him to watch over all who need Him.

So what encourages me?
Most of all, The Word.
Second to that, my husband. God made him just for me. He made him to love me as Jesus loved the church. Encouraging!!!
Those women out there who love Jesus and blog about it daily.
Other moms who know exactly what you are going through. You could call them up crying and you don't have to say a word. (Those would be my 2 sisters)
And my newest encouragement? Those fantastic homeschooling websites out there. What an encouragement!

So my list of links:
www.biblegateway.com
www.aholyexperience.com -
http://www.aholyexperience.com/2009/06/conversation-how-can-i-be-better-wife.html
http://www.aholyexperience.com/2008/09/place-for-everything.html
www.likeawarmcupofcoffee.com -
http://www.likeawarmcupofcoffee.com/home/?p=904
www.livingproofministries.blogspot.com
www.homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com
www.1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com
www.ourlifestyleoflearning.com

My 100th post...

I suppose that there should be more to my 100th post, but with preparing for homeschooling I just haven't had too much leftover time to be creative with the blog.
I just wanted to drop a few little stories here before I forgot them. I can't believe I have been so lax in blogging about our camping trip.

Anyhow....
We finally made it back to church this past Sunday. Once we were in the car I asked the kids how their Sunday School was. Molly said it was good and then she talked about her little friend. When we got home I asked her about her bible story worksheet. She pointed at it and said,
"Jesus had 12 disciples. That's a lot of helpers!"
Love her!

Today Max and I were working on his phonics and Molly was nearby working on coloring by number. Max was going through his review pages....ran, tan, fan, Jan....He got to Jan and I said,
"That's Nana's name. Did you know that buddy?" Before he could answer Molly turns her body, puts her hands on her hips, and replies with,
"Momma, Nana calls her daddy Jim and I don't like it. She should call him Papa."
Oh when she is cute she is right on. It's when she isn't that I am concerned about my mental health!

Getting back on track....

Exhausted.
We traveled 5 out of 8 days that we were on vacation.
Friday...drove 7.5 hours north to MI.
Saturday...I wouldn't have counted this as a travel day until we got stuck in traffic for 3.5 hours. Yes, it took us 45 minutes to get to my in-laws. It took us 3.5 hours to get back to my sisters. We pulled into her driveway at one a.m. In between travel though, we had a great day. The kids LOVED fishing with their daddy, uncle and grandpa.
Sunday...we enjoyed some time with my family and a few friends we haven't seen in some time.
Monday....we were off to west Michigan. The 4 additional hours was worth it. Beautiful! I love Lake Michigan.
Thursday....4 more hours back to the other side of Michigan.
Friday....7.5 hours back to KY.
What a great vacation we had. My thoughts and memories to come soon.
We ended up leaving Thursday night b/c the rain and cold was heading in on Friday.
If you camp, especially tent camp, I do NOT recommend packing up camp in the rain. We did that a few years back. It wasn't pleasant. We got some great pics of Max & Joshua playing in the rain, but the rest of it was not fun.

Today, Molly and I spent most of the afternoon grocery shopping. We went to 5 different places and enjoyed a girls lunch at Subway. Today while we were down the frozen foods aisle a gentleman pushed his cart by us and smiled at Molly. A few seconds later (hopefully enough seconds later) Molly says to me,
"Momma, that guy doesn't have any hair on top of his head!"
Oh goodness.
He didn't turn. Or maybe I turned first so he didn't see my red face.
Out of the mouths of babes :)

Off to do a few more things before sleep takes over.