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.

A bit of catching up....

This little girl had her 12 month check up yesterday.

She is doing great!

She is 31 inches and 19 pounds 6 ounces.

I really can't believe she is as big as she is. It seems like just yesterday and a million years ago that she was born.

Sniff.

The oldest two were sooooo well behaved during the appointment. I was very proud of them. I told them before we went in that momma was going to have to talk with the doctor and that while the doctor was checking over Maggie and I was talking with her that they were to just look at their books, color if they wanted, just no interrupting.

Again....so proud of them.

There was only one teeny tiny interruption and he said excuse me and whispered. His request was so funny that there was no way I was getting upset.

When the doctor went to check Maggie's ears, eyes, & throat I took the opportunity to throw away some get away cheerios. I crossed the room and threw them away. Max saw his chance.

"Momma, Momma, excuse me." He whispered. After that all I heard him whisper was something about video game and mario kart. All I was thinking was, "please don't start talking about all of mario kart you've been playing this summer with all of the rain (trying to justify it) in front of the pediatrician". I gave him a sweet smile and told him I'd take care of it.

The doctor finished up her exam and said her good-byes and see you next time. She was gone.

Max looks at me with that look of confusion of "why didn't my mom do what I told her to do?" He says in absolute seriousness, "Momma, you didn't tell Maggie's doctor about how she always goes after the video game when me and daddy are playing and what she's gonna do about it". I couldn't help but get a huge smile on my face. Always so concerned about his baby sisters.

The other day Maggie kept going after his game. No matter what he did, what toy or book he brought to her all she wanted was that game. He looked at me and said, "Momma, I don't want a baby anymore". Five minutes later he was laying next to her reading. Oh my boy.

We had a nice and relaxing week. Well, almost. Tuesday we got a ticket in the mail from a city in Tennessee. I won't go into detail because I think my head almost exploded on Tuesday when this all happened. Long and short of it....on Father's Day we went the scenic route down to Tennessee. We had a great weekend. We celebrated Maggie's birthday and Father's Day....see post below....fast forward 9 days....I go and get the mail. As a SAHM one of the highlights of my day is the mail. I see an envelope with the return address "Photo Enforcement blah blah blah". I know what it is right away but know that if it is I will be furious. Well, it was and I was. Just ask my sister. I'm sure I blew her eardrum with the way that I was venting to her about all of this. We got a ticket from a camera. Then they mailed it to us 9 days later. Please. I realize that we were probably speeding. However, what if we weren't? What stops them from tweeking their computers just a tad so that they can set up their camera, no human needed, to get more money? Oh...so furious. I hope that they enjoy their 50 bucks....it'll be the only 50 bucks that town ever sees from us. It was creepy getting a piece of mail where your license plate is zoomed in and then it lists the web address where you can actually watch it. Weird.

Honestly, I wouldn't have been upset one iota if a REAL cop had pulled us over in an ACTUAL cop car with lights and all...if in fact we were speeding. Ugh!!! See, I'm getting upset all over again. Gotta move on.

Moving on...it was an absolute gorgeous week. It was sunny, breezy, no humidity, pleasant, no rain. We spent some much needed time outside.

My other find the last week and a half or so was school desks. As soon as we decided to homeschool, I wanted to find desks for the kids. Craigslist had them listed of course so the emails began. I finally ended up scheduling a pick up of two desks and two chairs with a woman about an hour north of here for tonight. Today the kids and I went out with their 6 quarters in hand to search out garage sales. At the first one, Molly found a nice princess game. Max didn't find a thing so we went searching for garage sale #2. They ended up each picking out a desk and saving their momma 4 bucks and an hour long car ride (although I was looking a little forward to the long car ride with just my music turned up just a tad too loud :)

Max sat proudly in his and asked if school could begin now. I told him we could do a few things of course, but that we were going to go on vacation first. He agreed that was an okay idea. So we go their new desks in the car and we headed for home. They helped me clean their desks. Then Molly leaned a little too far on hers and it toppled. I figure the earlier they do that the sooner they'll learn not to lean on their desks. :)

HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A WONDERFUL & HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!

Two bargin items & more importantly....Father's Day

We had a FANTASTIC weekend!

First, on Saturday we celebrated Maggie's first birthday. Again, something so hard to believe...another year gone by. I spent the morning getting some things for her birthday...mostly waiting for Walmart to finish her PETITE cake....they called me at 6:30 a.m. b/c the woman who took my order failed to put any details on the order sheet other than the price. This cake is all of about 4 inches high....over 6 hours later I got the cake. They told me at 11:20 a.m. that it wasn't quite finished yet. At 10 to noon they told me they were just starting it...I got it 12:35. I was no longer quite sure why they called me at 6:30 a.m. acting like they had to know that second what the cake entailed. Anyhooo.....while going around getting a few things for the day's celebration I spotted a 'sale' at a local church. I pulled in and the woman told me a buck fifty for this:

I was so excited. I also found a brand new, not even opened, dvd of Sleeping Beauty.

We spent the afternoon grilling & eating (inside....way too hot out lately for anything outdoors unless there is a pool involved) & swimming. We headed to the "duck pool" that is finally open after a few repairs. The kids had a blast.

Sunday, we headed to Pigeon Forge for some shopping & a Tennessee Smokies game. We took the scenic route down to TN.

It was gorgeous...we stopped off at a scenic point.

We did a little shopping and then headed to the ball game. We knew that there was a small chance that rain was coming. It was a beautiful drive down. Sun, no rain. As soon as we made the left hand turn into the parking lot to shop....downpour. Soaking wet just getting the kids out of the van. It poured and then it cleared up. Blue sky, pretty clouds. We thought it had passed.

Nope.

We got to the ball park around 3:30 or so.

Since it was Father's Day they were allowing kids and their dads down on the fields to play catch. Wonderful! So we get our tickets (love that Molly is still free in the eyes of the Tennessee Smokies), get in the ball park and find our way down to the field. As soon as we step foot in the outfield it starts sprinkling.

Max seems to mind a bit more than I thought he would. He usually loves playing in the rain. Not on Sunday.

Molly seemed to just enjoy playing catch with her dad and didn't mind the rain.

We were a little bummed though that after about 2 or 3 throws back and forth between Molly & her daddy the clouds decided to dump everything they had on top of this ball field.

We headed over to the cafe in park and had an early dinner. The skies cleared and it was a great night for a ball game. It started an hour late but the kids didn't mind. They kept busy with little games that they had set up for all of the little ones there.

It ended up being a great Father's Day Night!

How blessed we are to have Aaron in our family. God is SO good!