Still celebrating Christmas!

We have enjoyed our time off from school with games, activities and small outings (pet stores & ice cream). But.....we have missed having Christmas with my family. Our van is not working right now and Kevin is extremely swamped with orders (this is a good thing) and it would be difficult for him to be away for a couple of days. I have cried and cried about missing my family at Christmas and despite all efforts for us to get together... it just isn't working out.

My mom called last night and said that she was coming over today! Hoorah! Not sure if dad is coming or not....there's that "work thing" that he'd have to work out first. It won't be the same opening presents without him or Uncle Matt and "almost" Aunt Liz, but we'll take what we can get!

So we are cleaning today.... stinky bunny cage, laundry & putting misc. Christmas away.

My mom's birthday is New Year's Day so we have plenty to celebrate..... Christmas, New Years and a Birthday... I think that's a pie, brownies and a cake!

Anyone out there doing anything special for New Year's? Any great resolutions in store for 2009?
May God pour out His greatest blessings on all of you in this new year!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family! We are home and enjoying a wonderful day together. The girls are running around in new "dress up outfits" and Zach and Kevin are putting together a new game table for the basement playroom - this one comes with a basketball hoop, ping pong, bean bag toss, air hockey,pool and many other games. We've opened Dora's, barbies and babies.....exploding volcanoes and "learn to crochet" kits. (You are all getting scarves next year for Christmas)

Abby has a new love for Rudolph - after we watched the show that all she talks about and she has been asking to watch it all day!

We pray your Christmas is blessed as you celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Friday,Dec.19,2008

We are learning to play the drums around here.... with a DVD we picked up at the library. Last night K and I just had to make the kids get off so that we could play a little bit (me the piano & K the drums). No one has practiced the bass yet today, but I'm sure that those strings will be plucked before the end of the night. M & Chelle, we will be ready for "real band fun" whenever we are all together next. I can picture it now, singing & dancing while kids are jamming on the drums, bass, piano, tambourines and maracas! Of course, Gavin will dance! I still remember his moves!!!

Rach and Abby have been in princess dresses all day....Snow White, an angel, Ariel & princess Barbie....these dresses aren't made for the wear and tear that my girls put them through

Jord has BB practice tonight, Zach a birthday party. Tomorrow they have their first game!

I plan on wrapping this weekend and catching up on some chores so that I don't have too much to do next week. We'll see!

I see the Lorow's POD in their driveway.....we are so sad that they are moving.

Finally Christmas Break - or is it?

We are officially finished with school for the year .....except.... Zach has a history research report due the first week back in January that we haven't worked on much.... and Jord needs to do some flashcards often or I'm afraid we will be relearning multiplication tables and division facts.
Rach is doing well with reading 2 and 3 letter words, but we will need to keep her practicing over the break! Other than that.... we are on a school break!
Today we kept our neighbor friend Aidan while his mom took an exam for nursing! Then this afternoon we kept Crystal and Jasmine for a few hours - (their baby brother Samuel is in the hospital after he was born with a diaphragmic hernia last week). We made brownies and a Christmas lapbook!
So, in the last week my husband has purchased a bass guitar and now a drum set. Both of which he found on Craigslist. My evening has been filled with lots of drumming!!!!!
Maybe someday we will put together 'The Brown Family Band' - who knows!
But for now the Brown house if filled with lots of drumming, singing & bassing (is that a word?)
If you need peace and quiet, don't come by my house for awhile! Maybe I'll come to your house!

A Bunny Bath and Christmas Program

So, we decided to give the bunny a bath - have never done this before, but he seemed to enjoy it. He really does stink, but he is a good bunny! (All the kids kept their undies on for this bath)

We had a Christmas program at church on Sunday and all the kids participated. Zach was the angel Gabriel, delivering the message to Mary about baby Jesus. Jord, Rach and Abby were part of the angel choir that sang "Hark the Herald Angels". Abby also participated in the bell choir , which you can see she started out ringing her bell with such enthusiasm and then quickly became embarrassed, put her hands over her face and eventually laid on the stage face down and cried! (the pics are not in the right order - sorry!)

We are only doing school Monday and Tuesday this week and we will be finished for the year! Yeah! But we have lots of projects that we have to work on before Christmas.

Please pray for my neighbors and dear friends, the Finzers. Their baby was born on Thurs and is now at Children's Hospital here in Columbus. Here's the link to dad's blog so that you can read.

http://www.wewillrulethegalaxytogether.blogspot.com/

So Hungry

After the "yak" episode yesterday, Abby just begged and begged for food. I kept finding her sneaking around the kitchen and wanting the other kids to get food for her. I had gotten preoccupied with putting laundry away upstairs and came down to find her devouring a piece of bologna - to which she admitted - "I didt hab anober one" - that meant that she was on her 2nd piece! Praise the Lord - none of it came back up! She had tons of energy last night and ate everything she could get her hands on and kept everything down. Thanks my friends for praying. We all know what it's like to have a "bug" go through the whole family - it would be a week before we were all finished with it! Car sickness? Too hot in the car? Who knows? Just glad the bologna stayed down!!!!

A Big Yak!

So, I took the kids to run some errands today. Zach had a gift card burning a hole in his pocket for Best Buy (he won it at youth group), so we went there and then headed for the library. After that, I pull into the parking lot at Target to get more $1 items to fill shoe boxes and before I could even get the van turned off - Abby was vomiting all over herself and the van! Horrific! A canvas bag that we take to the library, a box of wet wipes and a change of clothes that I always keep in the back of the van and I was able to clean up enough to get us home.
After she was all cleaned up she said, "Mom, that was a BIG YAK - I don't want to do that again!" I agreed!

Fun in the Snow & Christmas Parties

I wrote this blog on Sat. and am just now getting the pics with it and posting - sorry!

It's snowing here today - about 1-2 inches right now. The kids are using the "kids size" snow shovels that I bought Black Friday shopping and toted home. We have Kane and Gabriel, our nephews, for the weekend so it took a good 30-45 minutes just to get on everyone's boots, gloves, hats and coats - we didn't even do snowpants this time! Abby lasted about 20 minutes, Rachel about 35 minutes, everyone else is still outside as I am writing this. The hot chocolate is ready and waiting.

On Thursday our homeschool group had a Christmas party and we enjoyed hearing Rach's class sing songs(Abby joined in) and Jord's class sing about their body parts. Zach's Cooking class received an apron with their names printed on it - now let's see if I can get him to be Chef Zach here at home! He did offer to chop some veggies for me the other day and he did a great job - who knows?

After the party we went to the Nursing Home across the street and sang Christmas carols and passed out candy canes. All the kids did a great job of singing and talking to the residents. In the van on the way over there Zach and Jord were saying how they remembered going to the Nursing Home last year and how much fun they had - I love seeing the pureness of their heart, by this age most kids would have to be dragged into a Nursing Home to sing for "old people" - but trudging up and down the halls singing "Joy to the World" and "Go Tell it on the Mountain" was a group of homeschooled students who loved every minute of it - they were even giving out hugs and posing for pictures!

After church tomorrow we have a birthday party for Lynne (Kev's mom) at Dave & Busters so that will be a nice treat for everyone. A great way to end the weekend!

A Princess Day

We had a princess day around here yesterday - the girls wore their dresses all day and watched the Tinkerbell Movie twice.

We're Home!

I pray that everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving. It was fun to hear of everyone's Black Friday shopping fun! My mom and I were up at 3:15 and at Elder Beerman at 4am. Meijer by 5am, Walmart at 6am - which we promptly left because of mass chaois and very long lines. Menards, Target and a few places in the mall. We met Kevin, my dad, "Almost Aunt" Liz and the kids for lunch at Fazoli's and then went to Kohl's. We had a great time and bought almost everything that was on our lists! Kevin and I went out later and price matched those MP3's (that Best Buy had) at Walmart. So, next time we see the Hutsell's we'll have to see if we ended up with the same MP3's. Although, I hope Jord doesn't read this!
I ate way too much - I always gain a few lbs. when I go back home! I brought home a delicious pumpkin roll - thanks Grandma Fogle and I'm looking forward to having a little of that each day this week just to savor Thanksgiving a little longer.
It was great to visit with family, the Sizemore side and the Farmer side this visit! We love all of you and it was great to catch up with everyone!

One more post today

Ok - I have one more post and some pics to share.

Last night was family night at AWANA, so I went to see what the kids do while they are there every week. Abby was not feeling well, so Kev stayed home with her to put her to bed early.

And the pic of Jord - she was decorating everything even herself for Christmas!

O Christmas Tree O Christmas Tree.........

The Christmas Tree is up - I don't believe we have ever been this early. We are heading out of town tomorrow and will be gone until Sunday so at least it is a project that we won't have to do when we get home! We are looking forward to Thanksgiving and BlackFriday Shopping . My mom and I go every year and we have such a great time. There is nothing better than spending a whole day shopping, eating, laughing and talking with your mom.

We have so much to be thankful for:

• Healthy children that are smart and energetic
• A husband who works hard and loves the Lord
• the shelter of our house
• the food on our table
• family that loves and cares for us
• friends that are always there to help us out
• our freedom to Worship the Lord
• Knowing Jesus as my Lord and Saviour

I could go on and on because there are so many wonderful blessings in my life. There are so many things that I take for granted and should be thanking God for everyday. God is good and He is a Provider, Comforter, Saviour and Friend. I' m so thankful that He is my Friend!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving

She Sleeps

Abby crawled up in Kevin's lap this afternoon while he was working and fell asleep. How precious! When I wanted to wake her up (payback -you know!) he wouldn't let me. He held her for a while and then brought her to the couch.
We did have a busy day - homeschool group then a few families came to our house for lunch and of course she was up last night - she got up to go potty about 11ish and when I went to bed around 12:30ish she was asleep in the hallway outside of her bedroom. Then her and Rach were up around 6:20 this morning. So finally, she sleeps with daddy!

This week

This week we have had our first snow! We were in the basement digging out boots and trying them on, gloves, hats and scarfs too. Somehow every year we need new things and we can never find matching gloves - we had them last year, but in storage one glove had disappeared. We've had AWANA, had friends over for dinner, signed up for basketball (Zach & Jord), made plans to look at a refridgerator for our rental, sold things on Craigslist, cleaned out toy bins and closets, cleaned the bunny cage and kept up with school - it's only Wed!
Zach and Jord have been going out every day at lunch to practice basketball, they just came in and their whole faces are red from the cold outside!
Jord just got her own e-mail address jordan@mwas.biz , so she has been sending me e-mails everyday and this is one that I received the other day -

Hi MOM you know I would like to do some things with you .And thanks for talking with me last night I LOVE talking about GOD MOM I LIKE YOU . YOU HAVE done a lot of GOOD THINGS for us Kids And OUR FAMILY and that helps us to BE BETTER AT LISING AND BEGAN GROWING AnD SOON YOU,ll BE SEEing us BEING AGOOD AND WONDERFUL CHRISTRAIN PERSON LIKE YOU two AND IT WILL BE BECAUSE of YOU AND DAD AND I FEEL like youtwo are making us a better PERSON.your dooen aGOOD JOB . your doing a GOOD job of being a parent .AND SHOW this to dad. I LOVE YOU MOM. YOUR THE ONLY MOM THAT would BE GOOD FOR ME you JUST RAISE ME UP SO GOOD THAT I WOULD NEVER ASK FOR ANOTHER person. THANKS MOM FOR EVERYTHING . LOVE JORDAN.

It makes me cry every time I read it - I'm glad to know that she would never request another person to take my place as mom. As far as she if concerned her dad and I are doing a great job of raising them and she loves the Lord and knows that she will serve Him all of her days!
Precious huh? Giving her an e-mail address has gotten her creative writing juices flowing.

Wedding Pics

The wedding was wonderful and the girls all thought that the bride was a princess. Rach wanted

her picture taken with "the princess"! The wedding & reception took place in the same room - we sat at our tables for the ceremony and then waited while they set up the head table on the stage, then we were served dinner, cutting of the cake and then dancing. The girls had a great time dancing around with grandma's and great grandma's as well as aunts and cousins. Zach, not so much. He did venture out a little when Kevin came out to dance with Abby - Abby fell asleep on Kev and then we left. All the college kids were really starting to have fun by now and it was time for little ones and their parents to go to bed.

My mom (Nana) stayed the night with us in the hotel. She brought lots of snacks and prizes for everyone. By the time we all settled down it was midnight.

We came home tired, but had a great time. Congratulations Clint and Sandy - the wedding was beautiful and we pray for God's blessing on you both as you start this new life together.

Goin' to a Weddin'

We're heading out tomorrow for Indianapolis to a wedding. My mom's sister's daughter (my cousin) - she was in our wedding 13 yrs. ago as a flowergirl. Hard to believe! We are looking forward to seeing everyone and being with family. We've pulled out some fancy dresses for Rach & Abby, but still need one for Jord so we are shopping first thing in the morning. There was so much excitement about painting our nails tonight and trying on the dresses and picking out the shoes and hairbows! I have to admit that I think it's fun to dress the girls - I am always obsessing about having them match.
Thank goodness it's an evening wedding. It should take us 3 hrs. to get there. We'll stay all night and travel home Sun. morning.
Have a great weekend friends,
Stacy

Rach's bathroom playhouse

The bathroom became Rach's house today - for her and all her little people!

We made it!

We made it through the night as far as "the pukes" go. We are still dealing with Abby waking up and staying awake for hours at a time in the middle of the night. Last night, she woke up to go potty and could not go back to sleep. Some time passed and I heard something in my bathroom - thinking it could be one of the other kids I continued to lay in bed and snooze a little until I noticed that I was still hearing noise from the bathroom - it was Abby and she had my lipstick! I cleaned her up, gave her a stearn warning and put her back in bed. About 45 min later I heard some noise in Jord's bedroom and then in the hallway so I hollered out, "Abby, if that is you - you are in big trouble!" She must have made a mad dash to her bed - she was not in the hallway but in her bed trying to be as still as possible in her bed. In the hallway I found a bag from Jord's room that holds all of her lip gloss and nail polish - that could have been disastrous. After some time, she finally fell asleep! At least no one had the pukes! - Yeah!

The Pukes!

We had a good case of the pukes today! Shortly, after breakfast Jord started complaining of a tummy ache and it wasn't long before she was depositing her french toast sticks into a big blue bucket. For some reason, we have grown accustomed to carrying around these big buckets whenever we get the pukes - my kids hate doing it in the toilet!

Of course, now I'm a little anxious for the night - will anyone else get it! The kids seemed so hungry before bed and were asking for all kinds of snacks and I was trying to ration out the smallest amounts.

We'll see what the night holds!

Election Night Party

We had a lot of fun at our party! Counting electoral votes, locating states and coloring them in red or blue! As you can see Abby fell asleep, Jord, Rach & their cousin Savannah made alot of pictures and drawings and worked on puzzles while waiting for the next state to be called. Zach had a book that he was reading in between results.

We are planning to put together Bimini boxes (Christmas boxes for orphan kids in the Bahamas) while watching the Buckeye game tomorrow. I need to go buy some supplies for that today and do some house chores!

We are concentrating on some History and Science today. Pocahontas and Vertebrates!

Have a blessed weekend,

Stace

Let's Vote!

The kids and poll workers!

Our neighbor called to say that there was not a line at our polling location so Kevin immediately headed out to vote and then he headed out to do inspections. Kev called and said that there was still no line, so I got the kids ready and we all headed out to vote - still no line! Abby kept asking to see the "boat" - she thought that was where we were going. I tried and tried to explain that we were saying "vote", but she was still asking when we were going to see the "boat" even at dinnertime.

I am taking a break from our "exciting" Election Night Party to blog - we have had pizza, cake and we are filling in our maps - right now it is McCain (69) Obama (103). The girls have made lots of pictures and signs to put up around the house.

Well, back to the party.

Family Fun Nite was a great success! The kids had a great time - Kev and I took turns working a stop on the"Roman's Road" . They had a couple of the connecting Sunday school rooms dark and set up as a path that led you to Christ! That was fun to do for us! Of course, plenty of candy. I've already had way too much!
We picked up our nephews Kane and Gabriel for the Family Fun Nite and ended up keeping them all weekend. We just took them home tonight.
Saturday we spent the day outdoors - it was beautiful here! We did yardwork and cleaned out the van and garage and did some "painting". I hardly ever get out the paints, but we got out some pieces of wood left over from the building of the playhouse and got busy making some awesome masterpieces.

We had a wonderful service today at church - I love that song, "I am a friend of God!" Who am I that You are mindful of me? It's Amazing! Pastor preached about Love - 1 Corinthains 13 - one of my personal favorites!
I love all of you - God has blessed me with wonderful family and friends.

Well, we've survived the Fall Back time change! It was dark tonight at 6pm! Looking forward to voting this week and our big Election night party and no school on Wed!
Have a great week,
Love, Stace

Duluth

This is the view of Lake Superior from the house where we stayed!

We had a wonderful time visiting with Great Lakes Church in Duluth, MN. The congregation has such a passion and excitement for serving the Lord. The praise and worship was wonderful - you could definately sense the presence of the Lord as the church sang, "There's no God like Jehovah!" Kevin delivered a great message and then began to pray for specific needs as he felt the Lord was leading. At the end of the service the pastor gave oppportunity for testimonies and people shared of how they had received healings - even restored hearing in a deaf ear! I wish I had more time to write - I could share so much! The hospitality was excellent, the house we stayed at was beautiful and it had a wonderful view of Lake Superior. Thanks to Phil and Kathy for treating us so special while were there!

We are continuing to pray for God's guidance on this one!

The girls had a wonderful time with my mom and dad. It was nice for them to have the younger two. I guess Rach really took on the "Big Sis" role. She can never do that when Jord is around! Rach has already asked me when would be the next time that they could stay there without the rest of us!

In other news, we found another praying mantis yesterday! We gave it away to another family in our homeschool group so that they could watch this interesting insect devour other insects! We are also gearing up around here for Election Night. At this time, we are planning a "party" (immediate family only). I took a book with us on the trip about the whole Election Process, the job of a President and different aspects of the government. Zach, Jord and I made it through the book on the never-ending roads of Wisconsin. We are now prepared to track the Electoral College on Election night to see who will become the next president! We plan to order pizza, stay up late and take the day off school on Wed.

Do you think we will know who the next Pres. is by Wed? I have this feeling that there will be alot of voting issues that will hold up the results.

This Friday night our church is having "Family Fun Nite". So, if you live around here we would love for you to come. Candy, games, crafts & prizes! No cost! We hope to see you there!

Homeschool group is tomorrow morning and Friday afternoon our group meets at Sports Ohio for indoor games and blow-ups!

I pray you all are having a wonderful week,

Stace

We're On Our Way!

We are just about to pull out of Kellerman Ct. We're headed to Kokomo first to drop off two little girls and then quickly getting back on the road for a whirlwind trip across through "cheese country" and back. Should be fun! We had to rent a van, because we were not sure that our "ole dependable" would make it. The girls have been it the Chevy Uplander all morning ready to go. They come in periodically to see if we're ready yet. Everything is clean, everything is packed! I'm waiting on Kevin to send a few e-mails and reports for work.
Keep us in prayer as we travel and the little girls as they are with my mom and dad. Most of all, that God would speak to our hearts about this ministry opportunity.
Thanks to Aunt Alma and Shelli for taking all the kids last night so we could pack and clean. Also, thanks to our neighbors for keeping our dog, feeding our bunny and taking our praying mantis in (that's the hard one to take care of because you have to find fresh, live bugs for it to eat everyday).
I'll update soon!
Love you all,
Stace

Here are the Family Pictures!

Well, here they are the family pictures for the year. I bought the dresses at Kohl's around the 4th of July - can you tell? With the dog or without the dog? What do you all think?

Our "news" is that we are going to Duluth, Minnesota for the weekend to visit a church there. Kevin was asked to candidate for the Sr. Pastor position by the Elder Board and after completing a questionarre and a phone interview they have asked him to come and preach this Sunday. I know you are all thinking - where in the world is Duluth? Almost to Cananda, I think! Not really, but it is to the far reaches of the north! At this point, we are trusting God to CLEARLY speak to us about this ministry opportunity. Please pray that as we travel there this weekend that God will clearly show us if this is where we are supposed to be.

We are going to leave Rachel and Abby with my mom and dad - Kokomo is on the way - and pick them up on our way back! Zach and Jord are traveling with us.

Well, there is alot to be accomplished around here before this big weekend trip - does it seem like we are always going on a trip around here? I'll keep everyone posted!

Thanks for praying!

Stacy

Family Pictures

We are having family pics taken today. The outfits we are wearing are ones that I picked out this summer. I have made the appointment 3 times now and finally, I think we are going today!
I had to cancel when Abby got that huge black eye and then again because of sickness, so hopefully today is the day.

I have news to share about a trip we are taking this weekend, but I will have to get to that later because I do not have enough time right now - I have 3 little girl heads of hair to do for pictures!

Our New Pet

How quickly the week can go by -- a couple days ago we found a praying mantis right outside our front door. We immediately found a container for him and began looking up information about this insect on the Internet. We have captured these before, but have never kept them very long. This time we have found a small aquarium to put him in, with grass, rocks and small tree branches. The kids are spending time in the afternoon and evening looking for bugs to feed him. Crickets have been the food of choice recently, although there are plenty of those "lady bug" beetles around right now as well. It is so interesting to watch him eat his prey alive! A little disgusting to watch, but all in the name of science. Zach just started a unit on invertebrates, so this capture is perfect. Jord calls him "Shirley" - not sure why!

We have had a good week of school and Rach is starting to put together 3 letter words. Zach is studying Canada, and Jord has been actually enjoying some creative writing. Abby loves toothpaste, gum and chapstick - that is what she is always getting into. She also loves to be a part of school likes to have her own books to work on while everyone else is working.

The temps have changed here - 60 degrees today - still not bad and we still haven't turned on the heat. It did get kinda cold last night and I covered the girls up several times, but Rach and Abby still crawled in my bed this morning crying, "we're cold, we're cold". They were a little chilled but not too bad. Maybe I'll dress them warmer tonight.

Tomorrow we may hit a pumpkin patch and run a few errands. The Buckeye game is a must for us in the afternoon and while we watch the game we are going to put together shoe boxes for children/orphanages that will go to the Bahamas at Christmas time.

I'm thinking of an Election Night Party - just for our family. Zach & Jord are the only ones able to grasp the concept and stay up a little later. I've seen some great ideas such as maps of the US to be colored in as the candidate wins that state and keeping track of the Electoral votes as well on your maps - what a great way to learn/reinforce the location of each state. I also ordered a book about the whole election process that I would like to start looking at - I'm not sure how excited they will be, but I'm sure the promise of a late night, popcorn and soda could force them have enthusiasm.
I pray everyone has a great weekend,
Love to you all,
Stace

More pics- Brown County & Birds

The first 2 pics are from Brown County - The kids enjoyed a some catch with my dad and the other picture is of the lake that we our trail took us by - isn't it beautiful the way the trees are reflected on the water ? The other 2 pictures are from Luke's "4th" birthday party. The bird was flying around and kept landing on Savannah's head. Kevin would love to have a bird again someday.........
We made it home from our weekend trip and everyone today is feeling tired and a little under the weather with some sore throats and coughs. I think I handed out medicine to almost everyone at some point throughout the night. Rachel is the only one who did not wake up last night. She may be the only one to go to AWANA tonight.
I just want to note that the weather we have had around here has been wonderful. The weekend temps were in the high 70's t0 low 80's and it will be the same around here today!
We have not had heat or air on for almost 3 weeks now - At least we won't be dreading the electric bill yet.

Brown County State Park

Our Weekend Getaway has taken us to Brown County, Indiana. The first picture is of the cottage where we are staying. The deck/porch is wonderful and has served as our dining room for meals. The 2nd picture of the loft bedroom where the kids are sleeping - they think it is so cool to be sleeping up there.
Today we headed to the State Park where we took on horseback riding! Rach and Abby rode ponies around a track (led by Nana and Pappy), while Kevin, Zach, Jord and I took on a 30 minute ride on a trail through the park. Needless to say, we all have sore "cheeks" tonight! The horses know the routine very well, but I seemed to have a horse that was finished working for day and kept wanting to go her own way. Jord's horse picked up some speed on an uphill climb and it scared her a little bit, but other than that, it was a great experience for us all!
After horses, we headed off to find a good spot for lunch - the park is huge and there were so many beautiful spots - I'll put some of those pics in my next blog - I could only get 5 in on this one. After lunch, we found a trail that seemed easy enough for us and headed off to tackle "trail #6". We had made leaf journals at home and spent some time while we were on the trail collecting different leaves to bring home to put in our journals.
Exhausted, we headed back to our cottage for some rest and dinner. We spent the night playing games on the deck and the kids enjoyed taking a bath in the jacuzzi tub!

On the job front, after having 2 weeks with very few orders - Kevin has gotten in 20 orders this week and has been trying to fit in some work while we've been here. This is why I am able to blog tonight - he brought his laptop and I have taken it over at least for now - I think he wants it back!

Happy Birthday to Papaw! We look forward to sharing some Pumpkin Pie with you soon!

Weekend Getaway

We are off on a weekend getaway! We are meeting my parents in Brown County, Indiana close to the State Park - we have a cabin rented! We have trails to hike, horses to ride and leaves to collect - we have made "leaf journals" that we are taking to collect our leaves in and label them! It sounds like fun to me - Well, we are packing the van now and getting ready to head out so
I'll post pictures when we get back!

Our First Commercial

The Brown kids have made their first commercial for Redeemer's Church Westerville. The commercial is promoting their Family Fun Night (alternative to Halloween). Just thought you all would get a kick out of seeing it. For those of you that live close - you are all welcome to come!
(view the clip at the bottom of the post)

We had a great weekend - a movie night, a grocery run, a birthday party, a Buckeye game, church and another birthday party. Tonight is AWANA. A few of us moms on the street are taking turns keeping the little ones while the older ones are at AWANA. Last Monday was our turn, so Abby will go to a neighbors while the others are at AWANA. I almost don't know what to do with my hour and a 1/2. Cleaning or running errands I guess!

Today we are taking a Science and History Day! Zach has a Tree Project that the rest of his classmates finished last week, so he is working hard to finish his display board and gather all of his samples and facts about "Elm Trees". Jord just needs to catch up and make sure that knows her early American History facts - especially about Jamestown. She is taking a Human Body class at our homeschool group that is what her first unit in Science is all about so I just need to sit down with her and make sure that she is understanding it all! Rachel is also doing Human Body with the homeschool group so she will sit in on my time with Jord. She is also sitting here beside me now asking me how to spell words - she is trying her best to sound them out.
We are also doing some chores - cleaning bunny cage, basement clean-up and still continuing to clean up the closet mess from last week. We'll see just how much we get done today. It's easy to make a list, but getting everything crossed off is the hard part.

Enjoy the Clip!

Pics - Finally!

Here are some pics that I have been meaning to put on here for a while now.

The first one is of Abby when she had her asthma attack and had to use the mask - it's supposed to look like an elephant face and trunk!

The others are of the Hurrican Ike winds that we hit here a couple weeks ago - we had Ellie and Noah that weekend - Look at the girls hair blowing in the wind!

And then there is our dog and bunny being such good friends!

We had homeschool group classes today so everyone is tired and watching TV right now. The girls are going to see Charlotte's Web tonight at the Children's Theatre. Julie & Ellie Long are going, as well as Teresa, Savannah and Luke. My girls are going with Memaw because I have Praise and Worship practice tonight that I had forgotten about, so Memaw stepped in and saved the day!