Great Aunts and Cousins!

A Saturday visit with Great Aunt Alma and cousins Shelli and little Judah! Great Aunt Alma spent some time teaching the girls how to crochet. We are all sporting crocheted bracelets and necklaces. Hopefully they can be patient enough to make bigger things!

Store Night

Awana Store Night is the greatest around here! The girls and Zach collect all of their dollars...carefully counting and proclaiming the amounts. As soon as I picked them up they were spouting off all of the things that they had bought. Zach bought an I-tunes gift card and the girls had bought a bunch of little things for themselves and for each other....even dad and I received "presents" last night! As we sat around the island eating our snack everyone played with the new gifts. Abby bought her dad and I a bouncy ball and I was given little chocolates by Rach and Jord. The girls all bought a gift for Zach and each other....the exchange was almost Christmas-like! How wonderful to watch them all think of others and be so happy in giving gifts to each other. The moment was........quickly over though.......as we started to hurry them upstairs for bed.....no one wanted to go and the procrastinating began! They are always so hyped up after Awana.....must be all the joy in learning God's Word!

Snowy Co-op Days

A fun filled exhausting day! As a leader in our homeschool group, my co-op day starts before any one else gets there (except the other leaders and their kids). Moving the chairs and tables, setting up chairs and tables, unlocking rooms, cabinets, setting out announcements and name tags. We take calls all morning....from those running late or families who have awaken to sickness, but to add to it today.....we were expecting several inches of snow....during class time.
Most made it in, happy to be back and see everyone from the long holiday break.....we were short teachers here and there but everyone pulled together and made the best of it! Gym classes, Art classes, sign language, science classes, even a photography class and a government class.....all happened today. Whew....glad it all went ok!

We trudged out in the snow after classes for some yummy Skyline with friends and then home where the girls quickly put on their snow gear and played outside for hours! I had to MAKE them come in because it was getting dark! Silly girls would have made an igloo and stayed out there all night if they could've. After warm showers and some food we settled in for a cuddly evening with "neo cubes". Dad had ordered them for the kids for our upcoming Florida trip and they arrived today. The plan was to hand them out just as we were leaving as surprise to keep them busy on the trip, but dad couldn't wait, because.......he wanted to play with them himself! The kids played with them all night while we just "hung" out on the couch together catching American Idol here and there.

Kids around here have a snow day tomorrow it looks like, but we will be putting in a full day around here!

I'm back

Wow ~ Life has been busy or I have been lazy.....I think it's the busy excuse! One of my goals this year is to be an active blogger....writing out the things that I do not want to forget.

The past few months have been diffucult with the loss of Richard (Kevin's dad). I truly believe that the Lord has covered us with His grace and we are facing each day better than the one before. Papaw is what the kids call him. We miss him.....he was always so happy ( I always picture him bouncing around the back of the church as we sang praise and worship) and never gave up on the healing power of the Lord. We would go to his house and sing....Zach would play the guitar.....we would pray, cry, sing and pray some more. Then we would have some sort of snack ~ sometimes it was ice cream and sometimes it was carrots & broccoli ~ and talk about church, politics, nutrition, the kids, vacations and all the new "gadgets" that Papaw was buying on-line. I'm so thankful for these memories.....I'm so thankful that my kids have these memories and that they were built on a foundation of faith in Jesus Christ.

On the kid front: School is back in session after the Christmas break. Jord had drama camp the first week in August which made it difficult to get school accomplished, but we are pressing along now and are trying to be dilligent in accomplishing much before our Florida vacation in February.
Zach has been enjoying the Government unit of his history this year....we purchased a book about Alexander Hamilton that he is currently reading and he is signed up to start a Government class with our homeschool co-op this coming week. He will attend TeenPact in April (a 3 day tour of the statehouse and city buildings, meeting elected officials, writing a bill, devotions, praise/worship & more)
Jord just finished drama camp, put on by KidShine. She had a speaking part and a solo~ she sang the verses on the song Today is the Day by Lincoln Brewster. She messed up a little on the words, but recovered gracefully and of course....sounded awesome! She is finishing up the book "Noah Webster" and we are going to have a go at her first big book report for this year.
Rach was not old enough for the drama camp, but begged to go and hang out there just so she could watch what was going on.......she'll be ready for next year! She has finally learned to tie her shoes and both front teeth are finally in......these were big deals for her! She is finishing a book every couple of days so I'm not sure what she is reading right now, but we are studying the american indians and colonists right now.
Abby is pretty much finished with preschool, but I'm not ready to start Kindergarten yet, so I am trying to keep her busy with "themed" weeks.....this past week was "Transportation". We talked about helicopters, boats, trains and emergency vehicles. This week I'm going to cover first aid, 911 and ..........not sure yet, but you get the idea.

We have been anticipating going to Build-a-Bear to stuff Holly/Hal Mooses that they got for Christmas from Memaw. Today was the day. At some point in the night Abby had gotten up to potty (and most of you know that once she wakes up, she could be up for hours).....she had found a B-a-B catalog and must of been looking at it.....about an hour later she comes to my bed, rubs my arm to wake me....holding the catalog and wants to know if today is finally the day that we are are going......she is such a stinker! Today was the day and everyone went to bed happy campers and with a new, stuffed build-a-bear....even Zach got one, but I don't think he went to bed with it...haha!

Hopefully I'll be better at keeping up with this blog ~ I know that mostly family and few friends may read this, but I would like to have this journal for my own benefit.

My other goals this year of course are losing weight, upping the workouts, scrapbooking and all the other yearly REcomittments. Most of all I want to REcommit to my family.......I realize that my kids are growing too quickly and I am forgetting all the things that I vowed to NEVER forget. Memories ARE precious and I am planning on making lots of them this year and I plan to keep track of them as much as I can!