Stranded Again!

Yep! My van left me stranded again. I'm done! New van please! I'll keep you posted.
Anyways, on top of now dealing with van repairs we have had a busy week. This week I started giving Midwest Appraisal Services 2-3 hours/day. I've arranged some childcare for the little ones during that time. Any of you homeschoolers know that giving an extra 2-3 hours/day can put you behind really quickly! We are trying to keep up though....it's going.... ok! Zach finally finished a research paper that his DVD classmates finished about 2 weeks ago and Jord has finally gotten down converting of measurements and Rach is getting so good at reading short vowel words! We are checking things off the list, but I'm thinking that may slow down as I devote this time to working for the business. We are still looking for an office manager....we are just being very picky about who we will hire! Oh the joys of homeschooling.....but wouldn't trade it for the big yellow bus! Oh the joys of owning your own business....but wouldn't trade it either because right now hubby is making alot of money!!! Can't complain....God is Good! Business is good....kids are good....hubby is good...van is not good, but hopefully that will be remedied soon!

Introducing......The Brown Family Band

Enjoy the Brown Family Band. This is what we've been working on in our "spare" time these past few weeks. If you are looking for peace and quiet....don't come here! But if you are looking for a good song about Jesus....stop by anytime!

Birthday pics

I'm kinda slow at getting these out, but it's official now....my baby is 3! The parties are over, most decorations are down (we still have a few horse pictures hanging around) and the leftover cake is finally gone.....thank God....it kept calling my name everyday around 3pm. By the way, what do you think of my horse cake? Made it myself...2x for 2 parties....that's why there was so much left over!

This week has been busy....we've had a good week with school and today is our homeschool group classes so I need to get everything and everybody ready.

Happy Valentines Day!

Just want to say that I love you all.....my family and friends. I'm very blessed to have each one of you in my life! So, what is everyone doing to celebrate this day of love?

My mom and dad are here and right now my mom is making breakfast as the girls watch and help...some new recipe that she wanted to try....Maple-Bacon Oven Pancake. She also brought food to make quite a few other new recipes for us to try. Kevin and my dad are taking Kev's truck to get new tires and then when they get back we are heading out to Jord's BB game and then Zach's BB game. Grab some lunch after the games and then a Meijer trip to get some food for a few more family members to come over tonight to celebrate Abby's birthday.

So, no big romantic plans for Kev & I, although it is wonderful to be surrounded by family & our kids......we feel lots and lots of love!

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Birthday Abby!

Abby is 3 today! Happy Birthday to my sweet little girl!

Projects Complete

You know we all have those projects that hang over our head for weeks, months and for us sometimes years! We have a handyman here today....we are checking off: the toilet that runs constantly, the light fixture that has been broken in the kitchen for the longest time, and the icemaker in the freezer (that's the one that was #1 on my list). So a few checked off, many many more to go.

We love horses!

Around here recently we have been in horsey heaven! Everything is about horses. So, with Abby's birthday coming up, of course she wanted, HORSES! I have a friend in the homeschool group who has an adorable little pony named Cocoa. We went over to the barn last week and took the picture...it was freezing that day and Abby was shaking and a little scared about being on Cocoa. My sister-in-law Teresa, is a genius with photo-shop and was able to take out the people and arms holding her on the horse. Abby is thrilled with her picture on the horsey and will be even more thrilled when she sees the poster of this pic that I ordered!

Basketball pics

What a pro!

Crazy Busy!

These are pics from last weekend ...Sports Ohio with our homeschool group, the TobyMac concert & Abby with her breathing mask!

We are crazy most of the time around here anyways...now let's add...a husband who is working days, nights & weekends to keep up with the orders coming in, a little girl with an ear infection and asthma, which means unplanned doctor visits, 3 girly haircuts, basketball practices, AWANA, praise & worship practice, watching extra kids this week, homeschool group classes for which I am responsible for ...well alot, youth group and 3 basketball games (Jord had a double-header)! This has been our week. Not sure where we landed in the "school" area.

Zach and Jord won all their games today! This has been a great season for both of them...I'll post some pics as soon as I get them downloaded.

My Jordy Taylor

She has so many talents & interests. She is very loving and sensitive, very giving yet can't give things away at the same time. For instance, cleaning out her room.....nothing comes out....that's the problem. She has stacks and stacks of papers....letters to friends, songs that she's written, business adventures that she's created with all the flyers and 50 % off sales ( her newest business is The Backscratch Company - it has been great for her dad and I). She collects stickers, anything that's glittery & shiny and it can never be parted with...she might use it one day to make a craft. She has made crafts with my bathroom paper cups, q-tips, tissues, lip gloss, lotion...oh yeah, and there was the time here recently that she was making her "own perfume" - that was a little messy. She creates "fruity" drinks and puts them in the freezer...who knows exactly what they have in them, but she is always asking someone to test it! She is always "working" on a new song...mostly about her love for Jesus and how He has rescued her...which is always great to hear. All of this background because I want to note something that she had told me a couple of weeks ago and I don't want to forget it.

Jordy was at AWANA and Zach had basketball practice and wouldn't get there until about halfway through the night. They are in the same group, but different teams so they are sorta together for the whole night. That night as I was tucking her in she explained to me that when they play games, even though they are on different teams that she can always hear Zach cheering her on when it's her turn to run a relay or she is out there doing her part for the team. She noticed that he wasn't there when there was no cheering from big brother and it made her sad. Of course, she always cheers him on...she has always been his biggest cheerleader! Then, he always sits close to her during their "devotional time" when the whole group is together and she was really missing him not being there. During this time, she turned around and saw him come in the door and find a seat in the back and she said that she started to cry because she was so happy to see him and she felt a lot better just knowing that he was there. By the time she was finished telling me all of this we were both "bawling" (as only girls could do). I was so happy to hear about Zach always cheering her on and loving the fact that outside of the house brother and sister love each other!