Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Kids, kids, and more kids.....

Ahhhhhh we welcome the warmer spring weather, spring break, and of course all the kids in the neighborhood back to our home we haven't seen since last fall. It's pretty crazy. Being a homeschooling family means we sleep in as late as we want and when the doorbell rang at 9:30 this morning, I wasn't very energetic to open the door to see the neighbor girl standing there with her nephew wanting to play. My kids all but one were still asleep until the doorbell rang. While it is sometimes irritating having 12 kids over at my home, I know I'd rather have my kids and their friends here rather than anywhere else. I hope some day my home will be a safe haven for my kids to bring their friends to, hang out, talk about God and what he's doing in their lives, and just enjoy time with one another. The world is a scary place and it keeps getting scarier, and I know that being a teenager was hard when I was a kid, so I can only imagine what it must be like now. I pray God will continue to use my home, help me keep my emotions in check, and keep my sanity and make my home that God has given me a place of calm and fun for years to come! I hope I never outgrow being the "cool" mom and that kids will feel like they can come here and talk to us about anything without being judged.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Busy Momma blogs a second

Hello all.

If you are reading, we pray God's blessings upon your lives. Times are extra tough right now, but we have hope!

It's been a busy year. I don't know where to begin. Homeschooling has gone ok. We are enjoying it, but I've found it very difficult to keep everyone busy and have a good quality study time. Then I think to myself have we done enough? Are we where we should be? ARGH......all the concerns of a teaching mom. I'm not sure I've done them much of a service of keeping them home this year. But I know I've been so blessed having them here anyway. Just a few more weeks and we'll have summer break, get rested up and shoot again next fall. I can't wait! lol.

We are looking forward to the tractor show at the mall this weekend. Grandpa will be at the mall with his John Deere and of course, we'll be there. Our plans have changed tho seeing as how dad will be working this weekend when we were planning on him originally being off. So it will be mom and the kids again all by ourselves. We are hoping and praying that this situation will soon change for us and dad can get involved again in family things. We miss him horribly when he's not here.

The kids are working on school projects right now. They have been asked to complete two complete stories, illustrated and originally written by them for 2 contests. One is the PBS Young Writers and Illustrators Contest, and another is for the Literacy contest at U of I. We are excited and hoping we can meet the deadline in time. It's crazy! But they've had a fun time with it.

In a few weeks Eli and I will be taking our works of art to be displayed at a local art show. It will be a great experience for both of us. I was actually quite impressed with what left the end of my pencil and ended up as art work on the paper. It's not perfect, it's not even close to being professional, but it was fun! We can't wait to frame and complete our works and send them off to have them displayed.

Emily lost her first tooth today. She screamed and cried, and suddenly stopped and began screaming it's out, it's out! She and I are going to begin doing a newsletter for moms and daughters. We hope to encourage many other moms and daughters who love God and sometimes find themselves in difficult sitations. She's growing so much in her walk with God and her prayers are so innocent and genuine!

Elisha is a case. Today she managed to spill 2 drinks at Taco Bell. I won't mention we also had another spill seconds and I do mean seconds before the later 2 spills. She was heart broken. I had to take her out and console her and assure her she was ok. She's 3 and full of love. She's awesome! She also told me today she has no interest in ever losing or pulling her teeth ever as she puts a hand on one hip and draws her hand to the side.

Ethan will be 2 in just a few weeks. We will actually be celebrating his 2nd birthday one day and his great grandmother's 87th birthday the day after. He's talking up a storm, mean as sin, and cute as a button all at the same time. We're trying to show him that you don't hit when you get mad. He's so adorable tho, he'll go back and hug whomever he's hit and said I sorry. He loves to give hugs and kisses and he loves loves loves his older brother and sisters. He also talks about his friend Ava all the time and he's only seen her like 2 times. They are nearly 6 months apart in age, but he just thinks she's great. He got up this morning and he says "Hi sister, I wake up. Ava Cawawine (Caroline) seep, she wake up!" lol. Oh the funny things they say. Ava lives in Missouri!

All in all we are truly blessed and sharing what God has done for my family is the best reminder I have to show me how God's working in my life, and proves to me how he'll continue to do so in the future. God bless all, and hopefully I can keep up with this!