Sickness and school

Well I cancelled our appointment for the doc. Christian is feeling much better today, Clara just has her runny nose and great attitude, and I am hanging in there. I am old and out of shape so it would make sense it knock me off my feet. Uggggghhhhh.

Ok Amy, here is a pic of sick me in bed with Cullen doing Language Arts. I cannot believe I am posting it, but hey, this is real life isn't it??

Christian did a science lab on chemical reactions and we watched on. Here are some pics of the kids. I really like taking pics of them doing their schoolwork. I don't know why I had not thought of it sooner.

Here is Cullen's math test. He missed one problem. He is really great at math. I love being able to show off their work to everyone. I even got a pic of the other side. You guys might get sick of school pics.

I had to throw this lovely shot of the most intelligent little girl EVER!! She is doing her school work and always makes an A++++!! She is just the most precious treasure ever!! This was my quick post of the day. Hopefully I can keep it up.

Tooth, cupcakes, New Nephew, weight loss, first mile ran ever!!

Well, Clara is now 10 months old and has her first tooth, well actually today I noticed the second coming in too. Poor baby...she is not feeling too well either. I have not yet gotten a pic of it as she is not too keen on showing it off. She has not been feeling real well along with Christian and I. We have had a cold and/or virus of some type. She seems to be getting better, I am right behind her and Christian is trying to hang in there.

Christian took his first Science test today and I am amazed at what he is learning. The pic below is of him doing an experiment to learn the atomic theory and how atoms move about. He made 83%. He got 25/30. His teacher's comment was "WELL DONE!" Let me say on Christian's behalf....this test was HARD!! I do feel confident that if he can pull these classes off of English I and General Science...He will be ready for college. It is tougher than some of my college courses. Here is one of his answers to an essay-type question, "Galileo had to recant his scientific ideas because the Roman Cathlic Church did not believe and did not want to believe that the heliocentric system was right. " I am in awe of my kiddoe!! It is such an awesome wonder and an honor that God has allowed for our family to watch them learn at home. One of their friends came over today to play; we just love him to death. He is playing football for the school here in town. Today the kids had filled a shampoo bottle with pee and tried to trick him to use it as shampoo and when he refused they threw it on him!! They also hit each other with wet towels in the locker room leaving whelps on them. I am just appalled. The coach said he would take care of it by making them run some 1000 something.....I stopped Blake right there and said, WHAT!!! I think the kids need to be suspended and off the football team. Society nowadays just gives kids too much leeway. Kids get away with entirely too much and then they go off to be grown ups and become rude, selfish adults that expect to get away with murder. It just sickens me really. I am glad that my kids will not have to deal with that while they are in training to be the best Christian adults they can be!!

On a more positive note....Last night we had our Tuesday night Bible study. It is almost our last one. We threw together a baby shower for Rae and Baby Ben (making his appearance in late October)! I was disappointed that half our group could not make it but it was not because they didn't want to be here. I am so happy for Rae & Ben!! They have been waiting for a long while for God to bless them with a little miracle. I think the plans are to continue to add to the family through adoption also!! I will continue to pray God fills their home with a good handful of wonderful kids!! It was very nice.

Here is a pic of Rae with the Baby Ben cupcake. I bet Baby Ben could smell the "Twinkie" cupcake inside the womb!! He got to kickin' around after she ate one. =) Sugar rush!!

I also have wonderful news to announce and I apologize that I do not have pics to follow this!! Baby Pierce David was born on Monday at 4:58 p.m. He is my newest nephew to Clay's brother, Clint and his wife Cindy!!! I am so happy for them. Katelyn (KK) now has a baby brother. We are not feeling 100% around here so have yet to see him. As soon as I do I will get lots of pics to share. They made it home this evening! I cannot wait to hold him!!

I had started First Place For Health a month or so ago. It is a Bible-based weight loss study. It is to take the focus off this struggle with food and place it in God's hands. I have always struggled with moderation (lack there of) and have never really exercised. Well, this study has been awesome for me. I have lost 8 lbs and have been walking. Well, tonight I ran my first mile EVER in my life!! I could not believe that my God would allow me such a pleasure and honor this early on in my journey for health & fitness both physically and spiritually!!! How awesome is He!! I have not felt this good physically and mentally in a long time about the way I have treated my body. Who knows I might be running a triathlon with Clay and the boys after all!!!

I am trying very hard to lose a bit more weight faster for Matt & Candy's wedding at the end of October!! The dress is beautiful but it was not made for my body at all size 8 or 16....just not made for my thick chest!! I have never worn a strapless dress EVER!! Didn't want to either...thanks Candy!! BUT it has motivated me to do a bit more faster than I had planned. I had planned 1lb a week and that would be my goal in a year. Well on top of the wedding in October, my wonderful husband told me that for our 11th wedding anniversary in December we will be going on a cruise, just the two of us!!! The boys were not too thrilled with us as they had gone on the first one but I need some time just by myself. Homeschooling means that I am home and at work all the time. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE it and would not change a thing but I do deserve a break once in a blue moon. This will be our first vacation that was not work related without kids since our honeymoon. For those of you that have not figured the math yet, Christian is 13!! I had him at 19 and my wonderful hubby Clay is a gift from God. He adopted Christian right after we got married. Christian was 2. So we were a premade family and have never had the "before we had kids" time in our marriage. =D I am really excited to get this special time with Clay and to be able to relax alone together. I will probably be desperately missing my kids by the first evening but I am willing to try. We do not leave the kids with anyone but Meemaw & Pawpaw (my parents) for any length of time. They have also spent the night with Taffy & Papa Dave (Clay's parents) on occasion and Clint & Cindy. Clara has only stayed with Meemaw & Pawpaw. We are going to be working up to leaving her. She has stayed with them when she was much younger and had no problem. But now that she is older she is not too keen to be away from us. She is very much a mamma's girl until daddy gets home and then she is a HUGE daddy's girl!!! It is great! I love watching those two together. I don't think God could have made a better father! When I see Clay with my kids and watch the awe and adoration he has for them, my heart melts. He cherishes them, plays with them, and genuinely has fun playing with them!! God has truly blessed me beyond measure and really more than I deserve!!

Okay, I have rambled enough. I am sorry there really is no organization to this post. I just had waited so long to post it just kept building and building. I will try again to post more often....Have I said that before??

Oh, wait....I have to post this too. We thought this was so funny. Clara loves this little fan. She couldn't quite figure it out at first and thought that it should hurt and would start to get upset and then realize, "no, that didn't hurt. Lets do it again" Enjoy!! Click on the link to view the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvqbB_7Rf9g

School stuff, Park Day and bathtub fun!

Christian did his first Science experiment yesterday. Meemaw was able to be here for it. He is still finishing up his informal lab report but it was a good, successful experiment. It was demonstrating that there are atoms. He poured veg oil, water, and maple syrup into a clear bottle. They then separate into their layers. He dropped a grape, ice cube, piece of cork, and a rock. They all dispersed into their different layers. The rock on the bottom, the grape sat on top of the maple syrup, the ice cube sat on top of the water layer, and the cork bobbed on top of the veg oil. Here is a cute snapshot with Christian and his experiment.

Today was our first park day since school started. Here is a large picture of the group. It is sucha great feeling to see all these kids and know that it is a small handful of the kids in our homeschool group!!
Here is a clip of Clara in the bathtub. She loves the water. She especially gets a kick out of laying on her back and laughing. She thinks it is so neat. I have tried to get her laughing really loudly but whenever I get the camera out she gets shy!! Here is what I got. Just click the link b/c I cannot get it to post on here for some reason....urrrrrgh. There is a lso a link to Clara swining and laughing. She loves to swing!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqPUoE6D4ZU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7vBpI2V0E4

Cupcakes, cupcakes, and more cupcakes!!

Okay, call me crazy!! I just love my new-found hobby!! I cannot tell you how much I hated baking...still not too crazy about it b/c it is so stinkin' messy, but I LOVE to decorate 'em all up!!! I am now lookign into FIRST birthday cupcakes for my little princess!! I cannot wait...a year has flown by. I guess I should have known with kids time just keeps slipping by and with a third the flood gates open up that much more. LOVE it though!!

I made 30 cupcakes for a birthday party for a little girl. I was so excited to be asked to make them. I made the little flip flops out of fondant and used royal icing for the straps and flowers. The beach balls are large gumballs, and the sand is graham cracker crumbs. I was so pleased with how they turned out. I cannot explain the satisfaction of knowing you made someone's day even that much more special. The little girl, Audrey, was spending the night with her grandma when her mom called to tell her she had emailed her pics of them. She squealed with delight when she saw them. How neat is that?? Here are some shots of them!! I also was featured on Cupcakes Take the Cake for these beach cupcakes and also my key lime cupcakes. I felt like I had won an award or something....cheesy, huh??

As you can also see I love taking pictures of food...why not combine your two loves?

I then proceeded to make 100 or so more cupcakes (I made too many somehow). It was for my brother and future sister-in-laws' wedding shower, Matt & Candy!! I cannot tell you how I was about to cry at about 2 in the morning when I thought I would never make burnt orange frosting turn out right. In the end, I was pretty pleased with them. The shower turned out really nice I think. Candy and Matt hit the jackpot with gifts and will not be able to move around in their little apartment until the day comes they jump in and get in debt for life with a house. Sounds fund, huh?

Little Clara had her first Sea Doo ride. Let me tell you, this girl just loves excitement of any kind. We knew she would love it b/c anytime she hears the noise she tries to imitate it. She is really growing way too fast. She is traveling on things and waving "hi" and "bye" consistently. She is no longer taking a bottle either. This happened this past week. Tierra...she also loves her baby doll. She will give it sugars consistently then I ask for sugars and it is a no go. She will not even think about it. She will only kiss her baby doll and also we discovered that she loves Addi (future cousin-in-law) and will kiss her. Of course, when we got out the camera they both clammed up. At least Clara would move and interact but Addi shut down completely until I turnend off he camera. =) Clara also tried on her flower girl dress for the wedding in a month. She is so CUTE in it. Words cannot express. I cannot wait to see the wonderful pics that Michele Jones from Picture This gets of her. http://www.picturethisbymj.com/ She also did our family pics that I have posted on our site. She cannot take a bad pic!!

I also took an "artsy" shot of Candy's engagement ring and was pleased with it. It is beautiful and I thought I would share it with you guys.

Until next time....eat a cupcake...;)

Creation....and today.

Today was a great day but went way too fast. We had a great day of school. In History we learned that the Garden of Eden was located in Asia probably in Iraq (Mesopotamia). It is so interesting and an honor to learn things like this with the boys. Things I sure did not learn in school as I was growing up. Here is a shot of the boys art History activity. The assignment for Cullen was to create a man or beast that God had made to see the difficulty of His creations. For Christian it was a bit different. He was to create an all new creation and name it. This was to give the boys an idea of the difficulty and the Greatness of our God. Christian called his a Minx and Cullen's was a man. =) The boys are enjoying the more hands-on activites that this year is going to hold.

Tomorrow am having an Open House with Christian's English teacher online. I am curious as to how this will go.

The boys had their 2nd gymnastics class today. Christian was not feeling well towards the end but they both still enjoyed it.

I am going to be making some fondant flip flops tonight and hopefully some "successful" beach balls tomorrow night for the birthday cupcakes I am making for a party on Saturday. I also get to make cupcakes for Matt & Candy's shower for this weekend. I am hoping the weather will continue to clear up and God will provide us with a beautiful day to enjoy his wonders out doors. If it is not His will for clearer skies, then we will enjoy his wonders from inside and have a great time also!!

Where do I start.....

Okay, I always do this. I get too busy and neglect my blog. I am sorry. I will try to cram a lot in a little bit. =)

We had a great holiday weekend and spent Sunday at Meemaw and Pawpaw's. We had a great time. Here are a few shots of what all we did. The pictures are in no particular order in which they occurred. We rode the Sea Doos and the boys innertubed. We brought Blake, our neighbor's son (great kid). We went on an evening boat ride and the weather was just perfect. We would stop and let the boys jump off the boat. Tanner also rode with us (neighbor of mom and dad's). Uncle Jerry, GG (my grandmother), Matt, and Candy were also in attendance with Meemaw and Pawpaw as our cruise director. Clara loves the boat and the shot of her upside down is on her daddy's lap enjoying herself. We bought a massive watermelon on the way and everyone enjoyed themselves, especially Clara. She loves watermelon so do my guys.

Clara got some practice in on the Waverunner for next summer!! =) She loves hearing the boats and waverrunners and I swear she tries to mock the noises they make.

I also tested some recipes for cupcakes on everyone out at the lake. I made Key Lime cupcakes with key lime filling and coconut/key lime buttercream and Red Velvet with cream cheese buttercream. The Key Lime were a success!! Red velvets alright, but really red velvet cake (in my opinion) is like chocolate that quite cannot make up its mind (not my favorite). Yes, I do set up my cupcakes and take pics of them. If you know me at all you know I love photography when I have a chance too. To combine baking and photography is just a PERFECT combination!!

Last night we had a family dinner at IHOP (the boys' favorite) to celebrate starting back to school today. I tried to get a shot of everyone in front of the IHOP sign and they would not go for it. They laughed at me. Can you believe that??

School went smoothly today. I am still waiting on a few books to come in for Cullen and Christian does not have his first "official" class of General Science and English I with The Potter's School until next week. He does have Science reading and experiments to have ready for the first day of class though. I am excited about the opportunity ahead of him. The Potter's School is set up like a university-based school. He will have an hour and a half of class once a week on the computer in which he meets with his classmates and his teacher. All of them can have a class discussion together and answer questions, have lectures, etc. He has assignments, labs, book reports, lab reports, etc. that will be due throughout the year that he has to keep up with them and turn them in. His tests will be taken online and sent directly to the instructor. As the parent/teacher I also have to make sure he is on task outside of class and be sure he is keeping up and taking care of his responsibilities. I have open house this week for his English class to talk to his teacher and see how things will work. I have had a good look at his Science so far and it is more organized and looks as tough as some of the college courses I had. I think this will be great for him for more organizational skills (which his mom struggles with) and growing in responsibility.

Here is a brief run down of some of the curriculums we are using. Mystery of History which will be done together as a group. The same materials are covered but different assignments for each level difference of the boys and more in depth as you age. We are studying Creation to the Resurrection. It is a great curriculum that puts the Bible and history together instead of pulling it out separately. Cullen will be using Bob Jones Science again but without the DVD's and with mom's help. Christian will be doing General Science with The Potter's School but using Apologia curriculum. Cullen is using Learning Language Arts Through Literature and I am excited about doing this with him this year. My main goal this year is to stay consistent and to add more fun on my part with the boys instead of being the task master all the time. Clara's job is to make her presence known and to soak up all that she can. =) She listens to everything and she has started waving bye on a consistent basis. She is just the most precious thing!!!EVER!! Long day. After school we still had speech and a grocery store trip, back home to make Pad Thai for dinner (first time and turned out quite nice with my new wok if I say so myself). ;) Then tonight was Bible study here too. Shhhhhooooohhhh.....long day but a great one. Tomorrow will be a bit calmer. School and the only thing to do is gymnastics from 4-5. The boys are looking forward to it. I will try to post more frequently...I think I am starting to sound like a broken record!!

Here is a snapshot of the boys' working on Creation booklets for History today. Clara was napping or watching her Baby Einstein, cannot remember. Have a great tomorrow everyone!!