First Day of School

I am actually going to try again with the blogging thing!!  Well, the boys started their first day of private Christian school today.  Christian is in 10th grade and Cullen is in 6th grade.  Cullen has never been to school other than a bit of preschool early on.  Christian I pulled out of school when he was in 3rd grade.  They started soccer with the school about 3 weeks ago so they knew a lot if not most of the boys around the age.   This helped a lot.  I was so nervous for them.  I want this to be a positive move for our family.  We feel led in this direction and that this is what the boys need at this stage in the game.  They said their day went great.  I had such butterflies in my stomach when I was in line to pick them up.   Christian’s favorite part of the day was an explosion the teacher set up in Chemistry.  Cullen’s favorite part was history.  It sounds as though his teacher has a love for history and will really pass it on to him.  YEAH!!  We will see what this school year has to hold.  I pray that this experience will grow them closer to the Lord and will really start a fire to build a strong relationship with their Savior!

So….what about Clara.  She had a tough time with the boys gone but not as tough as I expected.  She said she wanted them home a couple of times but we kept today busy with things I had put off.  We did some laundry, worked on the printer since I had not printed off our letter “U” stuff for the week (figures it would mess up and then the computer it was saved on).  After this was fixed we had lunch.  I am trying to focus on different lunches again and offering more options.  Today consisted of whole-grain crackers with walnut pate, pickled asparagus (she loves the stuff!  She had eaten 2-3 of them before the pic was taken), bowtie pasta with peas to dip in the hemp nacho cheeze sauce, and carrots.  Sorry about the quality of the photo….cell phone pic.   You can find the recipes at this link http://veganandsoforth.blogspot.com/2010/05/muffin-tin-monday-dips.html  She has great vegan options for lunches…especially school lunches.

 

After lunch we got the dogs all bathed and groomed.  She also had time to get her Letter Factory DVD watched.  We then had to leave to pick up the boys from school.  On Wednesdays they get out at 2.  The other days of the week 3.  Clara and I will be able to focus on her learning and one-on-one time together. Thursdays we are planning to start up park days regularly which we had not gone to b/c the bigger kids got bored since there were not a lot of kids their ages.  Clara is excited.  Tomorrow we are meeting at the splash park.  We will be starting gymnastics back up Sept. 12th and she is looking forward to this also.  I am going to try and focus on a Charlotte Mason approach to teaching.  We are going to try and focus a LOT on nature study with a  bit of “schoolwork” mixed in as she enjoys “doing” some school too like letter study/worksheets.  Along with reading a lot more with a focus on living books.  I am excited for what this school year holds for our entire family!  Again…I am going to try and start posting more frequently!!  I stink at blogging but I love looking back at it like a scrapbook……so I guess I need to keep at it!

My 16-year-old, young man & more

Well, I now have a 16 year old! I am a little late but did not want to leave out my oldest child turning 16…that is SIXTEEN!! He got his permit on his birthday! What can I say about Christian: A bright, caring, loving, free spirit. He loves theater and friends. At this stage in the game he is trying to get more freedom but we, as parents, struggle with finding the right mix of what that looks like. It is tough to give up the reigns a bit to a boy that is turning into a young man whom I am VERY proud of!

Pierce looks all innocent and then you see Clara…she looks like she is going to bite your head off! Cracks me up!

A group shot of the cousins!

Love this pic of my Mom taking pics! Having fun!

I also have to add a brag! I finished my 2nd triathlon! I actually placed in the Athena group (big girls over 150lbs). I have signed up under Athena b/c I thought I have had no chance in competing in my age group. Well, this time I would have actually placed 2nd in my age group. That is exciting! It will probably never happen again…LOL! I am hoping to do the next tri in July.

Clay and I actually stayed the weekend all alone for the tri!! Let me repeat myself…all ALONE!!! =) I took the dogs to the daycare/kennel even. The kids stayed with Meemaw and Pawpaw. Cullen went to Taffy & Papa’s house Sat. night b/c him and KK got to go to the Ranger’s game with them. So, again, Clay and I camped Fri & Sat. night just us. It has been a long time since it was just us and it was nice. I enjoyed the brief bit of time just thinking of myself. We went on a 15-mile bike ride Saturday to see what the ride was like for the tri with friends Gina & Clint who were also doing the tri. At the last minute, Clay decided to do the tri also. So all 4 of us headed into town to packet pick up and then head to Academy so Clay could get something to wear in the tri. We then went over to Ghengis Grill and ate. We then had an evening around the campfire before calling it a night. Sunday we woke up to a VERY CHILLY morning for a triathlon in May! It was a GREAT time. We are hoping to pull off another Clay and I camping trip for this upcoming tri in July. It is nice to have a peace of mind that the kids are having a blast and are safe while Clay and I enjoy each other’s company.

We have had 2 great opportunities to celebrate Africa! Friends of ours are in the process of adopting a little girl from Ethiopia. Their friends threw a great Blessing party to inform and help raise funds for their adoption. They had wonderful Ethiopian food and it was quite the experience. The next night our good friends threw an African dinner party last weekend. It was so much fun!! I actually did not get pics of the food…go figure! But we had a blast!! The kids played tug of war, chase African style calling the chaser a lion, played singing games, etc. Sil, a wonderful lady from Ghana, cooked up some great African dishes! Some of the ladies even provided some African clothing. Below are some pics of the fabulous time together.

As you can see a lot has been going on and again I have gotten behind in blogging. Hopefully I will blog again soon!

Happy 60th Meemaw & PawPaw

This past Saturday we celebrated Meemaw & PawPaw’s 60th birthday with a surprise party. Candy, my sis-in-law, came up with the wonderful idea of throwing a surprise party for both of them. Stuff like this is very much out of my comfort zone but since it is for my fabulous Mom & Dad….why not! It turned out fantastic! We invited them to meet us for dinner at a quaint little restaurant and then said we would come to our house afterwards and play cards. Little did they know that we had also asked their friends and family to join us in the surprise!

My parents are great gifts I cherish given to me by God. They have been supportive, caring, and loving throughout my entire life. They continue to be great examples of Christ’s love in their marriage together. I am blessed beyond measure.

Here are some pics of the evening!

I made Italian cream cupcakes along with dulce de leche cupcakes.

We put old photos and recent on the tables.

Matt & Candy also got them a strawberry cake and carrot cake. So there was plenty of sweets to go around. =)

Candy “the party planner” and Meemaw!

Jean got Mom this glass. It is an inside joke. Years ago before Lil knew Mom & Dad she made a comment that Mom must be Dad’s trophy wife (2nd or 3rd wife) b/c she looks younger than Dad. In reality Mom is only a couple weeks younger. Lil really stuck her foot in her mouth and is reminded of it to this day…=) & Mom is Dad’s first and only wife might I add!! This was hilarious!

Christian made a great card for both of them. It had all the prices in ‘51 and today’s prices. Very clever idea and Mom and Dad loved it!

Mom with her sister, Betty.

Of course a pic of my great kiddoes! The party was a great success and a wonderful way to celebrate two fantastic people! I am thankful to Candy, for the great idea and helping make it possible! Happy 60th Mom & Dad! I love you guys. I am thankful that God blessed me with two dedicated, loving, devoted, hard-working, Christian parents!

Catch up again…camping!

Well...I am AWFUL!  I just stink at keeping up with the blog!  I am going to give it another go and try to be more consistent.  Life is really great around here but also very busy!  School is going well and we seem to be on track.  We will be doing summer school as we have not accomplished as much as I would like.  I also want to focus on some weaknesses outside of the regular school year.  The planning can be a bit stressful but a lot of me enjoys seeing what our next year will hold. 

This past weekend we went camping.  Friends of ours got their first camper.  We had planned to camp out Thursday through Sunday.  Well, Clay got us up there and set up but Wanda was having problems trying to tow the camper.  She had never towed anything before and they got a BIG camper!  I ended up by myself with the kids Thursday night.  Clay had not planned on taking off of work on Friday so he had to go back into town Thursday night so he would not have to get up so early and drive to work.  I was not real happy about not having transportation but we made do.  Clay left work early Friday and Wanda & family finally made it in the evening.  They ended up having to get air brakes put on the truck so they could tow the trailer safely.  So after a rough start, we had a fantastic weekend of camping!  The kids had a great time hanging out, riding bikes, exploring, playing in the lake, hiking, and hunting down our letterboxes.  We ended up finding 5 letterboxes.  It adds so much more to your camping to be able to do a scavenger hunt type of activity.  If you want to learn more about letterboxing and/or go to www.atlasquest.com  Here are a few pics from the trip. Evan and Clara playing in the lake. From left to right: Evan, Chandler, Christian, Clara, Cullen, and Levi.

Clara always passed out on our hikes. 

Love this shot of Christian up in a tree.  He is growing up!

Playing games and cooking smores around the campfire.

Daddy & Clara are definitely a pair! They are so wrapped around each other’s finger…Daddy more so than Clara.  It is an honor to watch the bond these two have.  Nothing like a Daddy and his girl! 

We are already looking forward to the next trip!  We just love it!