Happy new year & January....

Hope everyone is having an amazing new year, we are finally back into the swing of daily life, post holiday madness. We have 2 big trips early this year, 1week trip to Colorado, and a 1 week trip to Florida, we are going to DISNEY!!! These 2 trips will take place in the span of the next 2months! Let the chaos begin!

Colorado, is for job testing, for Steph. That trip may lead to a return trip in the spring, I would not be able to make due to kids dance and the closeness to recital time. A return trip may lead to a new job, leading to a move. The decisions, emotions and all that goes into making such choices, have been rough and not easy, as everyone has mixed reactions. Some reactions have been painful, others encouraging. That all is another post in itself. More on that in the next few months.

Disney!!!! Yay!!! We were gifted a Disney world trip by Steph's parents and we will make the trip with them and his brother and his family. We are all squishing into a 2 bedroom condo! All of us is 6 adults and 6 children, dear Jesus let us not kill each other!!!! Most days I know we will be out enjoying our vacation, and the condo is for sleeping. We are excited to be able to go, it was years and years off for us and well possibly would never happen.

So life will be mighty busy knocking out school work, taking 2 very big trips, then potentially selling a house and moving... All in a 6month period of time!

Advent

Last December we took the month off for "Christmas Break".  We did literally nothing, no school work, no crafts, and only I made 3 quilts.  This year, I wanted break of sorts, but not a month of nothing.  So here is what our December is looking so far.  The older 2 in 3rd and 4th grade do language art and math on the computer through Time4learning, and both have to read aloud a chapter or 2 out of a book of their choosing at their reading level, T is continuing with her learning of letters, their sounds, and numbers. Sierra has her "busy box" because nothing is in bags anymore it keeps her happy so I am not complaining.  For our Bible time we are using a little e-book called Truth in the Tinsel.  The girls and I are totally enjoying this.  I love the focus on Jesus, as I totally failed to focus on Him last season!

Our board has been covered with Merry Christmas paper, and the girls made pouches to hold each days "clue" and I tucked little trinkets in each as well.

 

Also went to an Advent "workshop" at a friends church. the girls made their own kiddie sized advent wreaths, we where given a lovely pamplet with a little reading to go along with it explaining each candle and such. 

 

 

Each day the girls do a craft that is from the Truth in the tinsel book, and when they are dry and together we add a hook, then then add them to our tree.  Maybe next year we will have room to have 2 trees up and can leave one bare and add this ornaments as we make them. :o)

So this year, I am 7 days strong in keeping Jesus fresh in our lessons, during this December, Christmas time where it is really easy to get caught up in all the stuff!  Most of our gifts are hand crafted at home with love. I am excited to share photos of all these creations after the 25th!

Keepers at Home

I have started a Keepers of the faith club at church. It's called Keepers at home, for the girls. Talk about God calling a mom of 4 girls straight out of her comfort zone! So far we have a good 16-18 girls! Between about 9 moms, a pretty decent ratio! We are having moms included in the group, will be such a sweet time of bonding and growth for us all! I have high hopes for an amazing time! A group of 3 of us moms sewed sashes for the girls! So fun, a place for them to display their earned pins.

There is a boys side to this, called contenders of the faith, should it be a hit with the girls, Stephan thinks the boys activities are pretty awesome! So he may be swayed to start a boys group next school year! May the girls pave the way! :)

I pray this group is a light for all of us!

September 2012 a new homeschool year

This is our 5th year of homeschooling!! This year's grade levels, Chloe 4th, Molly 3rd, Tristen K, and Sierra is enjoying being a toddler. I would say last year was the most I had enjoyed homeschooling the girls!!! The result this year I am sticking with the same method of homeschooling and adding even more relax to my personality! We used My Fathers world curriculum, I LOVE IT, the girls LoVE IT too.

That love resulted in the sale of all the Abeka, BJU, and alpha omega books I had used years prior, stream lining and taking care of the costs for the school books we needed for this year. Finding my frugal side in our homeschool life style, we purchased as much as possible used.

I look forward to this year and learning along with the girls. All 4 girls will be in dance this year. Chloe and Molly are learning hand sewing techniques. This mom is also working part time in the evenings, until I am no longer needed for the tasks I am assisting with.

Baby girl is 2!!!

Our sweet baby girl recently turned 2!! Some days time crawls, and other days fly by so very fast! She is our 4th child, and is such a blessing! Hard to believe we are entering a stage of "preschool" with potty training, learning, shapes, colors, and other such things in prep for joining homeschool with her older sisters.

Dancing Girls

From September 2011-May 2012, 3 of our girls have had an hour of dance class each week. This past weekend they were able to show the family the fruits of their labor! It has been great to see them improve over the past few years. Chloe and Molly started with dance in 2008! T started in 2010. Baby girl will start this fall! All the girls enjoy music and dancing to it, how fun to learn proper technique. 

Chloe

Molly

T

The early morning...

I have always wanted to do the whole wake up before kids, get ready, read bible and devotional, and have a coffee. This morning a child woke "not feeling well" (BLAH!!!!!) So I found myself awake, before everyone else except her and hubby of course. So I decided why not shower, get ready, and get on with the day. Discovered a cup full of ice, coffee, and some creamer in the magic bullet makes a nice frap! So with nook tablet and frap I accomplished bible reading, devotional time, and other misc reading, complete with a coffee beverage. I truly need to do this each morning, I am sure it will improve my days.

Elbow/arm VS van door

T had her arm shut in the van door.., leading to x-ray, questionable break, and a splint to last a week! Oh boy and bring on the copayments! A week later she had her follow up, thought she would harm the Dr as he manipulated her arm to see how she was doing he reviewed the x-ray, said looks like just bad bruising, and since she was so defensive over movement and touch a brace would be made. So brace was made to be worn for a full week, only removed for washing. We have hit one week with the brace today. Last night I saw T use her left arm, good sign that it is feeling better, so she may start taking the brace off as is comfortable. :)

Confessions of an addict....

So I "wanted" a camper for a good 6years prior to our purchase. I had a habit or stalking craigslist for camper listings. Since getting out camper I have re-directed to a pop up forum group, and have come out with some amazing ideas and insight on camping with lots of kids and a dog. Being I came across a post from a mom with 8 kids.... 10 people up in a camper wow!!!!

However the a few weeks ago and yesterday I found myself with some down time, stalking craigslist pop up camper adds... HAHA I am a junkie!! I like seeing the different floor plans, and what some folks try to sell some pretty run down ones for. We would have likely paid more for ours had the folks taken the time to give the canvas a scrub, and sort out how the fridge works!!! There was a man trying to sell one, but it didn't have a slide, but slept 6 or more if you squeezed, the thing needed a little roof work, but the floor plan was fabulous, he still has it listed, and the price is slashed in half from where he started... the right handy person could be off with a steal.... by talking this person down further.. but after a good look over 1st... yes I am addicted.. You watch American Idol.. I stalk camper adds, and read all about camping with a family in one...

Need someone to stalk campers for sale for you... let me know your budget I'll stalk in the "down" but not so quiet time. It's that time when the kids are playing, I am waiting for the dryer to sing that it is done, and I need to sit down for a moment, but it's too noisy to do anything thought provoking :o)

I am also counting down til our next trip, excited to see if set up goes smoother, and will try to see what I can come up with to keep things more organized. :o) Then we shall plan our summer trip! FUN Stuff... I am grateful, we were able to finally get this camper, and enjoy some short fun trips with the kids.

Our first Camper trip.....

This week we took our 1st voyage in our new to us pop up camper!
We visited Occoneechee State park in Clarksville, VA, on Kerr Lake, the stay would be 3 total nights sleeping in the camper.

Day 1
We arrive way later than planned, had to evict some wasp nest, set up and I still needed to rehang all the washed curtains. We had only snacks on the ride up and no plan B for dinner so, we were grumpy and hungry setting up camp. It was well past baby girl's bed time when we had finally ate dinner, good news no one got dirty enough to need a shower before bed, so we ate brushed teeth and hit the bad the 1st night.

Day 2
Waking up with the sun, having slept much better than I ever had in a tent. It was time to get dressed, have breakfast and check this park out!!! The visitor center had a nice little set up about the Occoneechee Indians, the kids enjoyed that. Then we checked out the playground, our dog Dixie came along and scored because the playground was fenced in and she was able to run and play with the kids since we were the only ones there. We discovered a nice 1.2mile hike through Occoneechee plantation terrace gardens, learning a little along the way. There was lunch and dinner, and the showering in the bath house. Chloe and Molly learned they enjoyed helping around camp and fought over who would wash dishes next. Mom sure didn't mind giving up this task!!
Day 3
Boy was it cold over night, we just used an electric heater to keep warm, but learned we needed to set the propane furnace to kick in when the electric heater was just not enough. We cranked the heat and ate breakfast indoors while we waited for the day to warm up.
I received a call from my parents they wanted to drive down, check out our set up, and bring us lunch, such a nice surprise. So we hung out in the camper and waited. We had pizza for lunch, in our home away from home, then showed them a little of the park, and they headed home.
While lounging around camp, at a loss for what to do, I mention Geocaching, as some parks will let you check out a gps system for the day. Well the park office was closed when I had my moment, but with having iPhones, Stephan downloaded an app that would let you hunt 3 Caches free. So we were off on an adventure in the woods hunting "treasure" with 4 kids and a dog. Good fun we found 2 that evening, then headed back to camp for dinner and smores! Our over night was a bit warmer since we had learned the trick of how to set up the electric heater and furnace.


Day 4
Pack it up.
While Stephan cooked breakfast the kids and I began some packing up. It is nice to be able to give the kids little tasks that once we had to do ourselves, makes them feel part of the process and makes the process move along faster as well. T picked up buckets, and a few other toys. Chloe folded all the camping chairs, placed them in their bags, and brought them to the camper to be put away. Molly aided in keeping an eye on the baby and picked up any stray trash and helped load some things into the truck. I handled getting all the sleeping bags and blankets straight, dirty laundry out, ect.... Once the camper was folded and ready to go, we checked out and went searching for just one more Geocache, ended up hunting and finding 2 more in the park. Good fun, everyone is hooked on the Geocache stuff, and it's good motivation to move along, and hike when there will be something to find.
Ready to go home, had a good time, and learned how to improve next time we take a trip.

Sealed

So after our discovered hole we had a nice rain! Once we sealed the hole we opened up the camper, revealing a small damp area where the puncture was. This lead me to inspect the entire inside roof, finding where some caulk needed redone had leaked much longer complete with puddles! Yikes! So holes have been sealed and caulk has been redone..... Rain is forecasted for this weekend, great test!!! It has rained since we had it up, showing that the canvas is in pretty decent shape just want to patch some areas that the water proof material has cracked with age as the canvas on the inside of it wicks the moisture in. So I am armed with Tilex and sponges!! Plus the help of our hose... Once dry we can patch away! Sooo excited as our first trip gets closer.

The Great clothing Swap.........

All 4 of our lovely girls have had a recent growth spurt.. Friday a they walked in with pants too short and tops too small something snapped, I had to fix the clothing dilemma and right away! Thankfully we have an abundance of hand me downs just have to climb around the attic to get them so I did!! I limit how much clothing they select out of the tubs due to trickle in new stuff and.additional hand downs along the way. Helps with laundry and they tend to wear their fav outfits over and over anyways. There was such an abundance that we were able to set aside enough spring/summer clothes to pack for 2-3night camping trips. Add a pair of nicely worn jeans, 2 sweatshirts, croc like shoes and voila! All we need to add are PJs, undies, & socks and we are pretty much packed for a trip. Just needing to add layers if it will be cold, swimwear if warm and additional shoes as needed. Below are the older 3 girls camp stack. Above are 5 of the 7 tubs that will stay down until all the laundry is finished for any straggling smaller sized items we may have missed. I am pleased with the results and speed of the swap out this go round. We are so blessed with clothing for our girls!!

I see Olivia's brother wants to go camping too, lol

Oh NO!!!!

That is a nice break/hole on the roof of our camper!!! Discovered it yesterday when I was looking over some screws that need either painting or replacing! Panic!! This is new, we combed over this camper prior to purchase as any flaws brought the price down and there were a few that would have made us walk away. There is a spot already patched and this is really close to it... We have had tons of wind and rain so a branch is likely to blame but when did it happen and did is there much water inside.... So with our busy schedule seems, hubby is off to help with an outreach church is doing in the am so I shall become handy lady and will clean and patch found hole!! Seems silicone like used on a fish tank works wonders on such damage. Stephan plans to re patch the other area and then we will seal the roof with a paint on coating that is used on mobile homes and Rvs... Looks like this project will be sooner rather than later... For extra protection. I let's just say I am one nervous woman! Hoping this happened very recent and not much water made its way in.

Red wagon!

Baby girl has come to love the wagon! Chloe and Molly got it as a Christmas gift when they were little. I have had it in the shed.. And the other day thought baby girl would love it! Tristen did at her age too. So I climbed in the shed and pulled it out. It's been out back for about a week + a few days, and each time we come out to let the kids play she insists someone gives her a ride. I have a feeling this red wagon might be a must strap in the truck and take along on camping trips. A handy way to get baby, plus a few things to, the bath house, playground, lake or pool. :)

Sweet treat!

So we have the brown box all labeled and the miss understanding of the sweet treat... I had guessed there were 30 Cadbury cream eggs for my birthday inside.. So hubby in teasing had asked if I had enjoyed me sweet treat.. Last night he brought me home some cream eggs to enjoy... 30 of them would = added pounds! :)

Birthday soon...

I came home from a day at work to discover this....


Box labeled on one side to me... Then it tells me on top I am not to open it for a good 5 days... I find this not to be a good surprise... More of a taunting unkind act, because really this box could be nothing more than an empty box wrapped with writing on it!! Then to receive a message asking if I enjoyed part of my gift that I have yet to be "allowed" to open. I am not amused at all... And sure don't want. Birthday party, for more reasons that one!

Zoo!!! PASSES!!!

Every year the kids and I get zoo passes for the local zoo. We have a great friend who loves to encourage us to go or we encourage her to go. I love that because we homeschool we can avoid the crowds that come on the weekends, and we can take great advantage of the beautiful days and be flexible and go when we want. We tend to not go in the Summer time either but will when it's a rare cooler morning. 3 trips and the pass is well worth it, and we always make great use of them. Taking packed lunch, snacks and drinks along we simply need gas and the drive there. The kids and adults alike always enjoy a zoo trip. Here are a few snap shots I got with my phone today.

A dream come true!

This here is our pop up camper!

Inside

Another inside view.

We or shall I say I have wanted a pop up camper for a few years now. We have tent camped. Last tent trip was with just 3 kids and a very pregnant me. The van was packed to the roof and well where would we pup baby if we camped with her too! Let's just say we never did tent camp with baby girl, she was much to crabby in her 1st year of baby hood at night. So last year was limited to just one trip to a cabin in a state park. So I have pulled down all the curtains, and removed all the cushion covers including the mattress covers and washed them. They needed to hang to dry and we had snow coming to we closed up the camper and I have a box and bag with the fresh and clean curtains and cushion covers, awaiting the next string of warm and rain free days. Those days are forecasted to arrive this up coming week, so I will be able to get into the camper and give the canvas a good wash down with Tilex. (its what the owners manual says to use) Steph needs to re-caulk all the roof, and we'll wash down the roof and sides. A friend plans to check the brakes on the camper for us, and he is also going to fix up our truck so it is all ready to tow out little home away from home. The best part is that we'll be able to pack most of our stuff in the camper and in a box or 2 in the back of the truck! Also the cost of camping in this or a tent is exactly the same! SO excited hope we can get all the things done to our truck come time for our first camping trip or we'll be asking to borrow my father in law's awesome truck to take that trip & I could get spoiled doing that!

So Many adventures are about to take place the first one in just a few weeks!

Happy new year! 2012!

Our School year has gone fabulous this year so far! We too all of December off, and made the decision that we will assume a "year round school schedule" so we will take a month off in the spring and then another month at some point in the summer!! I think it is a fabulous idea! The past years we have taken a long summer break and it has proven to not be beneficial!

So what will 2012 bring us... we are not sure... we shall see what God has in store for us!

Hope this year will be an amazing one with me keeping better tabs on this!

ready for a family room make over.....

So we have lived in our house for 3 years. Sadly I figured, we would only be here all of 3 or 4 years. We thought that even with all the huge houses landing in foreclosure the smaller 3 bedroom "starter homes" seemed to be OK. So that is what we backed down to 3 years ago figuring we could fix up some, resell and move on up to something better suited in size for a family of 5-6. Well Turns out even the "starter home" size market is totally shot, and we still have a good portion of work to do to even make this place compete with the flooded market. We have been tempted to up and move west... and back down with in a day... too much family, friends and such here... though gee the adventure would be pretty neat.. any ways.

Alright about a year ago we got a mini family room make over, sold off our 9year old oversized couch and love seat w/their denim slipcovers for $50, and inherited a green, navy, and maroon couch, and a cocoa colored chair, and I had bought a white/light blue glider. My mom passed on a Green rug, and my sister a green and maroon sash like things for the windows. and a few well decor items. This is not my style at all.. but it was a nice change from the super sized stuff in a tiny space. The $50 got another throw rug and some other misc house items.

I have a new addiction to Pinterest, and now with the truth of we are here for a good long time, I am motivated to find ways to update the look of the house and add some functional pieces that can serve as storage and function with out looking thrown together. Slipcovers much cheaper than new and machine washable.. (wonder if I can get 2 of each??) lol they are still pricey but a spare set makes for nice when a spill happens right before company is due to arrive. :o) Think I have the hubby on board with some of my ideas, not to budget, shop, and work.

Wonder how long it will take to get started?? as in out of the idea stage.