It's been awhile!

Sorry for the long silence! I have been a little scattered.

We are in Puerto Rico with Shawn's family and having a blast. I will share more when we get back, but I wanted to share that I am reading the best book right now.

Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. Check it out! Lots of provoking thoughts that cause me to go hmmm...and wow...and sigh! So, if you don't have a good book to read during your break from the normal this might interest you. Not really a relaxing kind of book, more of an engaging sort of book, it's not a comfy candy book, but it is a search and probing kind of book. ;)

I'll share more soon. :) Love you all tons, and may the God who came bearing the gift of magnificent relationship work in your relationships this season.

Saturday Morning fun...

I woke up to a whole kingdom! LOL! The girls got very creative with the paper and blocks. :) I love it when they are creative. There is a sign above it saying, "No touching or getting very near" and it is surrounded by red pillows and blanket to show the proper boundaries. Of course, they did just leave it all and take off to watch a movie in the basement...hmmm. Just thought you may get a kick out of it!

Snow, again!

Goodness, we sure are getting more snow then usual this year. Not that it really amounts to much, but it is still odd. We are sure not complaining though! We love the snow. :) The girls were out in it early this morning, and came in to warm up with hot tea.

Here are a few pictures...

We are studying Japan right now in school. We are doing the vol. 4 Five in a Row book, Grass Sandals, the Travels of Basho, by Dawnine Spivak.

Today we learned about Haiku!

Here is what Chloe came up with...

snow falls from the sky-

it melts when it hits the ground-

it is freezing cold

And from Riley...

the snow is falling-

I play in the the snow today-

I built a snowman-

Some thoughts for this season....

These are a few videos that have really spoken to my heart....I thought you all might enjoy them too. I have been thinking about this for a few weeks, but then a few friends posted these to a board I visit. They were like icing on the cake.

I would really like to try and be creative with gifts we give this year, and make sure the gifts have meaning beyond just the latest trends. Maybe, we can consider together? :) Love you all TONS!

Maggie funny...

So Chloe, Riley, Maggie and I are sitting on the living room floor playing Uno. I am across from Maggie who is trying to change the color without a wild the whole game for some odd reason. Silly kid. So, I remind her one more time and she looks me in the eye all serious like and says, "I hear you out there!!!.....WILD!" ROFLOL! She is such a funny kid. The girls are all still rolling with laughter! :) I am so thankful we have so much fun. ;)

Election study..

Ok, we have been studying the election for the last week and we are having a blast! One of our activities was for the girls to finish the sentence, If I were President...

These are very cute! I just had to share!

Chloe: If I were President I would make vet bills less expensive, Halloween would be 4 times a year, and you would have to be 12 to drive! (ROFLOL!)

Riley: If I were President I would have there be candy everywhere and there would be no pounds (as in dog pounds, pretty funny as I would say real pounds)!

Maggie: If I were President I would eat all the candy in the world and I would have a pet cat.

Can you tell that we hit the jackpot for candy this Halloween?!? LOL!

Maggie sounds a little like a dictator! Yikes! LOL!

Trick or Treat!!!

Well, the girls had a great time making their costumes this year. I thought they were very creative! ;) Maggie is a fairy. Riley a sock monkey and Chloe a bat. :) They were so fun! Here is the guilty part...we took them to a friends and dropped them off over night! LOL! So, they wen't trick or treating and Shawn and I had some beloved alone time!

SNOW!

Can you believe it is snowing??? This is SO out of place for this time of year. I just love it! The girls have had their faces plastered to the windows and quickly wrapped Christmas gifts for each other, which they all had fun opening this morning! LOL! I wish I could get better pics, but this is what I have. It's no longer just flurrying, it's coming down! :) Wish you all could come over for for some hot chocolate and a great conversation.

It's so interesting how God chooses to arrest my heart.

I have been in class just about 2 years and I should be winding up my associates in science in March. The lessons I have learned spiritually and relationally, to God and others, far out weighs anything academic. Part of the program I am in requires study groups, and I strongly dislike it. ;) I don't mind being responsible for my own grade, but I start to shutter when we are all responsible for our group grade.

The pain is not without it's benefits. I have learned how to confront others with the least chance of emotional disaster (meaning extending grace), how to think critically outside of my comfort zone, and how to realize that I am not the same student I was in high school (meaning I am capable of way more then I thought). One of the areas that God has been working on my heart is in the process of how I handle change, or maybe it would be better to say challenge. I have slowly been becoming confident in my ability to tackle the hard stuff, but obviously this week I hadn't learned the lesson as well as I thought I had.

I started my economics class. I have tried to drop this class, sweated and wrung my hands in terror as the professor seemed so... daunting. The work load is huge, it took 4 of us 6 hours to complete it. The subject should be intriguing, especially with what we are going through as a country, but I was still really worried. I talked to the professor and I was not reassured that my fears weren't correct.

Today it felt like God was asking me why I keep pitching a fit in the sun and complaining how hot it is, when he is offering me his shade. Tonight was our first lecture, and while it will be very challenging, it was also beautiful. It's was just a reassurance of how I need to handle the bigger challenges, by staying in the shade and depending on Him to get me through it. The professor was amazing. He had so much wisdom, and not just in economics but in how we are to really react to that which seems to be crumbling around us.

So, I looked over my shoulder and noticed the cool shade a wee bit to my right, and I stepped back under the cover. Peace that requires nothing of me but my unending love for his presence is where I'd like to rest.

Salsa!!!

Today we went to our dear friends Shelley's house to make a TON of salsa! Shelley is so amazing, her canning has reached mass proportions so we tease her that if there is ever a food shortage we all know where to go to get food! LOL! We did green salsa, hot salsa, mild and Black Bean with Corn. YUMO!!! Here is a few pics of our glorious day!

Of course Maggie had a great time. The kids all made her a crown and set her in the leaves like a princess! LOL, she certainly doesn't need any help in that idea! :)

Happenings...

I finally found some trees with intense color. Of course I took these last night during a break from class so you can't really see the color, but I liked them anyway! ;) I have one more week and I will be done with my Lit class! I am so happy! However, I do have to start economics next. :(

And CONGRATULATIONS to Maggie! She lost her first tooth this past week! The dentist had to pull it for her because she wouldn't let any of us do it. It hung by a thread for 2 weeks! She was very excited to finally have it out. Unfortunately the tooth fairy was not so swift. Maggie came up crying at 6:45 am saying there wasn't any money under her pillow. (blushing here) So I told her the tooth fairy has until 7 to make deliveries and to run back to bed. She did, I crawled and slithered across her bedroom floor as discreetly as possible to make the trade and she came up all excited because she was rich! LOL!

Another typical homeschool day. The girls are working on their math and the dog is guarding us from the evil squirrels. :)

More from our trip

I just wanted to add a bit to our trip adventure!

This is Tyler, he and Chloe are just a day apart. He was with friends when we were at the parade.

When at Mike and Diana's the kids found 5 kittens in the Hosta along the house! Of course all the kids wanted to keep them. ;) We ended up leaving them out over night and the mama came back for them. The kids all named them and were a bit sad to see them go.

This is at Kevin's. Nate is on the left. He is right between Maggie and Riley age wise. We had so much fun together! Kevin and Leslie have the coolest mastiff named Peanut (kevin calls him waffle). It's funny because Peanut thinks he is a lap dog!LOL!

We had such a great trip. I love that all the cousins get along so well. I just refuse to let distance hinder their relationships. :) I will say that all the girls made me promise no more rad trips for the next 20 days! I had to laugh and agree to that! ;)

Spontaneous Road trip!

This past week we decided to take a little road trip to where I grew up. The fair and parade were there this week and I so wanted the girls to be able to experience the parade, as ours is awful around here! We had a wonderful time! (Yes, I drove 10 hours with 3 kids in the car for a parade! No laughing at me! ;))

The fair was close to my brother Mike's house so we stayed there for a lot of our time. Mike and Diana have 3 sons (we have all the girls). Here are some pictures!

This is Riley and Maggie on the Carousel. I think Maggie road this 5 times at least! LOL!

Riley on the swings! She was laughing the whole time. It was so fun to watch!

Riley and Chloe on the Himalayan! These are my little thrill seekers! They love to go fast! I'm so glad, until they learn to drive anyway! ;)

This is the youngest of the pack Jordan. He had a good time too. I think by the end of the day I would have been happy to crawl into his stroller with him! LOL! My sil Diana is off the the left side there.

Chloe and Cameron are a bunch of goof balls. The hams and pranksters of the family.

Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of the parade. I don't know what I was thinking! Oh yeah, it was dark. That was probably why. Anyway, Maggie declared in the middle of the parade that it was the "best night of her whole life!!!" I think it was worth the drive for that kind of passion! LOL! We had lots of good food, rides and hanging out.

My mom...

It was 2 years ago today that my wonderful mom went home. :( My heart hurts so much, but I am so glad to know that she is safe at home! She was just the best. Love you tons, and I miss you Mom!!!

So many words, so short the goodbye

there would never be enough time to do it right
Your memory brings me the warmth of joy
and sadness that can make me wish the storm in my heart would break

So I send you these words that got lost before you left
Thank you
not for being perfect, but for being you
for the cheering that brings my heart a smile when it all seems impossible
I can still smell the warmth of your embrace
your voice on a message
For defining unconditional

The things that were never worked through, the grace that made it ok
We still miss you
Maggie still holds the bear you gave her
your memories still roll off our tongues, they come so swift it leaves me breathless

Thank you, for fighting so long
for the moments that surly must have cost you
to be with us those extra months
for the times, the moments we will never forget
and for the words that I still hear in my heart...

Thank you...

Snakes! OH my!!!

Here we are with our friend Shelley, aka Snow White of the reptile world. She enjoyed watching me squirm and the girls giggle! Bleach! Glad the girls loved it! LOL!

What a day!

Well, first of all it is beautiful here! A blissful 40 degrees when we woke up! Sigh, I love fall. :) Next for excitement for our day was Riley losing another tooth! Yahoo Riley!!! She now has real beaver teeth! (She lost the one on the left of her big front ones) My job is now critical. Being the tooth fairy is a job I am horrible at. I have made up a week of excuses of why the tooth fairy was late. I am hoping by posting this that I am going to remember tonight! LOL!

For school today we took our work and went to the park. It was just perfect to lay on a quilt and enjoy the fall breeze and cool air. We started off listening with our eyes closed and then drawing what we heard. Here is what the girls came up with.

Chloe is turning out to be quite the little dog trainer. She works with Oreo for every meal. Oreo gets very few easy meals, she has to do tricks for every bite. Needless to say, she is really starting to catch on. We are still working on come. Yesterday we went to a lake with some friends and Oreo took off like a shot after a small animal. She was out of site in a heart beat. Needless to say all the kids were crying sure that their lovely little dog was no more. She came after a few minutes of calling. Guess we don't have that one down just yet! :) Here is Chloe working on sit.

Fall is here!!

Today we went on a nice long nature walk at the park. The girls rode their scooters and bike as I walked the dog. We also gathered green acorns to try and sprout, I hope it works! So far they all sink which is a good sign. We are going to use the information from this web site. Here are our acorns in water.

We also spent sometime reading the fall poetry from the Fall Nature Study from Five in a Row (this is just brilliant, you must check it out). The poetry inspired Chloe to write, got to love that! This is her poem:

Fall Fun

by Chloe

Fall is here oh what fun!

Leaves are changing color.

Red, brown, yellow and orange, make a pile of them.

Jump in them, run in them, have some fun in them!

Pick a pumpkin, eat the seeds, make a pie, dress in beads.

Get some candy, make it last, pick a pillow

Asleep at last.

Oreo!

Well, here is our new little dog Oreo. She is 2 years old, Chloe bought her from a rescue. She has had a lot of abuse in her past but is just the sweetest little dog ever. Hey! If she won Shawn over you know she must be special! LOL! ;) We are currently clicker training and she is doing just great. Today was the one week anniversary and we are all very happy with her.

She has become my walking buddy! Today we fast walked 4 miles, hills and all. She just loves to walk and if I stop to get a drink she walks in circles till I start again.

My little bohemian dandelion...

Well, here is my littlest sweetie just being cute! :) She makes my heart so happy. She has her glasses off because she is getting ready for a bath.