Greatest memories with Great Grandma...

It is a rare treat to be able to spend time with a great grandparent... or at least it was in my life! I do remember my great-grandmother, but I was pretty young when she passed away. Our 5 children are blessed to be able to know 5 of their Great-Grandparents... two are step due to the passing of their blood Great-Grandpa's passing. I try to capture in picture form times when we are together either any of their relatives, especially their great grandparents.

I just love these pictures... of their Great-Grandmother: (we don't believe or take part in Santa Clause... but that is the book that Grandma found :-) I don't know that Logan would remember the story near as much as the time spent with grandma listening!




Here are a few more pictures of the children's paternal great-grandparents:

Logan's new camera...

OK... Logan had been wanting a camera all his own. His birthday came this past December and he received birthday money. He was really torn between a camera or a Nintendo DS. So after waiting and thinking... and waiting and thinking... he chose the camera. He had looked at several and knew of a few options that he definitely wanted and few he didn't want. So while at his great grandma's over Christmas... there was a few sales. He went to the store with mom and dad and purchased a camera... his biggest purchase ever!

The boys were talking and they decided to tell a story in picture form :-) They went off to the basement with the in house photographer, Logan. The actor's being Logan's older brother Corben and his younger brother Griffin. Here is the story they told :-)





Not very nice... but these are our boys in true color :-) I must admit they were creative!

Football, Wrestling... Volleyball :-)

Ok, so we are still in the midst of watching football. There is a battle out east where all my maternal family members are... it depends which uncle (and I have several with my momma having 9 brothers and sisters) you talk to or my pop-pop as to which team you hear the most about :-) Pop-pop is all for the Pittsburgh Steelers, then there are uncles for the Baltimore Ravens and others for the Philadelphia Eagles. I really don't have a strong pull one way or the other in regards to the teams, however... I am sure my grandpa would be totally thilled to throw it in my uncles faces that HIS team made it and THEIR's didn't :-) Go Steelers :-)

Wrestling, as usual is keeping us busy! We try to hit a tournament each weekend, however that is virtually impossible unless we travel far and wide. We did tend to stay busier when my sister's two boys wrestled as we tried to get over into Illinois for a couple tournaments to be able to watch my nephews and see their family. However, they gave up wrestling this year... so we don't make the IL trips as we have the past two years. Wrestling is the longest sport that the kiddo's are in... thankfully it is my most favorite :-)

Volleyball... gosh I have not played in years. I played in high school... hhmmmm I graduated almost 17 years ago, WOW!!! (1992 for those of you trying to do the math) Then I played on a church league for a few years... it was an all girls team and we were pretty competitive! Then I gave birth to our first born (12 years ago)... and this ole body has been less and less active ever since :-( It is starting to show! Well, our church has a volleyball team and we got the call tonight that they need players... so I better start doing something to get a bit more physically fit than what I am... or I will be in a lot of pain! I look forward to the competition... not so much a Christian attribute... but it is ingrained within!

Let the games begin... or is it continue... one sport right after the next!!

Oh yeah...

Did I mention the Vikings lost this past week?? So, they are out of the playoff's. Maybe next year :-)

Hhhmmm, wonder who will be in the super bowl for 2009?! I am sure we will be watching, whomever plays... but I do have a few that I would rather see!!

Good Day!!

Busy, Busy, Busy...

Well, I don't have time to post pictures for this week, but thought I would just do an update on what is going on in our busy lives :-)

We started back to school this week after a two week break. The break was needed and was filled with family, friends, and fun! As we started back to school, we made a few adjustments to make things go smoother :-) Or so that is the hope and plan! We used a program called Home School Tracker for two years. It worked perfectly with our curriculum as we used Bob Jones Homesat. This year we had to let the Bob Jones curriculum go to the way side as we just didn't have the funds to continue. So, we chose many curriculums, it just depended on the subject. We saw the changes coming from a far distance, so we were able to research and find what we thought would work best for us. Anyway... all that to say that the kiddo's were asking for "those papers" that they used to have. So I had my work cut out for me to get all the lesson plans into Home School Tracker for each of our subjects and then to print them off for all five children. I was not happy with just the curriculum this time, so I took it a step further and added their chores and activities into the Tracker program. So now each week they will get the page telling of schoolwork to finish, along with a page telling of chores and activities that are taking place for the week.

These papers coming from the Home School Tracker program are a great way to organize your life AND your children's lives :-) It takes a lot off of me, I don't have to say did you brush your teeth, what about your dirty clothes basket, did you get that page done in Math, etc. They look to their papers on Monday of each week and just go get things done. Obviously, I still need to keep Griffin going and help him... Brekyn gets a little help, but they are all doing well!!

As for the activities. This week started us off on a roller coaster... We are looking to have a lot of fellowship and fun in this second semester of school! Along with our daily schoolwork and housework... we have started up a co-op class with our local homeschool group, TEECH. We meet with them one afternoon every week. Our topic is The Human Body!! We also started attending a Gym Class each week that takes place right after band lessons. This is also once a week.

Another thing on the agenda... I had this crazy thought about re-joining our IL Homeschool Support group for their spring Friday School classes. I really miss so many of those wonderful ladies and families!! I have had those homeschool burnout thoughts and the attitudes that follow this year and I think I just need more support and leaders than what are here in our southeastern portion of Iowa. So, after talking to Ed, praying and then asking the children what their thoughts were. It was unanimous that we should re-join SVCHE!! I am so excited about this!! We are headed there this week for a gym day just to get re-aquanted again and meet the many new families that have joined over the past 4 years since we have been gone.

This all works great for our family as daddy's job is 45 minutes away and in the direction of the IL group. So we will travel all together, take daddy to work, enjoy the day with the homeschool group, and then pick daddy back up at work. God is so good and I feel like he is totally in this!

As with the many questions on "how long do you plan to homeschool", the answer remains the same for this situation. We take it one year at a time. We are homeschooling this year... not sure what next year will bring! The same goes with the IL group... we are joining them all this semester, not sure what next semester will bring :-)

Thanks for visiting and learning a bit more about our busy, busy, busy lives :-)
God Bless!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!!!

As we close out another year, I thank God for all that he is and all that he does in my life each and every day! Our Lord and Saviour brought us through so much in 2008 and I praise Him for the strength to lean on Him in every circumstance we endured. We had many challenges and yet we had so many more blessings!!

We pray this blog entry finds your family healthy and trusting in the Lord!!

My new years resolution... To Draw Closer each and every day to Jesus Christ My Saviour!!

How do I intend to do this??
1. I pray for consistancy in reading my Bible, daily.
2. Communication... Through prayer I will lay my life down at our Lord's feet!
3. Through my daily living... I pray that the words I say and the actions I make are pleasing to God!

Rootin' for the Vikings in this Sunday's game!!!!

Well, since the other family favorites... The Chicago Bears and the Dallas Cowboys are out for the year. We are all the way rootin' for the Minnesota Vikings :-) We are not too sure they have a chance, but if they play their best, we know they can do it just as well as any of the other teams :-) So I thought I would post really quickly to say GO VIKES!!!