We were able to spend this weekend with my sister and nephew that lives in SC. We had a good time with them and had my original family all together for the first time since 1995! We took Ken to Action City and played for a while then we went back to my dad's and had dinner and sat and visited until we had to leave and some of the girls took off for a girls night out. It was good to see them. And Ken is really starting to look so grown up. He is really going to be a heartbreaker if he already isn't but he is also such a neat person. I really do enjoy them. Can you believe he's only 15?!

I was going through my Christmas pictures and found a really special one from Knights side of the family. Auntie M was very excited because she recieved a very special present. Click here to watch her reaction.

We had a great Christmas weekend being able to spend some time with Knights extended family who we have not seen in a while. Knight and the kids have seen them more than I have but it was fun to do some catching up. Christmas eve we spent time with grandma and grandpa and aunts and uncles and cousin. We had a good time and we were thankful that there were less people there so we could really appreciate the ones we love. That evening we were able to witness my nieces baptism. What a blessing to watch her grow in her faith and what a differences in churches. The kids were surprised at how small the church is but it was a good service. Christmas was spent at my dad's with a quiet morning and the rest of the family coming late afternoon. Knight was not feeling well so it was good to be able to rest. Here are the pictures from the weekend. I am off today for my annual shopping day with a good friend while Knight enjoys the kids.

Between other people having trouble posting with blogger and stumbling on a new blog site I thought I'd try out this one and see how it works. If you want to see the new blog click here. Let me know which one you like. I will probably double blog until I figure out which one I like better. Stay tuned....

The Youngest Grocer In America

This is great. I am always amazed to see people like this

I know I have expressed this before but technology is truely amazing. Tonight as I am looking into school books for next year, ebaying, answering emails not only from people in state but also on the other side of the great big earth I am amazed. Last week we studied on how much time and work it was to create the telegraph and then the telephone. The lesson ended in them explaining we have a new device, the fax machine. As much as I use my cell phone, email, dsl, etc without thought every once in a while I have to stop and marvel. I listen to what I want to when I want to on the internet radio, I shop without leaving my pajamas, and I can communicate with those I love all around Gods great earth. Now if I could only get a house that automatically cleans clutter....

Last night the kids had their Christmas program. It went well and they remembered their parts for the most part. I have some video that I will try to get up eventually but not this morning. We are off to see A Little Princess Christmas... a play at the childrens theater. Kids are very excited. Rara and J-Bird have never been to an actual play.

With inspiration from Akeela and the Bee we had a spelling bee last night to practice the kids spelling words. J-Bell spells like her dad, and that is not a good thing. It was a good but very hectic time because the kids get very squirrelly when the whole family does something like this. We can't just have a nice, quiet time of fun. I was baking cookies for tonight's Christmas program during the bee while the rest of the family was spelling in the kitchen and stealing the dough. It was a great night and hopefully helped them with their spelling words.

In case I get yelled at again for missing Thankful thursday I will share a story of what happened this week. I recieved a call on Monday from one of my bosses saying that my job is now requiring about triple the amount of time that I have been taking in it and let me know that if I was not able to do this, she understands, but needs to find someone else. Knight and I talked and decided that since we were considering having me quit next month anyway we should probably just do it now. Step of faith cutting my earnings in half. Not huge money but our budget has me making all the grocery money. Tuesday I get a call about someone wondering about homeschool curriculum. The curriculum she described is not something I had heard of before (so I had thought) but sounded like it may be good. I didn't think much more of it. Later that day another friend mentions that same curriculum so I do some research. I look at the philosophy, set up, and on another site, reviews from users. Never looked at price. Next day had another conversation about it and did more research. Looked at other curriculums, subjects, etc. I ended up ordering this one curriculum at 1/2 price and it was already about 1/3 of what I am using. The Lord is taking care of our school budget in such a neat way and we were able to shift numbers so that our budget meets our need and some wants. So I can say and know, yet again, Isn't God good? He has never not taken care of our needs.

Just a quick note to let everyone know we are alive--barely. We are doing the flu thing here this week. I have to say I am thankful that all of my kids are old enough to make it to the bathroom or bucket so it's not all over my house but I am pretty down and out also so my house is bey0nd messy and I think there are germs everywhere. Until further notice...Stay away.

Thankful Thursday...
As I sit down today the kids reminded me it was thankful thursday. I have so much to be thankful for. I am thankful for our good friends, good kids, good family, and a great God. I have been listening to the Dave Ramsey show and all of these people that are in debt $15-$60,000 in credit card debt, car payments and mortgages on top of that helps me to be content with our beater vehicles, and a house that is not so new. We are truely blessed. J-Bell is learning about the Depression this week and one of the reasons it hit so hard is that so many people were taking loans out to buy stocks and hope to make a profit. Somedays I get to where I want nicer things but I know that if we keep living this way someday we can live with nicer things and still have no debt. I have to remind myself that the people in my life are what really matters. I have a picture from Thanksgiving that shows a great example of being comfortable in a family. My sister is sleeping in the recliner, everyone is talking, kids are playing in another room. Ahhh, family. Have a great day.

This video is worth watching

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyPhCO3LrtQ

So the saying in the post it note on the left- I thought an interesting quote. Got me thinking if anyone else has some interesting quotes. If you have one, leave it on the post it note.

I know the blog has been neglected lately. Thanksgiving was a wonderful but short visit. Everyone that lived in state made it on my side and it was fun to sit around and enjoy the company. The weather was beautiful outside so those in my family that have to go outside to get some "fresh air" were able to do so comfortably. Friday, Knight and I had planned on sleeping in but at 5:30 we were both awake so we decided to check out the sales in town. We didn't see too much but did get some shopping done. The best deals we found were at Menards, and they were the busiest also. Lines almost to the back of the store! We are back into our regular routine this week with school. Once I get some of the pictures out of my new camera I will post more pictures. Have a great day.

Yeah!!! My camera finally came today. And just in time for Thanksgiving. I have to admit I was a little nervous about buying something like this off ebay but it is a nice camera and works well. Off to get a memory card or 2 in a little while. Have some final things to pick up for the meal tomorrow. My first time hosting a holiday for our extended family. It will be a great time as almost everyone can make it on my side. Knights side opted out, as they have a huge gathering at Jeff and Jims Pizza. I think they are having the traditional thing and just using the store. Hope they have a great time, but will will miss them, especially the kids newest cousin "B". Isn't he cute?? Happy thanksgiving everyone.

One of my favorite sister in laws emailed me today to let me know I missed Thankful Thursday--AGAIN. So in honor of her I am going to give you all a list of my favorite quotes. Here goes:

Most people when they come to you for advice, come to have their own opinions strengthened, not corrected.
Author: Josh Billings


Darkness can not drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Author: Martin Luther King Jr.


Not every truth is the better for showing its face undisguised; and often silence is the wisest thing for a man to heed.
Author: Pindar

"To learn to succeed, you must first learn to fail."-Michael Jordan

And now here are some of my favorite funny quotes:

"Keep smiling, it makes people wonder what you're up to."

Procrastinate now, don't put it off.

All those who believe in telekinesis, raise my hand.

The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met.

OK, so what's the speed of dark?

But on the other hand, I have five fingers

Have a great day!

This is late but J-Bells 11th birthday was on the 11th. The week before we went to Action City to celebrate with a couple of her friends. My mom, sister, neice, and step-mother came to watch and play. We had a great time. They have rock climbing, lazer tag, go carts, bumper cars, mini bowling, mini golf and an arcade, along with pizza and subs. We also were able to go see the Power Team that night with some more family and friends. It was a very long but fun day. Also, went to see Facing the Giants last night at the movie theater. It was worth watching. Hopefully the camera I won off eBay will get here soon and the pictures will be updated again.

My sister sent me a link to this film/commercial from Dove. I highly recommend watching it. It only takes about 20 sec.

Ok, I'll try this again since it didn't work the first time I tried it. I have been thinking about what I want to post as my "Thankful Thursday". I know it is Friday (again) but yesterday was...well, chaotic beyond normal. But nobody died, I didn't cry, life is still good. So, I was thinking about all the blessings in my life and I came to a realization. I am just thankful for the Lord being so good to me. I thought about my friends who seem to know just when to call, or stop by. I can't tell you how many times I am being unlovable and they love me anyway. I know that they are led by God because as they will tell you, I don't share my struggles nearly enough. I am also thankful for my kids. Generally they are happy, well adjusted, loving kids of whom I am proud to say I am their mom. That again is by the grace of God that I haven't messed them up more than they are. I also am thankful for our financial provision. As I blogged earlier this week my digital camera died an untimely death but I am thankful that we do have some money to try to get a pretty decent camera. He knew that this would happen and it appears that I won't have to do without a camera for too long. I am also thankful for eBay (again) because shopping would be made a lot harder if I had to do this in person. I know I am so blessed, not because of me, but in spite of me. God is so good.

What is the signs of obsession? I have been on ebay almost all day looking at digital cameras because one of my precious little ones dropped mine "just a little bit" on the floor. I have a budget, I have a list of wants, needs, desires. They don't add up so I just keep hoping. I can't seem to stay away. Is this obsession? I hope so. I always wanted proof I was crazy.

Last night J-Bell wanted to cook supper because it was a project for her bible study. So I helped knight with loading truck while the kids walked down to the store for some of the ingredients she needed for her meal. When we got home we walked into a restaurant with 2 waitresses all dressed up, a candle light dinner prepared. As we ate our appetizer (fruit cocktail) they took our taco orders. While we ate our tacos the girls entertained us with song and dance. Then we had chocolate chip cookie bars for desert. They even provided a check so we could pay them. The meal was only $29.95 a person but I felt the service was so great I tipped big. I gave them $900.00!
As much as I liked it when they were small, I am enjoying it even more as they grow. I am truely blessed

As Knight and I were trying to lay down and take a Sunday nap we were able to giggle into dreamland over this conversation with J-Bird. Keep in mind we have two types of clothes-- church clothes and non church clothes.
Knight (to J-Bird)-"before lunch I'd like you to change into work clothes"
Me (not sure if he'd understand "work" clothes)- "or play clothes"
J-Bird- "ok, play."

coming down after changing

Knight "did you get work clothes on?"
J-Bird- "but Mom said I could pick PLAY clothes"

I guess he won't be working today

Here is my Thankful Thursday this week. I have decided to list some of my favorite things.

Whoever created eBay is a genius and deserves to be as rich as Bill Gates. Maybe I spend too much time on this wonderful little site and even the word eBay has now become a verb in our house as in "I'm eBaying right now"


Another favorite is my heated mattress pad. This has actually never left my bed since the day it has entered my home. It is nice to rarely crawl into a cold bed (only when I forget to turn it on). My bedroom does not have heat in it so this has let me stay in my room on cold nights.





I am one to always have my candles burning. I don't know what it is about candles but it sure lifts the mood on most days. Right now it is "pumpkin spice" that is on my mantle
Speaking of my mantle--for those who have not seen it here is my fire place. Have a great day.

Ok, so Knight was complaining that I don't put enough pictures on this blog. Ok, so he may not have been complaining but everything sounds bad at 5am. Here is the family making pumpkin pies and pumkin bread out of the pumpkin he bought for the kids. We were able to spend Sunday visiting some family and bring them either some bread or pie. It was so nice to see who we did. We don't get down there enough, so when we do- we never want to leave. Somedays I wish we lived closer, and other times I wish they would come spend the day with us (HINT HINT!!!).

Halloween is officially over. We were able to have some other kids over for the day and they all had a great time playing with eachother and passing out treats. It seems like we had less kids this year than others. Knight came home and slept. He did stay up to help make supper and then he laid down on the couch with 7 kids running around and fell asleep. Even when the kids' dad came to pick them up, Knight didn't wake up. I guess this means that all of the business talk will have to wait 'til morning. Good night.

Forgetful Fridays???
Last night I was on the computer and realized that I didn't post my thanks giving for the week so here it is.
1. My kids. It always amazes me what they come up with and how they can cheer my day. I called home from work yesterday and DJ answered. When I asked what she was doing she said "I'm in Rara's bed and we are trying to hear what eachother are thinking."
2. Family. We decided to have Thanksgiving this year at our house. Some can make it and some cannot. While wishing everyone could make it, it makes me realize how special each person that God gave us to make up our family is to us.
3. Change. Reading Dahls blog on how this country has changed in 100 years had me thinking about how God changes me little by little, day by day for His good pleasure. I could not do it on my own, but he gives me his word, his people in my life, books, music, and even my mistakes to create something better.
4. Consistancy. Many of those that know me, know that I love my routine. I love the routine of the day, even though I do have to make adjustments throughout my day sometimes it's nice when things get "boring". That means there has been little drama.
I hope everyone has a great weekend. We have not set our plans yet, but I know we want to do something one of the two days.

This is a picture of Knight with his birthday cake. I do have all 38 candles lit. As one of the kids put it; "HeHe, it looks like a bonfire!" We gave him a birthday dinner and played some video games with him and he took a nap. He must be getting old! Nice family day spent together.

Yesterday we went for a train ride on the Osceola Train. It was fun to have our first real train ride for the whole family. We started out in the caboose but at the halfway mark they took the engine off and brought it around and hooked it up to our car. Some of the pictures in our photo album show the process. There are also other photos, including one of the back of J-Birds mohawk. We cut it into a mohawk for wacky wednesday at church and he has decided he would like to leave it. Also Happy Birthday to Knight. Today he gets one step closer to old. I won't tell you how old he is but I can let you know that he is only 2 years away from the big 4-0. I love you, my prince!

We went to the pumpkin patch with the homeschool group today. We had a lot of fun and it stopped snowing in time for us to really enjoy ourselves. If you would like to see our picture album of the day go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/dew4kids/PumkinPatch

Thankful Thursday
This week has been a week full of blessings
1. I am thankful for the people willing to open their hearts and lives to encourage and steer someone cl0ser to Christ. Someone stopped, talked to, and prayed with Knight this week and it really encouraged him during a rough morning.

2. Silly games. Whether it's just goofing off with the kids or try to get someone else wondering "wha..? How..? Huh???" makes me just smile.

3. Health. There has been a variety of sickness in our house and it really makes me thankful for healthy days with no one sick.

4. Butchers. After cutting up an animal this week it makes me thankful that someone else is willing to do that full time as an ocupation so I don't have to every time I want some meat. It gave me a new appreciation of that career choice.

5. That I'm NOT M right now. I wish here well with her little man coming soon but I remember those days well and I don't envy her. But I am praying for her!!

There is so much to be thankful for. I am so blessed.

This is a great story!
It's about what you can do with one red paperclip

Somedays I get the notion that living like they do on Frontier House is probably not as bad as they make it out to be. (For all of you saying "WHAT!?! Your idea of camping is pitching a tent in the backyard for the kids and you sleeping with your bedroom window open to hear them!", Yes, I have actually thought that frontier living looked fun) You know, the men do the hunting while we do the gathering. So Knight goes out and drags home Bambi (ok, actually Bambi was offered to us by Elmo's mom, skinned, de-boned, and frozen and I went and got it) We let it thaw for a day and then since Knight was off hunting again I ended up cutting up this carcass and grinding it into hamburger on my kitchen table with the music playing, the furnace on, had an electric meat grinder (thanks JoGirl!) I'm sitting there thinking "wow, this takes a long time. I wonder how much it costs to have the deer processed". Ok, I guess I will have to admit that maybe, just maybe, I wouldn't be cut out for the frontier.

Thankful Thursdays
I decided that I am going to have more theme days. Somedays I know I should update the blog but I am not sure what to type so Thursdays will be about thanksgiving. Here are the 5 things I am thankful for this week. 1. Technology-I love the fact that between cell phones and internet I can talk to just about anyone I want any day I want.
2. Furnaces-the snow has arrived and yet I am not shivering
3. Homeschooling-I know, somedays I complain but I love having the kids around and watching them grow into great people
4. The written word- I love the fact that a good author can bring me to a new place or different time, can teach me something, entertain me, convict me, etc and the bible is the ultimate to help me to grow, show me my shortcomings, remind me of my blessings, and help me see my Lord
5. Mail- We have ordered different things online lately and when the mail comes we don't know if that box will come too. Brings some excitement to the day.
Have a great and blessed day.

This morning we are getting our first snowfall. The kids are excited, Knight is enjoying since he allways enjoys the first snow of the year, and here I sit wondering, why do I live in Wisconsin??? Yes, the trees are pretty when they change, yes, there is a lot of family and friends around, and even yes, it helps us to enjoy spring and summer that much more. But I'm thinking is that worth it? I think not. Snow has to be from Satan, don't you think? :-)

Look who's having a golden birthday today!!! J-Bird is 6th on the 6th of '06! Amazing isn't it. Him and Daddy get to go watch Menomonie play tonight. Happy Birthday J-Bird.

I found this on just about everyone's blog on my list and it looked fun. If you care to give it a try, copy and paste it- then put each one you have done in bold. Let me know if you play along!
01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales (they didn't specify LIVE--TV's great)
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music

87. Eaten shark

88. Kissed on the first date (SHHHH!)
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone (isn't that every house with more than one kid?)
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children - still raising!
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth (helped the dog take puppies out of the sack)
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone (collar and foot)
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours in 48 hours (flu)
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head (ONLY the bottom half!)
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

Sometimes I see things that touch me and I just feel like sharing. There is a wonderful couple that are newer members of our church that have 2 boys and the younger one has cerebral palsy. Micah is a sweet boy but he doesn't talk much, walk, etc. There is a small group of us that take turns sitting with him in class so his parents can enjoy the church service. I have had Micah in my class during vbs, childrens church, etc and the kids knew who he was and didn't say much but never seemed to get too close. Yesterday I was in class with him and the kids were playing a game where they pick a kid to join them in the middle of the circle. Not only did the kids pick him without being told (twice!), they held his hand, and just included him. It's nice to see the kids getting comfortable with him.

Somedays it is just plain fun to be a mom. The kids did most of their responsiblilties without complaint. We started working on Christmas gifts, soccer went smoothly. Knight and I had a store reset to do tonight and so we left the kids with the timer going and told them to go to bed when it goes off. We get home and all the lights are off and everyone is sleeping and it's even before 11pm. The Lord lets me have these good days so I will forget the ones that have me pulling my hair out.

So Elmo (from my previous post) was asking if I'm going to make him famous someday. Talking to his mom I asked for some naked baby pictures but on the way from soccer she called for his famous actions of the day. He left the soccer field with his friends moms keys so his mom had to turn around so he could give them back and they could leave. Which leaves me wondering...if he can't drive, what was he doing with the keys in the first place???? He'll be famous yet but probably not for what he wants to be.

The evening started with the entertainment of all star wrestling. It started when J-Bird challenged Rara to a match. Then Rara used her cunning skills to defeat the bandit, first she taunted him and got him going by telling him he whines like a little girl then she uses the rope a dope technique by letting him swing away until he is worn out and then dropped him for the pin.

While this was going on DJ was on the computor and J-Bell was playing the clarinet, while me and the wife relaxes as we fought our colds.

Sometimes kids just make you laugh. Rara learned about farms yesterday in Heritage Studies. We talked about old farms and new farms, different animals they have and then she was supposed to draw a picture of one. She chose to draw a new farm so she put a silo, tractor, barn, and then a cow, calf, pig, and horse in the field. She put little dots around the cow and one dot by the calf. She explains, "those are the flies." Funny.

I didn't realize how much we were a blogging family until DJ came up to me with my camera and a picture she took of a squirrel that was eating crackers the kids had left on the porch. She showed me the picture and then said, I took two so you could decide which one would be best to put on the blog. I guess technology comes naturally to kids.
Here's her picture.

School restarted again this week. Things are going SO much better. No tears, no screaming, just the phrase "stop talking and do your work" is said over and over. I think I should just record myself saying it and have a cd just set on repeat and play it all during school. The pictures were from today. It took 4 pictures and a threat to get a picture of what looks like J-Bird doing his school work. I told him that I wouldn't put his picture on "the blob" if he didn't look at his paper when I was taking his picture. I did find a great link today to help teach the parts of speech and other english things. I'm always looking for different ways to teach so they will remember.

Saturday was spent at an apple orchard picking raspberries and apples and one pumpkin. We all had a great time. The kids each picked a container of berries, a basket of apples and they had to decide together on a pumpkin. Rara loves granny smith apples but they don't grow well up here. This orchard only had red varieties of apples but Rara looked well enough to get a whole basket full of green apples! I think she may be surprised when she bites into one and finds out that it is not ripe! Life lessons from the front line, I guess!

It is time for the annual garage "sale" at church. We picked out some treasures and brought some treasures. This is one of my favorite ministries to be a part of. We invite the community to come and take whatever they need or want. The church family can come anytime during setup or the actual "sale" time. People had been shopping all day during setup and this is what was left for the community. The neatest thing about it is everything is free. No donations accepted.

Sometimes I am amazed at the lengths we all go to just to not admit to others that we are not perfect. We all know that nobody is perfect and some are just more skilled at hiding their imperfections than others but reading Cartoon Living talk about how imperfect she is just makes me think about all the misconceptions we all have of others. Don't get me wrong, I don't like to admit how untogether I really am, but we all need to get real with eachother and tell eachother just one imperfection we have. Here's mine, I REALLY hate being interupted in my plans. I think that I need to work on that the most. Whether it be a 30 second break from my plans or Knight taking a different route when we are going somewhere than I expected I need to be more flexible. I know, I know, you are all shocked aren't you? Well, there is my soap box for the day. Have a great day.

Please Pray
At the time I am typing this my mom is having major surgery. She called earlier today to let me know she was going in but she made it sound like outpatient stuff, no big deal. In fact she will be in for a week and have some long term if not life long effects of this. I know she is in the Lords hands and he knows best but she is my mom, so I don't want to see her go through tough times. This is going to bother her alot, so please pray for Mom and her husband.

Soccer went well Monday night. Both teams tied. J-Bells team tied 4-4 while DJ's team tied 0-0! I think they are both still learning the game and loving it. It was cold though. Burrr! As one of the kids said "It felt like October!" I did get one great shot of some friends' teens-Elmo and Punkadoo-sitting and talking so I thought I would share that one too just to let them know that they are not too cool to enjoy a good soccer game. Love ya Elmo!!!

We spent Saturday at the E.C. Childrens museum. The kids had a great time playing and learning. I figured out how to get picture collages thanks to Poppy from http://www.plansandprovidence.blogspot.com/. Thank you so much Poppy! This week we are cleaning the house getting ready for the free garage sale at church. Hopefully we can empty this house. Soccer games tonight. Go J-Bell and DJ!

We're old...
I always think we are still young but as I'm sitting at the computer at 9pm trying to stay awake Knight walks into the bedroom and says.."Good, it's not 10 yet. I thought we were out really late." Goodbye youth.

School...
Along with the chaos of soccer 4 nights a week, working 5 days a week and dentist appointments, church and trying to fit in some friend time we discovered that the new curriculum we were trying was not going to work for our family and so I ordered new stuff yesterday. The girls are excited to have a small break from school and J-Bird is still grabbing his schooling and working on it everyday. He loves the math work but it is kindergarten. He still hasn't ran into anything that he doesn't know how to do. Maybe he's secretly a genius???

Weekend in Wisconsin
What a nice weekend. Saturday we went to the Labor Day Fair where the kids enjoyed some rides and games and then we took them to their first domolition derby. The girls loved it and want to go back next weekend. J-Bird did not enjoy it but he likes cars so much I think it bothered him to see them get smashed up. Knight brought home corn (around 25 DOZEN!) so we spent Sunday shucking, cutting, bagging and freezing. It was a fun family activity at first but after the first 10 dozen the fun wears off. Back to reality today.

The soccer games went well. Ciara's team won 3-0 with Rara being on forward and the parents around us talking about how she was playing well. J-Birds team didn't win but J-Bird had some scoring action. The picture is of a goal he scored. The rest of his team has to be told to go back out on the field after a water break and he takes a sip and runs back out. This boy loves his soccer. Now that if he could get his teammates (4 and 5 year olds) to understand offense and defense! I think he'd rather play with the big kids.

We have experienced another loss in our family! Rara has lost her first tooth last night. She is excited that it is just another step into big girl world. Makes me wonder how many other families have to wait until around second grade to start loosing teeth. Happy Birthday to Aunt Jamie! Hope you have a great day.

Soccer Time!
J-Bell and DJ had their first soccer games on Monday. J-Bells team ended up tied but worked well together. DJ's team lost. The score was 3-2 but they ran down to score a lot. Soccer season is fun but hectic. Rara and J-Bird have their first games tomorrow.