What a day!!

Today is the day that my K decided to be baptized!! She was supposed to do it two weeks ago, but we had some very bad weather and Church was cancelled. What a special Valentine's day for her!!

We had some snow two days ago. It was great for building snowmen, but it didn't last very long.

 

What we have been up to lately.

Okay all, it has been so long since I have posted anything so I thought that I better let you all know that I am alive and well. I will kind of hit the highlights for the last couple of months.
Me: I am an aunt again. My little sister had her baby yesterday. She named her Sophia Anne. She is spending some quality time with her grandpa in the picture below.

I have been helping to coach my son's basketball team. What a joy it is to be involved in his life in this way. I get to see him step up and be a leader for his team. I have also been having quite a difficult time health wise. I seem to be getting sick every few days with different things. Not very fun. In addition to getting sick I have also been having quite a bit of trouble with my knees again. I have to see the doctor on the 12th of February to see what they will do. I have never really had trouble with my right knee, but favoring it for the past few years while I had trouble with the left one has apparently aggravated it. Luckily I don't need my knees to crochet, lol, which is also taking up a lot of my time. I enjoy crocheting in the evenings when the house is quiet. I even sold a few items in my Etsy store!! Okay well I think that about covers my life the last few weeks now on to someone else.
Kurt: my wonderful husband. He is busy, busy, busy. He is still working (we are so very thankful that he has a job) while taking several classes online toward his degree. He seems to have just as much school work as the children some days. He is still searching for a job in South Dakota. His family is there and after visiting in August we decided if he could get a job there we would move. I must say that I am thankful to have one more winter in North Carolina. He has decided not to play baseball this year. He loves it but it is demanding on his time.
C: He is currently playing basketball and preparing for the start of baseball season. He has always had a great love for sports and seems to do well. He was voted as one of the captains by his teammates.

J: He is my assistant in the house. He stays home and takes charge of the house while basketball consumes my time. He is a very responsible young man. He also enjoys his video games.
K: Big news for K is that she is getting baptized tomorrow!! I am so excited for her that she has made this decision. She is growing up so fast. She is still enjoying public school and making new friends.
A: She is really enjoying Kindergarten, although there are some days lately when she asks if she can stay home and home school so she does not have to get up so early. She still loves going to gymnastics once a week. Oh, I almost forgot. She has lost her first two teeth. The two on the bottom. They were ready to come out since the grown up teeth were already half way in behind them.
Well I think that about covers everything that has been happening lately.

K's Birthday Photos

I am really late in getting these posted, but here they are.

Happy Birthday K!!

My little girl is 10!! This has been a busy week. I had one child become a teenager and one is now in the double digits. Goodness. We will celebrate tomorrow. K wanted to have a Build A Bear Party so that is what we will be doing tomorrow evening. Should be fun!!
I have loved watching her grow and when I watch her dance it makes me so happy. She is a blessing. Thank you Lord for allowing me to be her mommy.

Thought Provoking

On the way to A's gymnastics today Katie was being very silly. A said to her, "What are you doing on earth?" K immediately corrected her by saying, "It is what on earth are you doing not what are you doing on earth."

As I thought about this I couldn't help thinking that maybe she got it right. Maybe we all should be wondering what we are doing on this earth. Are we doing anything to make a difference? Will the lives we live make the world a better place for future generations? Are we doing our part?

I pray that when the time comes that I leave this earth that I can positively say my life made a difference.

K's Dance Recital

Oh, what an amazing job Katie did at her recital today. The girls were so beautiful and I so enjoyed watching them.

Since the video I took at dress rehearsal did not look good I could not post it and I didn't take the camera today, so I just took these tonight.

Katie LOVES to twirl!!!

Dress Rehearsal

K did an amazing job!! All the dancers did a great job. It was a joy to watch them. The way they move and all to glorify God. Wonderful!! I can't wait until the actual recital on Sunday.

Bad Day, Good Day

Today did not start out well. At about 6:30 this morning I was awaken to the sound of my dog being sick. I got up, went to the living room and turned on the light to find about seven spots on the carpet that the dog either peed, pooped, or threw up. GROSS! What a way to start the day!!

The day will get better though. K has her dress rehearsal for her dance recital today. The recital is Sunday. I have always loved watching K dance. She took last year off from dancing and before that she took Jazz and Ballet. This year she decided to take Lyrical and I absolutely love watching her. Lyrical is such a beautiful style of dance.

I will post pictures soon. Maybe even a video.

Garfield Attacks

Keep an eye on the bottom left of the video. Poor K. She never saw it coming.

The girls love to make their own videos. Sorry about the lighting, not sure why the beginning is so dark. Just watch that lower left corner. : )

You only get one phone call!

K and A were playing Jail. K used couch cushions with a blanket over them to make the jail. A was being arrested for speeding and had to be put in jail. K then brought down a toy phone and told A she could have one phone call only. Who would you call if you were in jail and only got one call?
From under the blanket we hear A call the pizza man and order one cheese pizza and cheese sticks!!!

Happy Feet

The girls were having such fun today watching Happy Feet that I thought that I would capture some of it on video. They were so cute dancing around and having a good time together. Sorry for the darkness of the video.

Fun Day!!

A really loved this stuffed giraffe that we found at the Grand Opening of a new store we visited today. She wanted to take it home!!


















A is still terrified of large animals, although I was able to get her to sit on the little pony as long as K was right there beside her. The pony was not allowed to move while she was on it. But there was a pony that she did want to ride.
See the photo below.












This is it. The only pony that A would ride. She was very happy on this one. LOL











The girls had great fun getting their faces painted. A was very curious about what Joy the Clown was doing. She asked many questions about the paint and how she was putting it on K's face. She finally agreed to let Joy paint her face.
A met another clown the other night at our church's fall festival. A walked up to the clown (one of the ladies from our church) and stood there studying her. The clown said "hello" to A, and A said "hello" back. The clown asked A if she would shake her hand. A looked at her and said "No, you are a clown!" and walked away. We are all scratching our heads trying to figure out why we are not supposed to shake hands with a clown.

Another trip to the salon.

Yesterday K got her hair cut. When we left the salon it looked really cute the way it was styled. However, as the day wore on it was quite odd looking how they left the back about an inch or more longer than the front. So we decided to go back today and have it fixed.
















Wow!! We like this so much better!! It is now even all the way around. She looks so cute with it short like this.

We also went shopping after the hair cuts yesterday. K found this shirt and had to have it. Well actually she found 4 shirts that she "had to have", but since we were looking for long sleeved shirts and they were all short sleeved she got to pick just one. This is the one she picked. It is a cute shirt and the chocolate brown near the face really compliments her, but my question is, "What do poor little butterflies have to do with being a MAJOR BRAT?"

Another Haircut

Before Picture

After Picture

Today I was going to get my hair trimmed and K decided she wanted a change. She wanted a new look. They cut about 3 inches off. What do you think? I personally loved her hair long, but everytime I look at her I think the new cut is really cute on her.

Praying Mantis

We were surprised to see this praying mantis on our window today. K is studying all kinds of bugs and insects in science right now and has been on the look out for all types of these critters. She was excited to be able to check this one off her list of things to look for this week.

Happy Birthday K!!

I have been so busy lately and I just realized that I did not post any pictures of K's birthday!!! She turned nine in July and I am just now getting to post pictures. I am terrible!!

She had a friend over and we took her and her friend out to dinner. K got to choose the restaurant where she most wanted to eat. Her friend spent the night and they had a great time together.

The innocence of an eight year old.

Many months ago K and I were watching Extreme Home Makeover and they were explaining that the family they were helping did not live in the best neighborhood. They were trying to make things better by creating a youth center where the teens could go and would be safe.
Anyway, they explained that sneakers with the laces tied together and thrown over the power lines signified that there were drugs sold in the area and at the end of the show they cut them down so people would know that they were trying to clean up the neighborhood.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when we were in Florida and driving along Katie says to everyone, "Look Mommy there are shoes up on the power lines, there must be a pharmacy near here."


Ah, to be young and innocent again. LOL

My children/Why Homeschooling?

(Taken when we had A's 4th birthday party. This photo was taken by C.)

(This photo was taken at the boy's soccer tournament. The girls were supposed to be cheering for the boys.)

(For Christmas 2007, C got his own drum set. Here he is playing at church.)

(C really likes to be active in sports and in addition to playing soccer for the home school team he also played basketball.)

(In 2007, C and J both got to play soccer for the home school team: the Crusaders)

(In 2005, J's painting was entered into an Art Competition.)

(J really enjoyed his time at the art competition, especially when he got to make a clay pot.)

(taken in 2005, before K took a class to learn how to knit.)

Well, you may all be asking yourselves, "Why in the world would she home school her children?"
I always rejected the idea right away, always made excuses as to why I would "NEVER" do it. My favorite excuse was, "I don't have the patience for it?" They say "never say never" for a reason.
Just before bringing A home from China in June of 2007, we were asking ourselves what we would do the following year. The children were attending a local Christian School and I was working in the office. My entire paycheck was going back to the school for tuition, sports fees, uniforms, lunches, etc. After looking at many options--none of them being home schooling--it was time to make a decision. I really felt lead one day to look into home schooling. I knew where the feeling was coming from but wanted to reject it. REALLY wanted to reject it. But after some prayer, investigation into curriculum, research about the laws for homeschooling in our state, and more prayer, I began to get excited about the idea.
It's kind of a funny story that when we asked the children about it they were all on board right away and I kept asking them, "Have you prayed about it?" They would say, "Yes! We did and we still want to do it!!" For about two weeks my response to them was, "Well, go pray some more!!" I was still in denial about what God was telling me to do.
After much prayer we made the decision to home school all of the kids. We named our homeschool: Soaring Eagles Academy. We had a little inspiration for choosing this name.

We know that the decision to home school was the right one. Although we have had a few trials and errors this year, we have drawn closer and have had a very good year.
I am currently very excited about getting prepared for next year. Researching curriculum can be very exciting and can give you a major headache all at the same time. In addition to researching curriculum I am also working on a new schedule for our day. I try to be very organized--it just doesn't always show through.
We have also been busy during the year with sports, extra curricular activities and much more.
The boys both played soccer for the home school team. C played basketball for them as well. C is getting ready to start baseball for the Parks and Rec and has taken drum lessons this year. J took an art class that he enjoyed very much. Ever since he was able to go to the Art competition in 4th grade, he has really enjoyed doing different art projects. The boys are also becoming more involved with their youth group at church. K did gymnastics for a few months then decided she would wait until the fall and get back into jazz classes. K also took a knitting class and made a couple of good friends. A is in gymnastics and is very much enjoying it. Needless to say, we do stay very busy and the kids have lots of social time.
I believe it is one of the greatest joys of my life that I am able to home school my children.

"Everything is possible for him who believes." Mark 9:23