Friday Fifteen!

Yes, I'm still here!

So, here's a list to get you all caught up (since I've had so many comments wondering where I am...oh wait, no I haven't - but here it is anyway!)

1 - Gorgeous, 70+ degree temperatures have prompted school to be held outside.  Achievement testing at the beginning of the week prompted "Spring Break!"

2 - My kids are growing up so fast.  Our oldest will be TEN in 3 months and is growing up right before our eyes.  Our daughter's piano ability and reading skills have taken off like a bullet and our youngest has started to read.

3 - The Foo.d Net.work show, "Sweet Genui.s" drives me sweetly insane.  There is only one judge.  How can these contestants be okay with that?  And that judge drives me bonkers!  And yet, here I sit watching it!

4 - Our dog, Riley, will be 14 in May.  He's no longer able to go up the steps by himself and he's not putting much weight on his back right leg anymore.  It makes me sad.  But, at 98, I'd have a hard time doing steps, too!

5 - Will be joining my hubby on a business trip soon!

6 - This weekend is St Patty's Day.  I'm debating making an Irish Stew or serving homemade pizza with spinach.  Knowing no one, except me, likes spinach on their pizza, I'll probably go with the stew!

7 - Wow, can you believe I finally posted this month?

8 - Come on, leave a comment, you know you want to!

9 - We thought our desktop computer crashed this week, but after saying a prayer, it turned back on.  Thank you, Jesus.  I will be spending the majority of tomorrow transferring files to an external hard drive in the event it decides to commit cyber suicide.

10 - An ad for "So Slimming Jeans" should not feature a size 2 (or below) model...just sayin'.

11 - Wow, 11.  Aren't you glad I posted!?!

12 - Books I'm reading: -Marc Gungor's "Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage" (we were fortunate to attend an event and I love his humor!)  - Richard Stearns' "The Hole in the Gospel" (a great read!) and -David Platt's "Radical" (another challenging read, similar to The Hole...")  What are you reading?

13 - I've done laundry every day this week, simply to hang it out on the wash line.  Clothes, sheets, blankets - soon I'll be emptying out drawers just to hang out laundry! ;)

14 - 10 years ago, I was finishing up my final year teaching Physical Education in an inner city elementary school, pregnant with our first child.  Never did I expect to be homeschooling a 4th grader, 1st grader and PreK student 10 years later!

15 - Have a great weekend!  Until next time...April, maybe! ;-D

What's better than chocolate?

Valentine's Day Jammie Pants! :)

Happy Birthday Bubba!

Yesterday was C's 5th birthday.  What a boy!  This child is not influenced by anyone and beats to his own drum.  He has a witty sense of humor.  I wouldn't say he's strong willed, but he just won't do what he doesn't want to do!  He is a snuggler, which we love!

Here are some pictures from his party Tuesday night (the night before his birthday).  Our tradition is to have each of our parents over for cake and ice cream.  But before they came, we had his Birthday dinner of homemade Macaroni & Cheese with ham and a side of pears.

Happy 5th Birthday C!

Anticipation & an anniversary celebration!

In February 2010, we booked a trip for our family of five to take.  And then we waited.

We waited 500+ days for the day we'd leave on our trip.

11-11-11

Finally, after much anticipation, excitement and planning, we left on 11-11-11 to drive to Baltimore and catch a flight to Orlando.  We stayed in Orlando the first night and upon waking up the next morning, we'd head to Port Canaveral to board the Disney Magic (the sister ship of the Disney Wonder, which we were on in November of 2009).

Some people thought we were crazy to celebrate our 15th anniversary by taking a trip with our kids.  But since we were the ones taking the trip, we really didn't care what anyone else thought! ;-P

It was a truly magical time of adventures and fun!  We cruised to Castaway Cay twice (Disney's private island) and also had stops at Grand Cayman and Cozumel, Mexico.

Despite already being in Florida and having a much shorter trip on Saturday morning - we still look like weary travelers! ;-D

And, excuse me, but when did my 9 year old get so tall?  He's almost to my shoulder!  I cannot even remember the number of people that asked if our youngest were twins!

I'll share some more pictures as I get them organized and off my camera.  But note, the smile on C's face will be a theme for the week.  He kept choosing to smile with his mouth closed and looking at it makes me smile with my mouth open (with an added giggle)!

FINALLY!

She's been waiting for quite some time.  Wiggling.  Wiggling.  Wiggling.

At Q's soccer game last weekend, she was playing with the coach's daughter - who someone kicked her leg up and her shoe caught E's mouth...and Voilà!

Next month is her 7th birthday, and she was beyond thrilled to lose her first tooth before that special day!

Thursday Thoughts...

It is a beautiful, sunshine filled day outside, but we'll be spending most of our day inside.

We've got an order for snuggling on the couch served up with a side of fever and sore throat!

Trick or Treat!

While I despise Hal.loween, Trick or Treating has become something our little development does well. I enjoy being able to let the kids dress up in silly, harmless costumes (no gore or scare factor allowed in this house) and travel with them as we visit the neighbors.  T and I both enjoy walking with the kids, so we let a basket of candy on the porch!  After visiting a few houses, we load up the kids and head to the grands!

Riley did not trick or treat with us, but he would have been hurt had we not included him in the dress up! ;-) Actually, I put the antlers on him as a possible companion to Q's costume!

We try to be "A light in a dark world" and let our neighbors know we care about them. Tucked into the candy bags was a paper with a message "We thank God for our blessings every day, and today, we thanked Him for you." This year, we included John 3:16-18 from The Message at Q's request.  

Now, on to the costumes. E wanted to be a baker this year!  I'm so excited about her costume and what it means to me.  I already had the patterns for a chef's hat, apron and oven mitt and I just had to look online for felt cookie inspiration!

As I was sewing the chef's hat this past Friday, it dawned on me how special this costume was.  My daughter was next to me as I made it, just like she's beside me most times when I'm cooking.  My mom instilled in me a love for cooking and sewing.  And my mom inherited her love of sewing and cooking from her mom, my grandma, who we just laid to rest yesterday.  I related my feelings to E as I made the hat, "You know, E. Your great grandma was a very talented seamstress and a chef in a restaurant.  That makes your costume very, very special to me!"  And she couldn't have been more proud to carry her freshly baked "felt" cookies around the neighborhood!  I hope that she develops her love of cooking and sewing and that it will be something we can do together for many years.

C, my baby, is my wild card!  He choose an Indian costume, that Q wore a few years ago.  I'm not sure why he is making a fist like he wanted to punch me, but like I said...wild card! ;-D  He takes his 'job' quite seriously!

Q, my oldest, and truly the one that takes everything the most serious, wanted to follow in his daddy's footsteps and be an archery hunter (hence Riley with the antlers!)  He didn't want to smile for me either, he wanted the tough guy look, but I broke him!

And here they are, the Hunters & the Gatherers!  No, C isn't yawning, he's being an Indian!

How do you like that snow on the ground?  Pretty sure this is the first we've had snow when Trick Or Treating!

On the Sidelines!

He's not playing soccer yet, like his siblings, but he's cheering on the sidelines and drinking his share of gatorade!

Playing with fire!

Sunday evening was a beautiful evening for a campfire and roasting marshmallows as well as snapping pictures and drawing with flaming sticks!  Elle's heart makes me smile!

Cape May, NJ

While at the beach last month, we visited the Cape May lighthouse for the first time.  The kids enjoyed being able to compare it to the Currituck lighthouse we climbed in NC last summer. 

Legos!

About 2 months ago, they started building their Lego creations to enter into our town's Farm Show. 

It's Farm Show week and today we are headed in to see their creations on display.  To say they are excited is an understatement.

Flying high!

While vacationing at the beach the other week, we purchased a new kite.

"A face without freckles is like a sky without the stars"

How does your garden grow?

I snapped this picture a few weeks ago, trying to capture the hawk in the middle-right section of the tree, but my lens wasn't quite powerful enough to snap the picture I wanted.  Little did I know I'd be using this photo as a reference shot, after Irene stormed through.

The entire tree is dead and sticks up above the others.  Enter Irene - with upwards of 50 mph winds, and there's going to be some natural pruning taking place.

So, yesterday, I snapped this picture of the same tree, minus the hawk and half the upper part of the tree.

And then I inspected the fallen branch a little more closely...sigh...

So, how does your garden grow?  Mine isn't growing so well right now.

Schooltime!

We are into our 2nd week of school so I thought I'd share about our school year.  Quintin is in 4th grade, Elle is in 1st grade and Colin is in pre-k.

We are again using My Father's World curriculum and are beginning our first year in their 5 year plan.  Last year we did Adventures in My Father's World and this year it will be Exploring Countries and Cultures.  Hosting Artem this summer gave us a taste of the Ukrainian culture and country - so the kids are ready for more!

 HANDS ACROSS THE WORLD!

Stretching fabric over a frame - hedgehog applique

I am in love with the applique blocks at Wee Folk Art.  As soon as I saw the little hedgehog pattern, I knew I had to make it for Elle.  Before I could even start it though, I had to figure out how I was going to display it.  I had first thought I'd make a pillow, but I really wanted it to hang on her wall.  To hang it, I didn't want the expense of framing it.  I started researching stretching fabric over a frame.  Most websites I found used a canvas art board, with a 1" or 1.5" side.  I had found one website that mentioned stretcher bars.

When I got to the craft store, I found the stretcher bars, for the size I needed, were considerably cheaper than the canvas art boards.  The thing I like about these stretcher bars (see below) are you buy 4 sides so it can be whatever size you need.  I wanted my final project to be square, so I bought four 9" bars. 

Their notches and grooves made it easy to connect them.  I only needed the outside corners to be square - the inside corners didn't join perfectly, but it didn't matter because the fabric would cover them.

The hedgehog was easy and quick to stitch up - and lots of fun!  Elle loved observing my progress.  After I finished the 6x6" piece, I used a blanket stitch to stitch the applique onto a purple gingham.  I used a felt sheet (9x12) to back the fabric.

Using my dad's staple gun, I attached the fabric to the stretcher bars.  There are plenty of websites to show you how to attach it at the corners (I didn't take pictures of that).

And here's the final project (from Friday's post).

And, here it is displayed in her room.