Monday, August 25, 2008

Preparation H

...homeschool....you silly nuts!!!

We are now on our way to being prepared for the school year!!!! (best part is that I have a week before we are technically starting! WHOO HOOO!!)

This will be our 3rd year doing the whole home school thing. So far so good...not that there aren't moments that I want to quit and throw my little munchkins in public school jail, but then I breath, remember that I like to "take our time" in the morning and things are back in perspective!

Jamie is in 3rd grade, Corey is in 1st, and Riley technically is still preschool, but we are going to give kindergarten a try! For the first time I really feel like we have a good handle on the year. I have never been a heavy curriculum kind of mom. I like the freedom to study what the boys are interested and then squeeze the rest of the stuff in along side. This year we are starting off with the solar system....after meeting with a seasoned home school mom (thanks Sue!!!!), I now have a pretty good plan to make planets not only science, but throw in history, maybe some math and I have plenty of books and stories on space ships, satellites, and what not. I can even get plenty of spelling and vocab out of this!!!

It all started with a trip to Borders. Can I just tell you that I LOVE Borders' clearance section...I am always finding cheap books when I stop in for coffee. So it all started with a $5 Atlas of the Solar System...it goes through each planet in depth, how they make telescopes..if it has to do with space, it's in there!

So, you may be asking "what will she ever do with all of this time on her hands?"....NOTHING...absolutely nothing!!!!! Big sigh of relief...aaahhhhhh......I'm off to sit and relax with my coffee!

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Red Scarf Project

The Red Scarf Project sends handmade scarves on Valentine's Day to college students who have aged out of Foster Care. This is really a simple project that has a ton of impact on youth who are without families. Please visit The Orphan foundation of America website for more info on how you can help! There are free patterns and more info on the specific sizes of the scarves. If you are a non-crafter, you can donate to the fund to help pay for shipping of these packages! Last year over 15,000 scarves were delivered!!! How awesome is that?!?! Way to go fiber community!

Anyone in the area: I'm thinking of meeting at 9 East 1st and 3rd Sat to hang out and whip up some scarves!!!!! Leave a comment and I'll give you more info on times and such :)

This year the Orphan Foundation is accepting the scarves from Sept.1- Oct. 31.


Orphan Foundation of America
The Red Scarf Project
21351 Gentry Drive
Sterling, VA 20166

Friday, August 15, 2008

Be Still

The last few days have been pretty stressful. The money crunch since Jim has been off of work is now becoming more then evident. I am the cheerleader. I am the one that tells Jim not to worry because God is in control and everything will be alright.....but yesterday I just wasn't feeling it. I was upstairs trying to squeeze in some quiet time. (in between laundry, breaking up arguments between the boys, and wiping Riley's runny nose constantly!) I came across Isaiah 63 and I was just undone.

Isaiah 63: 7-9

I will tell of the kindnesses of the Lord,
the deeds for which he is to be praised,
according to all the Lord has done for us~
yes, the many good things he has done
for the house of Israel,
according to his compassion and many kindnesses.

He said, "Surely, they are my people,
sons who will not be false to me";
and he became their Savior.

In all their distress, he too was distressed,
and the angel of his presence saved them.
In his love and mercy he redeemed them;
he lifted them up and carried them
all the days of old.

Through my tears, I thought: I am distressed, where are You and the angel of your presence? When will You lift us up and carry us? When will we be redeemed? Satan had found the crack from my time bomb the day before and he just went to town. I was a wreck......

...But then God in his ultimate mercy patiently showed his faltering child (again) that he is Lord. I was running late to meet Amber for coffee and pie (yummm). When I turned onto the highway, I had to pull over. There were dark clouds in the east, but there was the most magnificent rainbow I have ever seen. I wish that my little camera could have done it justice. God has perfect timing (me running late and having sucha bad day) to put his reminder to us down here that he does keep his promises. Just about that same time I became aware of the song on the radio:

Be Still and Know I'm Here.....yes, yes you are Lord!

The song is now in my playlist if you'd like to hear it!

Have a great weekend and know that He is here! (by the way my new header is the picture I took of that rainbow....so that I'll have a constant reminder of God's faithfulness!)

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Tick..Tick..Tick..

BOOM!!!!

When we were kids, my grandma had this game where you had to put all of the little plastic pieces on a board and flip the switch before the timer ran out or else all the bright yellow shapes were flung into the air and you'd have to start all over. Today has been one of those days....I definitely didn't make the buzzer:

I was woken up to Jamie informing me that he couldn't find the package of hot dogs that they had taken up to their rooms....What?!? ARGHHHH~Don't ask why it was up there...found the package, but not before our Rot ate all the hot dogs! (anyone want a seriously gassy 120lb dog that sheds like a maniac..just kidding..maybe...no I'm really kidding..or am I...the fumes are about to kill me!!!)


Since Monday, my phone has been acting crazy: I have no signal and am roaming when I'm at our house, unless I am upstairs in our bedroom by the window. Tried to get the problem fixed today, but after 20 min on hold they were unable to explain why...ARGGGGHHH....so glad that I just paid them $216!!!!!!


Then I went to deposit Jim's check...only he forgot take it out of his wallet and took it to work with him....ARRGGGGHHH!!!


I am going into the big metropolis to see if the cell phone store can figure out our signal problems and then I am going to sit down with a nice big latte (really want something stronger but it's only 10:30!!!).


Here are a couple of things that have made me happy this week:


A star blanket for a friend's baby




and Annie Oakley and her horse for my grandma W




Wednesday, August 6, 2008

FO's

Here's a couple of the projects that I've finished this last week:

Spiderman 3 blanket for J

and then my newest ami: Batgirl


Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get my pictures off of flickr to look better? They always seem so grainy if I paste the url from flickr...they look just fine if I upload them from my computer and they look just fine on flickr....just a mystery I guess

Monday, August 4, 2008

Tooth Loose

(sorry for some reason I have Foot loose in my head....now it's your turn!!!)

Corey has been battling the dreaded loose tooth for the past couple of days. He HATES loosing teeth...it's not like we're pulling out his finger nails or something! Anyway, here's a few pictures of the festivities:

Grandpa help me!!!!

Grandpa chickened out, Corey obviously miffed that he still has this tooth!

Finally I was able to coax it out of him! (now he wants his $$)

(ignore the mountain of laundry needing to be folded in the background...I know I've been trying my hardest to do the same!!!!)

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Declaration


Today Jamie was baptized! Earlier this month he came to us asking if he could be baptized. He accepted Christ last year, but we didn't push the whole baptism thing, figuring in his own time he would want to do it. So, today he was baptized along with his friends Lizzy and Ben...and about 100 other people...including Uncle Duane!
I love the rays of light in the top picture! Crystal had something similar in one of her wedding photos and a friend told her that some people believe that those are angels...not sure how I feel about the photogenicness of angels, but it's kind of a cool thought!
Here is Jim and Pastor Ron baptizing Jamie. Jim was such a proud papa that he swooped J up and threw him into the air, giving him the biggest hug I have ever seen!


Each year our church has a B3 party (beach, bbq, and baptism). It is a very big celebration~we believe that water baptism is a public expression, declaring that Jesus is your Savior, symbolizing that you have been washed clean (out with the old creation, in with the new). We have a total party, eating food, hanging out, singing praise songs, kids playing games. We are so lucky to be part of a church community like Crossroads!