Home improvements

Over the past dozen years, it has been on our desire to move out to a home in the country, to give the kids more breathing room, more running space, and just have a more open area. We lived on 2 acres when our 2 kids were little and always desired to go back to it. Well, fast forward many more years and many more kiddos, and it has not become a reality. It was something that used to bother me, wondering just why it had not happened, but I have come to realize that there is a very good reason why it has NOT happened, and maybe never will. At this point, the Lord just does not want for us to be in another house. Maybe it will happen in the future, maybe not, but for now we are staying put. To help make our house more liveable, we will gradually be doing some home improvements-nothing major, but significant enough for us. The first one was to replace our worn out carpet. It was only 3 years old, but after being trampled on by so many little feet, it was looking pretty yucky. Our decision on which carpet to choose pretty much came down to the $$ amount and the color. Yes, after 10 kiddos, we realized that light carpet looks nice, but really does not hold up to the abuse we put it through. We needed dirt colored carpet-seriously! We shopped around for a good couple of months, and after haggling the carpet store down, we found what we wanted. This past week, the installers came and put it in-a two day job-and we could not be happier. Here's a look....
eSee what I mean..dirt colored! Now if only I had the dirt colored tile to go with it-we wouldn't have to mop nearly as much! Well, this is a gradual process, so one project down, several more to go!

New blog

My 11 year old daughter just started her own blog...you can visit it here and take a look!

This week's happenings!

So what's been happening with us lately? Well, my 12 yo son had his court of honor for Boyscouts this week and received his next rank of second class. He worked very hard toward the requirements (especially the swimming part) and truly deserved it! He is looking forward to working toward his next rank. Congrats sweetie!

My 8 yo daughter just started her violin lessons a couple weeks ago and is loving it. She had been asking me for quite some time to start, so I'm glad it has become a reality. Her teacher is wonderful and so patient and I am glad she is able to express her creativitiy in this way.

In case you're wondering about her artistic side, she is my only one that has this God-given bent for art in any form, whether it be singing, drawing, instruments, whatever! It's truly something she loves to do. Here is her wall in her room....just a sampling of the many pictures she has drawn! Like an art gallery!

Haircut sisters!

Today was a field trip for the 4 oldest girls to the haircut shop-everyone was long overdue for a trim, which was evident by the bangs hanging in their eyes. They were thrilled to tell the hairdresser what they wanted and walk out looking like gorgeous girls! Oh..and if you're wondering why daughter #5 didn't get hers cut..well, I've kind of given up on her 'do, as she cuts it so often herself!

Happy Pie Day!

My kiddos and I got this great calendar in the mail a while back from Oriental Trading Company. It's a 12 month calendar and includes all the holidays on it...and I mean ALL the holidays-ones that I'd never heard of! For example, this past week was National Popcorn Day (yes, we did partake) and National Hugging Day on Friday (fun!) The kids and I are trying to participate in as many of the holidays as we can-just for fun, really. Some of them are kind of off the wall-we've got opposite day coming up-should be interesting. Some are food related-the best kind, in my book. Today just happens to be National Pie Day. So in honor of the holiday, I baked a yummy apple pie yesterday to have for dessert after dinner, along with some chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream (double yum!) Let's just say the kids loved it and wished it could be Pie Day everyday!

You can tell from the pictures, they more or less inhaled it! Enjoy your pie day-go have a slice with some ice cream and thank the Lord for small indulgences! :-)

Long time, no posts?!

I took a little break from the blogosphere these past couple weeks. The reason? It seems like someone put life on fast forward...and it just has not stopped! My oldest son started college this week, so we spent many hours at the college testing, enrolling, and getting everything ready. At the same time, he's been preparing to enlist in the military-all of these decisions coming within a week of Christmas! On top of that, we've been consumed with homeschooling-doing plenty of backtracking in our lessons for those who seemed to "forget" how to do their math problems, trying to organize my home better (one of my resolutions), keeping up with outside activities, having sick kiddos, and well..just dealing with life! Whew! I do have my eyes set on spring lately...looking forward to the warmer weather and being able to spend some time outside, soaking up the sunshine! Ahhhh...it relaxes me just to think about it! To be honest with you, these past few weeks, I've taken hardly any pictures of my crew-it just did not come to my mind most of the time. But when i turned on my camera to look at the pictures, I saw lots that my kiddos had taken for me! We have a couple new members in the family, which have kept my girls quite busy. If you're wondering about them, here's a peek...(this is just a sampling of their photo session)

Oh yes, the American Girl dolls, along with all the accessories. Apparently they require a lot of maintenance-clothes and shoe changes, hair dressing, horse rides, and tucking in at nite. :-) Along with the dolls, there's just been a whole lot of hanging out...and goofiness, too!

And let's not forget little dude...I love this one of him in the cool sunglasses! It's moments like this I treasure...he's happy...and not destroying something or getting into trouble, which seems to be his norm lately. Yes, he does make me realize how old I'm getting just trying to keep up with his antics, but also just how blessed I am, too!

So there you have it...not much exciting, which is unusual around here. I will try better to arm myself with my camera-and take time to post more. For now, I'm going to go enjoy a relaxing Saturday morning with my kiddos!

Goodbye 2010...Hello 2011!

Ahhhhh...the end of another year and the start of a new one. The past few days have meant goodbye to Christmas and gearing up for starting back to school. After 2 weeks off, I'm feeling a bit.....lazy. I think I fully took advantage of the time off to be a vegetable. In all fairness, I did get some projects done that I planned too-about half, actually. I guess the other half will have to wait until summer. :-) New years are full of new hopes and dreams, resolutions, and goals. Though goals and resolutions are good, I've learned over the years that it's easy to hold onto them too tightly. When we aren't able to reach our goals because of circumstances God has brought our way, are we okay with that-or do we put our ways ahead of the Lord? Sadly, I've done the latter far too often. Whether the Lord allows illness, financial hardships, or personal turmoil in our lives, He will always bring good from it, even when our tendency is to try and steer things back in the "right" direction (ours). Maybe God is humbling me or just trying to impart a small amount of wisdom in my life-but 2010 has brought many difficulties-none of which I expected or planned for. As I begin the new year, I can look back on some and see the blessings He brought through it. Others, not yet, but it may just take more time for them to bear fruit. God is faithful-He has seen me through the trials and will bring good from it-I trust that. Whether 2011 brings a multitude of trials or heapings of blessings, I know I can trust in the Lord through it all...and that, my friends, is better than any new year's resolution!