Beginning to add some info to the website.

Well after talking with Dh, I have decided to add some stuff to the blog. I will begin adding some recipes that I use often and I will hopefully be able to update often on the kids diet. It will take me a while but hopefully progress will be made! Ok, as for pianomagic, it is coming along slowly. My biggest problem is that I don't know enough simple songs to get up a list before I move on to the next lessons. At least I have a year! :) Today is Easter and I surely hope it isn't going to be stressful. All Jason's immediate family are coming over and I am hoping that things go well and the kids are good. I am staying home with Alex while everyone else goes to church. The kids will all have to stay in the sanctuary with the Adults so I am wondering how the relatives will react. I don't know if they realize that they will not be able to "enjoy" the Easter sermon like they usually do. We will see. Jason is so excited about today but I am a little sad. I love his family but we hardly ever spend any holiday with my family. I miss them. I don't miss the drama that goes with it but I do love every one of them with an unconditional, deep love. I wish we were closer so that it wasn't "asking to much" to come and visit. This is the downside to having a large family- noone realizes how difficult it is to drive in the car for 2-3 hours with little ones. They think the only reason I don't come up there is because it will "ruin" my schedule! How I wish they would come down and visit and "ruin" my schedule! Anyway, I found a great blog that illustrates how to make a wrap skirt! I am so excited! I can't wait to try it. Unfortunately, I don't have enough fabric right now. Oh well. Maybe I should practice on some old sheets. We take this week off from school so maybe I will have some time. I want to make Kaitlyn a skirt as well. Charlotte keeps asking me to teach her piano. I am so reluctant. Kaitlyn has basically tought herself through some piano books how to play some songs(very easy ones). Charlotte is not like Kaitlyn. She needs guidance. I just don't know if she can handle the frustration. I don't want to put a bad taste in her mouth for piano. Plus, I hate the way we traditionaly learn how to play. It gives us the premisconception that this is the ONLY way to play. I wish I could instill confidence in their ability to hear and pick out a tune. I wish someone had done that with me. You know, tought me how to play by ear and to trust myself. I have the pianos downstairs now and it has been great. I play alot more and Kaitlyn loves to play as well. Update on their reading: Kaitlyn is devouring books! She reads about a book a day. These are 80-100 pages each ranging from 2nd to 6th grade levels depending on the book. She can recall all details as well. Amazes me!!! Where did this child come from? She is technically only in the 2nd grade. We went to the library the other day and I told the librarian that I was looking for books for Charlotte. She is in the "middle" right now, meaning some books are too easy, some are too hard, but none seem to fit. She is in Kindergarten. The lady took me over to the Dr Suess books!!!! I just laughed and said, oh no, those are way too easy! She looked at me, astounded, and said, "Oh wow, that's great!" So she gave me some harder books(we had to go over to the OTHER side of the kids section!). Can you believe that?? My kindergartener suprised the librarian with how well she reads. I am so proud of them. They don't realize how smart they are though. They don't have the chance to compare themselves with others(which I am glad of) so they just expect more out of themselves. It is so neat to see them growing into these intelligent little girls. I do fear however, that they will surpass me early on. Especially Kaitlyn, because she is ALWAYS learning something. She has Jason in her. She doesn't need very much guidance, she can read and learn how to knit or crochet by herself! How to play the piano, etc.. She has an understanding of God that I don't see in most kids either. Charlotte is my imaginative one. If she can ever get enough discipline, she will go far. She is like me though, she has to have a motivation for it, and a reward! LOL If the goal is not met within a short timeframe, I will drop it. So will she. Ok, that's enough for now.

Piano Magic

Well, I will not update because it just takes to long;) If people want updates-email me. I want to start talking about my experience as I go through a new course. It's called Piano Magic by Michael Anderson. It's a course that teaches you how to play by ear. I have had over 10 years of lessons in formal piano and I am just NOT happy!! I have always wanted to play beautiful like my step Mom. It comes naturally to her-NOT to me. I started a couple of days ago. Now, let me just say that I have NEVER picked out a song on the piano and played it with 2 hands. I have never even picked out a song in it's entirety with one hand so this is a major thing for me to try to undertake. Well, yesterday I started picking out some songs and guess what-I played with both hands!! The songs weren't hard-in the key of c. I messed up many times trying to find the notes but I was so happy. I have played some really difficult songs in the past and I was more proud yesterday than I have ever been! The left hand only plays the three major chords from c and you are only supposed to pick out the melody at this point so the sound was very amateur but I was so happy! I am excited about what else I am going to learn. Right now I have to continue practicing the songs I have before I move on but it is more than I have ever done so I am proud!

I wanted to upload some photos from our little gingerbread house party. The first is ours and the second one is made by the other family that came. We had a blast. Maybe next year I will attempt making my own from scratch but this year was a no go for that!

Some pics of Summer and Alex as well as the tree in front of our house. It just looked like was CG or something.

Here is my latest basket

And here is some of our Christmas pics.

Picture updates! Here is Jason and Toby when I cut their hair the other day. Too funny

We had a good day yesterday. We went to the bookstore, Target, and Joanne's. I got some more fabric-Yeah!! We decided that we will go to the Mil's for Christmas but we are going to celebrate ours here before we leave. That way, we can still make it special. I wish we were closer so that we wouldn't be put in these situations. Everyone gets their feelings hurt no matter what decision we make. I don't understand why they just can't make their own decisions and THEN if someone wants to be including, great. Why does their christmas have to revolve around everyone else. I get that its family time but when you have a large extended family, people have to take that into consideration. Today I will likely finish another basket, wrap presents, and clean. We also need to cook for the week. So, today will be filled with necessary duties. Hopefully we will still have a good time though!

I haven't been posting as uch because I have been trying to go to bed later and wake up later. Jason is usually on the computer at night so I haven't had a chance. Well, Thanksgiving went fine. We stayed home because Toby came down with a cold. Unfortunately, this will effect our plans for tomorrow. We won't be able to have church. It's so frustrating but I guess 'tis the season, huh. The vacation time that Jason has taken off has been nice. We were able to talk about a lot of things. Today we will probably go to the new bookstore. I will also work on my baskets. I have another project I want to start after this that I am excited about. A friend of mine showed me how to let Kaitlyn begin her own quilt so I am letting her do that and she uses the scrap material from my baskets. It works really well! Gotta go, hopefully today will be fun and relaxing!

Here's Alex this morning.

This weekend was great! We had a blast Saturday and Sunday. Saturday we went to the bookstore, fabric store, and out to eat. Sunday we had church here and then went to hang out at the farmers market and walmart. We had such a good church service here. It's so nice to be able to talk about what you read instead of listening and believing everything you here from one person! Oh, I also finished my sewing project. It didn't turn out exactly as I would have liked so I will be making some changes next time. Here is a pic.


This was right after breakfast and I didn't wipe the table down so excuse the crumbs :) Here are a few pics of summer saying cheese.

Yesterday was not a great day but I did get a couple of things done. I experimented with the soap, turned out smelling and looking ok but now I need molds for it. I was thinking of making the molds out of polymer clay. It may be too time consuming though. I also started sewing my basket that I would love to turn into a christmas gift. Unfortunately I have some learning curves to overcome so it isn't going as fast as I would like. What is a row in terms of quilting?? I have no clue so I am headed to the internet to find out today. Oh, as for the biscottis, I made them but they turned out more like a cookie so I am going to try a different recipe next time. On Tuesday we had a family come over during the day and we had a great time. I really enjoyed talking to this Mom. She believes in many of the things I do so it was nice. We were supposed to sew but I kind of messed things up by not having everything together so we decided to just chat. Today we are going to park day with some other homeschoolers. We always enjoy ourselves there. I am so glad it's Friday(how many times have I said that!). I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week! Before you know it I am going to be 27, and have a 7 and 6 year old!! Birthdays are coming quickly...

Here are some cute recent pics.

Sunday was great. We went to the bookstore early(9:30) and stayed until almost lunchtime! I can't wait till the new Booksamillion opens up down the road, then it won't be such a drive. We went to Michaels as well. I bought some stuff to make soap with(yes the easy way!. I really want to make it from scratch but I am starting simple. I just bought the base, coloring, and scent. You basically heat the base in the microwave and then add everything you want to it and pour it in the mold. If this works out I might try to make some all natural things and then give some as christmas presents. I am also planning on making biscottis for everyone. I am going to start today. I am thinking about taking pictures along the way(just for you Susan!) Jason is off work today so I don't know what the "schedule" will look like. I am still doing school with the kids though. I want the time off for the holidays! I have been thinking about changing some things with the curriculum. I feel like they would read more if they were able to pick from a group of books. So, I am still going to do the core Sonlight curriculum but I am going to let them choose what LA(language arts) books they would like. We will likely do one week, they choose, the next week, I choose from the leftover sonlight la books. I was going to upload some pictures but my camera is out of batteries so I will have to wait till they charge up!

I had so much fun yesterday at the garage sale with my friend! Her husband was so kind and he took some of the kids so that we could go and look around. The kids got to play with her kids and they really enjoyed themselves. Later we went to a park. We had such a good time hat I wished we had brought our dinner as well! I have some pictures that I will upload later. Today we were going to have church with another family but one of the boys came down with something. We were dissapointed because we were really looking forward to it but as we know all too well, you never know whats going to happen from week to week!! We will probably still have a service with the kids though. Tomorrow Jason is supposed to have the day off so I am looking forward to that! I don't know what we are going to do but I am sure it will be fun!

Well, Wednesday didn't go as well as the rest of the days this week but I can surely say that overall, this week was great. Today is park day and I am looking forward to it. The weather is supposed to be great and hopefully the company will be too! I am in the process of making bread right now to take with us for a snack. I just can't bring myself to give the kids junk. That would set the weekend up to be a nightmare. On a positive note, we are studying Ephesians for church. It was really nice to talk to Jason this morning about it. We don't usually talk that much about history in the Bible. Usually it is about our beliefs and what backs up those beliefs. He is so smart. I honestly don't know how he remembers everything he reads. At times, I think he has a photographic memory but I know he doesn't. :) I am so blessed to have a husband that seeks after God. I can't tell you how excited I am about studying with him. We haven't done this since we dated!

I had a really good time last night at mothers night out. My only regret is that I wish I could stay later. It's always nice to come home too though. I got in the bed late last night despite my efforts to leave MNO to get to bed. I had drank some Earl Grey tea at MNO and that kept me up. I didn't even think about it at the time. So today I am suffering from it. The kids are tired today as well. I think I am going to make everyone go down for a nap. I don't know why I can't bring myself to nap. I feel like I am going to miss something if I go to sleep.

What a great week. I think the difference is our attitudes. I am trying to CHOOSE to be positive for Jason and in the process, I am actually FEELING positive. Initially I was trying to be a better wife. When he calls home for lunch sometimes, maybe more than sometimes, I act/feel tired or stressed. In fact, looking back, I acted more stressed out than I think I was. Wierd huh. At any rate, I decided to be more positive on the phone and when he is home. It has really made a huge difference. Last weekend I really tried hard especially. Sunday he said, you know, for the first time in a long time, I feel rejuvenated and ready for the week. Things are finally starting to get better. The funny thing is, is that nothing really changed. We are still where we were a week ago. The only difference was our attitudes. Amazing. I really encourage everyone to give it a try, even for a couple of days. I desire to be a Proverbs 31 woman and I think having a positive attitude and being a supportive wife are characteristics of that woman. There was one other thing that we did Sunday that may have helped rejuvenate us. We had church at home with another family. We really enjoyed it. I am looking forward to next Sunday!

Toby's B-day Pics

Yesterday was a blast. We didn't do much but it was very relaxing and rejuvenating. Mom, Grandma and JD came over and we had a good time. I made pizza and pockets for everyone and they turned out to be a hit so I was happy. Last night I put together some tuna salad and I am going to put that in Azumaya wraps for today. I think I might make some with cheese and ham. Yesterday I learned somehting quite funny. My Grandma and Great Grandma used to have chickens and when they wanted to kill them they would pick them up by the neck and "ring" it. It would break the chickens neck. I guess that's where we get the pharase "I'm going to ring your neck!" I do remember seeing them cut the chickens heads off and hang them on the clothesline. All the kids would just dance around them like no big deal. My Papa used to raise chickens just for pets! My Mom had a rooster for a pet too. How wierd is that. Maybe that's why I have such a strong desire to have a small farm. It must be in my blood! I do remember that Papa and Aunt Peggy both had gardens. I used to want to help but they wouldn't let the kids mess around with it. Well, I need to get off of here so that I can get ready.