Happy Birthday Jakey!!

Can't believe my Baby Jakey is 7 today!!

Another New Year...

Time is sure flying by...I can't believe it is 2012...I heard a song on the radio last night on the way to the gym and the singer was remarking about when he was a kid he had to get a ride to the local mall to play Pac Man and now he can play games in his living room and on his phone!! This is an amazing and crazy time to be living and raising a family...so much technology - its a blessing and a curse all at the same time!! Anyway...wanting to start up my blog again so I thought I'd just jump right in...

Walk Like an Egyptian...

That song is going through my head today...Becky & I are sewing egyptian costumes for this Sunday's Musical...we're almost done. It's so nice to have a daughter who knows how to sew!! She is a real blessing to me in so many ways...

'Tis the Season...

for bronchitis, that is!

That's what the doctor said when I went in yesterday bc I was having trouble breathing...so I am on a course of antibiotics, an inhaler and prescription cough medicine. The doc also told me to get as much rest as possible. Nice...easier said than done for a homeschooling mother of four!

But I must say how cute were my children this morning...they made me stay in bed and took turns bringing me cereal, fruit, coffee, juice and lemon water! I must say that as hard as it is for me to stay in bed and rest, (being the extreme multi-tasker that I am) they made it much more enjoyable. (but I did order some Christmas presents online while I was resting!)

A King is Coming to Town

Can't believe that our church's Christmas Musical, A King is Coming to Town, is a little over one week away!

Danny & I are in charge of it this year...it has been such a blessing to work with these wonderful children these last few months...I know that they are going to really rock the house!!

Confession...It's Been Almost 4 Yrs Since My Last Post!

Well...time sure has a way of flying by when your having fun! The kids have grown so much over these past four years...Baby Anna is now a little 4 year old "teenager" ~ Jake is in kindergarten and learning how to read ~ Matthew is in 4th grade and becoming quite a young man ~ and Rebecca is 12 year old young lady who enjoys reading, crafting and playing her mandolin! Now that the kids are a little older and I am trying to make more time for myself...I have decided to get back to blogging...so stay tuned!

Thanks Wendy!

Just wanted to put up a quick post to say thanks to my SIL Wendy for giving us this... It's called a Bumbo. How cute does she look sitting in this thing?

Happy New Year

Wow! My first post of 2007 (I am so lame!)

We have been busy around here lately. This week we are preparing for Anna's Dedication at church coming up this Sunday. We are having family come back to the house after church to have lunch and celebrate. We will also be celebrating Jake's 2nd Birthday with the family that day as well. (We'll have his "friends" party on the 25th) I can't wait ~ We'll have so much fun (at both celebrations)!

I have been making all of our doctor and dentist visits coming up in the near future and my giant blank calendar is quickly filling up. I love my new calendar every year and filling it in...as I do that I reflect on things from the prior year (ie, filling in kids birthdays for the new year and remembering their parties and themes from the last year!) It always makes me smile. I also like looking forward to the year ahead...to me it's kind of like being at the top of the roller coaster before the first big drop...anticipating with excitment what's to come!

Well, I hope and pray that you all had a very Happy New Year and I look forward to a great 2007!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone! Hope you all have a wonderful day with friends and family and fun!

(The kids woke us up at 6:30am!! I am ready for a nap already!!!)

Six Weeks Already!

I can't belive that Anna has been in our lives for six weeks already! She is a great blessing to all of us! She is a very easy-going baby and is a great sleeper! She has been sleeping through the night for the last week...Yay!!
Becky wanted me to post this picture also because she has the little bow in her hair! How cute! Anna is also giving us little smiles and making adorable cooing sounds! She is very strong, too - When we put her on her tummy, she can life her head to 90 degrees!! (Will she follow in big brother Matthew's footsteps & crawl at 5 months??)

You say...God Says...

YOU SAY - GOD SAYS - BIBLE VERSES

It’s impossible - All things are possible - Luke 18:27
I’m too tired - I will give you rest - Matthew 11:28-30
Nobody really loves me - I love you - John 3:16 & John 3:34
I can’t go on - My grace is sufficient - II Corinthians 12:9 & Psalm 91:15
I can’t figure things out - I will direct your steps - Proverbs 3:5-6
I can’t do it - I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me - Philippians 4:13
I’m not able - I am able - II Corinthians 9:8
It’s not worth it - It will be worth it - Romans 8:28
I can’t forgive myself - I forgive you - I John 1:9 & Romans 8:1
I can’t manage - I will supply all your needs - Philippians 4:19
I’m afraid - I have not given you a spirit of fear - II Timothy 1:7
I’m always worried and frustrated - Cast all your cares on Me - I Peter 5:7
I’m not smart enough - I give you wisdom - I Corinthians 1:30
I feel all alone - I will never leave you or forsake you - Hebrews 13:5

Kids in Costumes

Just wanted to post some pics of the kids from Halloween...

She's here!!

I am finally able to sit down and update my blog!

Our baby girl, Anna Elizabeth, was born on Wednesday, October 18th at 9:01am. She weighed 10 lbs 2 oz and was 20.5" long. She is doing wonderfully and is three weeks old today! We are all adjusting to having four kids in our family. Personally, I have been dealing with headaches and making trips to the ER to figure out what is going on...They finally determined that I have pregnancy related hypertension and have prescribed medication to regulate my blood pressure...The headaches seem to be gone and I am seeing my midwife this afternoon to check my blood pressure and see if the medication is working...We started back to school this past Monday and the kids are doing well. Jake was even joining in on some of Matthew's lessons...too cute!!

Apples, Apples Everywhere!

Last week we accomplished a lot in our homeschool. Becky has completed three science quizzes and had her first test! She got a B. She has been doing weekly art projects, daily arithmetic speed drills, she had her first arithmetic test and got an A. She has been doing well with her language, reading and spelling and also has been practicing and showing improvement in her cursive writing. Matthew has a lot of enthusiasm for his school. He told me he loves homeschooling! He learned all of his vowels and the short sounds that they make. He can recognize them and the difference between Capital and little characters of each. He also is doing very well with his number recognition, counting objects and circling the correct number to show the amount, patterns and colors.

Last week we had our first trip to a new bowling alley. I organized a monthly bowling session for our homeschool group. There were about 18 kids who showed up and everyone had a great time! On their last game Matthew bowled a 73 and Becky bowled a 79! Matthew was so excited because he got two spares! Last week we also went to a local farm with our MOPS group and did some apple and pumpkin picking...The kids had so much fun! We got a bunch of Golden Delicious and Empire apples...I made a very tasty apple crisp that night with the Empire apples ~ it was so good because they were a little tart and complemented the sugary-oatmeal topping very nicely! Here are some pics for you to see...

Dan and Becky returned home from their Father-Daughter campout weekend. They had so much fun together...The did archery, rode horses, shot .22 rifles, cooked together, played games, had times of devotions and fellowship around the campfire (not to mention the banana boats that Becky said were delicious!) I am so glad that they had a great weekend together and Dan also got to meet a lot of the men from our friend's church and had fun talking and hanging out with them. I'll post pics as soon as I have time to upload them.

I also have to post pics of Baby Girl's new room ~ My mom and aunt came over this weekend and helped me put it all together! My mom even made beautiful lavendar curtains to match the valances, which have pinks, yellows and lavendars with white eyelet! It is so pretty and it looks like a new room! I also have to post pics of the new "boys room". Dan put together the new crib for Jake last week and he has been sleeping in there for the past few nights! The room really looks great...I am so happy! :)

Our Ranger Kid

At our church, we have a boys program similar to Boy Scouts called Royal Rangers. For the boys ages 5-7 they are called Ranger kids and my husband Dan is the Commander for that age group. This past weekend they had the District Pow Wow at a boy scout camp a few hours north of here. Dan and Matthew had to meet everyone at the church at 5pm on Friday and they returned yesterday around 4pm...Matthew is the only boy in his program who attended the Pow Wow. His friend Kyle is a year younger but his dad is a commander so he got to go for part of the time...They all had a great time and Dan said that Matthew was very well behaved! Here are a few pics...

Cutie Pie...

I was just going through some picture files and I realized that I forgot to post this from our Labor Day Weekend at the church picnic... Isn't he a little cutie pie??

What's Been Going On...

Well, since my last post things have been extremely busy here in our household...We have had various doctor visits - well visits, specialist follow-ups, dental exams, etc...We attended one of our HS support groups' "Not-Back-To-School-Luncheon" which was so much fun - The weather was so awesome that all of the moms decided to let everyone have the goodies portion of our afternoon outside - At the church where we meet they have a really nice sized playground and all of the kids had fun enjoying the weather and running around with their friends! On our way home from that we dropped Jake off at Dan's mom's house for a sleep over because Becky & Matthew both had some serious dental procedures the next day...Matthew is very brave and only takes a little bit of laughing gas, but Becky is a whole different story...She had to have "conscious sedation". THAT was an experience...She was totally out of it...She was flopping all around asking me if this was real or a dream...but both of them survived their treatments -

Then, the next day was the first MOPS meeting of the year at our church - I used to run this ministry there when Matthew was little, but the group stopped meeting for a few years and this is our first year starting it up again. It went so well. I am not leading it, but am a member of the steering team in the capacity of Creative Activities Director...We have a great team of ladies running this ministry together...Then the next day Becky had her 8 yr old well visit...She's 49 lbs and 48"...All is well...

I had my 34 week OB visit and all is well...EXCEPT that the hospital where we planned to deliver (which by the way has all guaranteed single rooms!) decided to drop our insurance as of 9/16 so we have to deliver at a different hospital (which is a great hospital - I had all three other kids there - just was looking forward to trying the other facility). Now I am scheduled for my C-section on Wednesday 10/18 at 12 noon! I can't wait to meet this little girl!

Here's a sidebar question...I am taking a poll to see what everyone guesses her birth weight to be - I say 9 lbs 1 oz...Keep in mind - Becky was 7lbs 12oz four weeks early, Matthew was 9 lbs 3 oz & Jake was 10 lbs 3oz...

Friday we did school and then went to my friend Jackie's to meet up with two other friends to do some bulk cooking...We each ended up with 9 different meals/entrees to put in our freezers at the whopping cost of approx. $2.75 per meal...Then Friday night I got to have a night out at my friend's house for a Pampered Chef show...Lots of fun...Saturday we did work around the house and then went out to dinner with Dan's parents...Sunday the boys had sniffles so Becky & I went to church alone...Thankfully Jake's sniffles didn't manifest into anything more because this morning I had to leave the house at 5:30am to be at the Children's Hospital for 6:00am...He had a minor surgical procedure which went on as scheduled and he was so brave! He is doing well and taking it easy this evening - I even managed to get a brief nap this afternoon...

So that is a brief recap of our life over the past two weeks...

Our New Bedroom...

I guess I have been very bad with not posting much this summer...I just realized that I put the pics of the bathroom up but never put any pics of the bedroom with the new carpet...Take a look...

Our New Bathroom...

We finally have our bathroom back!! Well, 95% - We are just waiting on a call back to set up the installation of the shower doors, but everything else is done! As a pregnant woman who gets up to pee at least two times a night now - I have to say that I am extremely thrilled that we have a bathroom in our bedroom again! Now, I don't have to stumble out our bedroom door and down the hallway anymore! Yay!! Here are some pics of the finished product...

Becky's Birthday...

I can't believe my baby girl turned 8!! Becky's birthday was this past Monday and we celebrated with a very girly tea party with a bunch of her friends...Matthew and Jake spent the day at my friend's house so we could be "just the girls". They had tea, three kinds of little sandwiches in the shape of flowers (tuna, egg salad & PB&J), macaroni salad and chips - Then each girl got to make her own bracelet, everyone brought pictures and they made a scrapbook page for Becky and then they each decorated their own picture frames...(I took a pic of Becky with each girl to send in the thank you cards that they can put into the frame)...Then we opened presents, had cake and cookies and each girl went home with their own tea cup filled with rings, bracelets, hershey kisses, etc. as a party favor...It was a great day!