Merry 'early' Christmas To US!

The picture in the previous post was indeed a trailer window, of our new trailer! This is something we've planned and dreamed about since we bought our very first trailer in June of 2007 HERE and HERE. Which by the way is now for sale. For the right price it could be yours ;) We love camping, and we love to go for a week or more at a time. And someday maybe more with this new guy. We've been looking for months and months and years to find 'just the right one' for our family, and we found it!! We got it at a really good deal too, and pick it up in the spring. CAN NOT wait!! We are going to have fun next summer. We always have fun camping, but we will be able to take more with us when we go now, this thing has sooo much storage, LOVE IT!!
It has a triple bunk in the back, and the U-shaped dinette to fit us all if we need to be stuck inside to eat. It has a bathroom and a BIG fridge, yay!! It also has an oven, sink, microwave, and air conditioner, all of which are really no big deal for us, cause we often camp without electricity and wash dishes in a tub outside on the picnic table anyways, but it will be nice to have that option if ever we have electricity sites. Hubby wants a solar panel in future, not quite sure how that works, but he does, so we will see.

More Cards, and a sneak peek

Some more random card making. I shouldn't say random, cause I guess I am getting my inspiration from Stamp TV and her new weekly sketch and colour challenges!! The one on the left is the sketch challenge for this week. And the one on the right is just because I was down there and wanted to use the pattern paper!!

This is the sneak peek...any guesses what this is? Anyone who knows us well will know what this is and what it might mean too.

Look at what I have been busy doing!!!

I'm soooo excited!!! I haven't made this many cards in a long time, and I'm loving it!! I was in a card club for like 4 or 5 or 6 yrs, but in the last yr, since I haven't been part of a regular club, I haven't stamped as much...minus my Christmas cards, which don't count cause I make about 20 of the same card...boring. I wish you could see them all in person, I love them all!!! I love creating a card, or a frame that is unique and like no other out there. This is my hobby!

Spoiling, DONE

We recieved a good dump of snow like 2 days after my mother

nature post...and it stuck around. And today, we are getting this:

Brrrr!!

Mother Nature has been spoiling us

And I love it!!! (and I don't really believe in 'mother nature') Although, this isn't going to last much longer :( Today was the last day of double digits, and if we get double digits again, it might not be till 2011. Oh well, we all know that winter happens every year!!

We've been having glorious weather after our huge blizzard a few weeks ago. How have you enjoyed it? We haven't done a whole lot outside stuff, but hubby washed one of our vehicles outside on the driveway yesterday afternoon. It looks snazzy now!

I am so thank-ful to God for the little things in life lately. Like the weather, and our health. Family and friends. Our vehicles, and our house. Well, those last two are kinda big things, but thank-ful non the less. Everyday I wake up and am blessed by what we have that I almost always forget what we don't have. And what we don't have we are realizing, we don't need as much as we thought. Life is so short here on earth, in fact in the bible it is described as being a blink of an eye. My kids are getting so big, and everyday they impress me with what they've learned throughout their short time on this earth. And everyday they impress upon me how short time is here on this earth. We've had our ups and downs over the yrs, and I am thank-ful for everyone of them, because they helped grow me. I am 33 already, and have been married for 15 years. It's wild to think about the days gone by, and to look at pictures, and realize those days we will never get back. We need to make the best of them.

46 days till christmas
53 days till there is a teenager in the house (eek)
54 days till 2011

But whose counting....

School Room Pictures~Before & After

Schoolroom Before

Looking into the room

The 'chalkboard' wall

The 'teacher' area, aka my desk

Schoolroom After

Looking into the room

The 'chalkboard' wall

The new 'teacher' area

The posters will come soon, I just don't want to cover the fresh new paint just yet. And the curtains are up, just not when this picture was taken, same curtains as the before picture. It was a lot of work to prep these walls. The floor is a whole 'nother story in itself, but I love it!! It's cement!!

First Day of School Pictures!

Here are some pictures of the kids from Tuesday, September 6th, 2010! First Day of school! Emmalee 12yrs 9 months

Noah 10yrs 8months

Alexa 9yrs 6 months

Breanna 7yrs 6 month

And of course a group photo!!

First Day of School

Tomorrow is the big day, the day most moms LONG for, a day when they get to have a few hours to themselves, and maybe clean, do laundry, shop, or just sit and eat bonbons. Well, not for me. I have chosen to keep my children home with me, and not to have any free time, what-so-ever. And I love it!!! (mostly) Of course I still wish there were times when they were off and gone for 7+ hrs of the day, but 99.9% of the time, I am loving having them close to me, in more ways than 1.

I am so excited for tomorrow to come!! Even though we home school, we still do the new clothes, each of them got a new outfit today, and are super excited to get to work on their new desks!! I never got a new outfit :( But I did get this:

I will post some pics of the new school room soon!!

The beginning of the year Jitters

The whole summer when by without even a post. I never really had much to write about. We had kinda a boring summer. We only went camping once, and I didn't even take any pictures. I am getting bad for not taking pictures! Mostly it is because I don't like my camera...whatev.

School has started up all over the city, and in many of my homeschooling friends houses! We haven't started yet, cause we are redoing the room we do school in. AND it has taken a turn for the worse....we pulled up the carpet thinking we could use the old tiles underneath, paint them and it would be fine...found out yesterday that those old tiles have asbestos in them. So we should really get rid of them or our neighbour told us what he did, which is probably what we are going to do. He poured a quick set cement over his, and it seals in the asbestos. So, just another added thing to do. It seems like it is never an easy fix when it comes to house that were build in the 50's, 60's and 70's. Ours is 1964 I think.

I have a lot to do today, and it makes me kinda feel overwhelmed and makes me wanna just sit on the couch and eat chips and watch TV. But the work will still be waiting for me when the bag is empty and there is nothing more to watch. My children are having one last stay at their grandparents place before school begins. So, I need to get to work.

My husband informed me last night that he wants to rip our fireplace out next yr and get a natural gas one put in. I'm so excited! That eye sore will be gone!! Of course I should be taking before and after pics of all this...but I don't like my camera....I should just get over it shouldn't I?!

The "End of the Year" Jitters

Tomorrow (today) is our last day of school for the 09/10 school year! Let me tell you, I am soooo glad. I have a little surprise for them, and have been hinting as to a 'teachers' gift....lol I have yet to receive an end of the year gift. I did get a Christmas gift 2 yrs back, that I bought myself ;)

The jitter part comes into play because there will be things left undone, books left unfinished, and I'm sure teaching opportunities not taken. And I begin to wonder, did we have a 'good' year? Was it 'just another year'? And the big question, did they learn anything??? I sure hope they did!

As the school year winds down, and summer begins, I will sit back and try not to worry about this 'past' year and whether or not they might have learnt something, what I will try to do is push forward and be thankful we have the year ahead to 'make up' for anything we may have missed.

What are your summer plans? We have none really.....

She must have purchased it that way!?!

I had a bad thing happen to me yesterday...in my 16, no, scratch that in my 17 yrs of driving I had my first middle finger given to me, and for no reason what so ever really. But what happened after she passed me is what makes me so sick, and upset...well, the finger too has me all worked up, don't get me wrong. I cried...ya, I know, strange, but I cried for so many reasons. I'll tell the story now. If your familiar with Regina, you will understand the street names, but I will try to explain in other ways too. So, here I am parked on Victoria Ave facing east, about to turn onto Ring Road, a highway that goes around the city and can take you from south to north in 10-15 mins. Anyways, I know that once I turn onto ring road I will have to skoot over three lanes to get into the far left lane because there is construction up ahead a few meters and the right lane is blocked. So, like everyone else in front of me, we signal over to the left, well this speedy mini van behind me, driven by a woman, I guess beat me to the lane, even though I was ahead of her, and signaling to get into that lane and watching in my mirror for other highway traffic. Well I hear the horn and look to find her holding up the famous 'f' finger and holding it there to make sure I seen it. I was sick to my stomach.....shocked she would do that even though we all were heading into that lane. After we passed through the construction, I quickly moved over to the right lane to let her pass and cranked up Hawk Nelson, and was even more shocked when she passed she has the christian fish symbol with the word Jesus in the middle. My mouth dropped and stayed that way till I was nearly at Wascana parkway (a couple blocks from home). Then I started thinking about it more, how shocked I was and that someone actually "gave me the finger". I started crying. I got home and told my hubby, and he made me feel better...then I though, she must have purchased the vehicle with that on it. I hope. Then I went to church to pick up my daughter and prayed for that women all the way there.

Reason #153 why I love schooloing at home:

Their Imagination!! We are currently reading out loud the little house series and here is what they created outside:

the well:

(we plan on building a tree fort here this summer)

the fire where they cook and the pile of wood:

(Which is amazing that they were able to do this, and it's still standing)
The kitchen with all the dishes:

And finally the house with all the rooms:

Some days I wish this is all we could do, no work books, but I'm not smart enough. I love that they can do this in our yard, even though it may look junky to some, it is not to my kids. They did a lot of it with our backhouse neighbours kids who are also home schooled. Even though we home school they have 'recess' together once in a while ;)

We just took two loads of garbage to the city dump, but I think we will keep these things for this kind of fun!

News Flash!!

I DID SOME SPRING CLEANING!! Yes, it is true, I started last week Tuesday, the day after my birfday, and we worked for 3 straight days...and then it all stopped! We got a lot done, the side entrance, the basement and the kids rooms. Still a lot more to do like the living room, kitchen (including the pantry) and our bedroom. But we got off to a good start and hopefully by the end of the month it will all be done! We also started painting the kitchen. I am horrible though, I never took before and after pictures, of any of the rooms, or the kitchen. We also were able to get the dishwasher hooked up (thanks to my BIL) and built in (thanks to my AWESOME hubby)!! I LOVE IT!!!! It won't be flipping over on me if I have both racks open on it!! YAY. And I haven't washed a single dish by hand since FRIDAY!! Whoo hoo!!!! And I don't plan on washing a single dish for a LONG time!! Whoo hoo!!

It's raining here today, we had a thunder and lightning show earlier this morning...kids were running around and acting like a bunch of banshees!! It was hilarious.

I had no TV for 6 days last week!! Can you believe it?! It actually wasn't all that bad surprisingly. We had the shingles done and they took the satellite dish off the roof, and my installer couldn't come till Sunday to do it, no biggy. Next on the list (hopefully soon) are the eaves, soffits and fascia. Oh, and the fireplace cause the shinglers had to tear off the brick to get to the shingles around it. So now we have to do something with that too....not quite sure what though, maybe I will google fireplace pictures. I love to google!

Again, I am on the wrong computer to add some pictures, why do I keep doing that? Probably cause this one I am on now is much easier to access and type on! I will try to add some pictures of something next time I blog, cause blogs are more fun to read when there are pictures don't ya think? I dunno, maybe not, I like reading blogs even if there are no pictures!

Spring is in there air

Last Saturday was the first official day of spring, but that's all it was. March has been quite the teaser with the weather, nice, melts, puddles ~ snows, freezes, cold, windy. I am ready for the nice weather to arrive so the kids can be OUT of the house and play. Spring cleaning isn't happening either around here, no motivation, could be the clouds, that's probably my excuse every year. Spring also means the other half of the birthdays, including mine and hubbies, and our baby girl. Fun Fact: Of all our kids birthdays, Em-December 31st, Noah-January 25th, Alexa-March 14th and Breanna-April 3rd, Emmalee was the only one born with no snow on the ground! The day Bre was born, almost 7 yrs ago, we had about a 2+ foot dump of snow, and as we drove to the hospital (planned c-section) the snow was still coming down. Only in Saskatchewan. As far as I can remember and I'm sure there have been later times, but we got snow on May 19th one year.

I love spring, not only cause it's my birthday ;) but also because the weather is nice and there are no mosquitoes till June! So nice to sit out on the deck and enjoy the evening with hubby. Kids are excited to ride their bikes and jump on the trampoline. We are hoping to have some roof work done soon, shingles and maybe eaves, fascia and soffits. We'll see. I wish we could do more, our house and yard need a lot of work.

I think we are back into the grove since hubby has gone back to work. It's been nice to get back into routine. Hubby is enjoying his job, although he found out he's making considerably less than what he was making at his former job. Something we will have to adjust to, or I may have to get a job, which is NOT something I want to do....

I've been doing some fun things in my stamp room. I need to charge my camera battery so I can take some pictures and share. Which is something I'm slacking in doing, picture taking. Bad mom. The kids have been doing some fun stuff, and I am forgetting to take the camera to capture the memories. They tried curling for the first time, the two oldest. They really enjoyed the time they had on the ice. We did some skating times with our local home school group. We haven't been doing a whole lot, but still. I didn't take my camera to anything. Maybe it is also because Emmalee and Noah both have their own now, so they tend to take them along to things. I'll have to scour their SD cards to find something to share!

I am not a good house wife

I suck at my job, I hate cleaning, my house is a mess and I am tired of constantly telling the kids to clean up after themselves!!!

I need a maid, a maid would be nice, someone who comes into the house to do one thing, clean, and then leaves!! That would be wonderful. I suck at cleaning, and I suck at 'teaching' my kids to clean! Granted, my house does not look like that show on TV, hoarders, but it is pretty darn close, well, maybe not, but some days it feels like it is!!! I sometimes wish I could just have 1 week, with out kids here, well, maybe a couple of days would do. I know someday my wish will come true when they all move out, but seriously, I don't think that is going to make me a 'better' house wife/cleaner. Sigh....

Spring is the time of year to get things done isn't it? Well, I can't tell you if there has ever been, in the 13 yrs we've been here, or the 14 1/2 yrs of being a wife, a time I've done 'spring' cleaning. It basically happens when I get sick and tired of seeing it dirty, or disgusting!! Does it all stem back to training, was I trained growing up, was my mom trained by her mom, and so on? Could be, as I sit here and try to recall, there isn't a time that stands out in my mind of where I was trained to do any house work. There was house work we did growing up, don't get me wrong, but more than likely the majority of the 'deep' cleaning was done while I was at school, so why would there have been training? I'm sure when I came home from school that was the last thing on my moms mind to do, re clean something just to train me. So is this my time to instill these cleaning habits into my children, since they are at home with me, if so, I'm failing!!! I am crashing and burning. I would rather play with them, or read, or watch TV, play on the computer, stamp, heck I would rather pull weeds or garden, than clean (and I hate getting dirt under my nails).

What is one to do?? Is there something you do to help motivate you? Or do you have a maid?? Don't tell me if you do ;)

Houston we have a JOB!!

YAY!! It's bitter sweet of course!! I really liked having hubby at home, there was very little routine, if any at all, going on. The kids did school of course, and I'm going to take advantage of these last days and have daddy do some of the "teaching". I am sick, so why not. We've watched a lot of the Olympics, and that has been great! Hubby has been enjoying that too!

We attended the annual Homeschool Convention this past weekend, with our oldest daughter!!! That's new, and I'm not too sure how I like it (the fact that she is growing up, not that she was there) The convention itself was ok, it was at the University of Regina, so that was different, and not too well liked I think, by many. The speaker was great! Andrew Pudewa, Excellence in Writing is the curriculum that he wrote. I think it will be a good curriculum, I bought it of course!

So, welcome back regular income, we've missed you!! Don't get me wrong, once EI started, we were comfortably getting by, and God has blessed us with a few surprises! All is good! God is Good!!

Women's Retreat

This is the retreat I went to 4 times in the last 5 yrs (including this yr) Beautiful isn't it!!?!! The North Saskatchewan river runs through the valley this beautiful building is in. This yr however, there were 115 women and the place ran out of water midday Saturday!! So it was ration time, and no showers!!

This yr I never went outside, at all, the whole time I was there. The yr these pictures were taken, I went outside just take these pictures!! I have gone for a walk down to the river, the second time I went. I'm just more of an indoors person ;)

My Valentine

I went to a women's retreat with my church this past weekend, we left Friday late afternoon and arrived home Sunday late afternoon. It was a great time, lots of fun, laughs, and learning! A few tears were shed and hearts were filled! God is amazing, and to know what He has done in so many peoples lives, is amazing!! Love hearing God stories! When we came home on Sunday afternoon (Valentines Day) this is what the bus saw as we pulled into the church parking lot: My awesome husband with his sign was visible for all 50+ women to see. Inside the bus roared with aww's and giggles. It was too cute!! (this picture was taken in my driveway this morning cause I wasn't camera ready when we pulled into the church parking lot) This is what I saw when I walked off the bus, the other side of the sign. He got a great big hug and a kiss from his Valentine, and I said Yes!!

I don't have any pictures from the retreat, cause I never got my camera out to take any, I was too lazy. I think I have a post from a couple yrs ago, I will go find it now and link it here: nope no pictures...here is a link to the post about the actual place we went to: February 2009 I found some pictures going to make a whole new blog post just with the pictures.

Don't know what to write about

I'm in a blogging funk. I don't know what to write about. Life is kinda boring right now. Besides the odd trip to the hospital to get crazy glue out from someones eye, or dealing with children on a daily basis, and a husband who is home 24/7, there isn't much to write about.

I could write about how it's been quite the adjustment to having him home. But it's been ok. I'm afraid I am going to get used to him being here, and then when he gets a job it will be a whole 'nother adjustment period. That's another thing I could write about too, God's timing. We don't know when he will be hired or where, but are well aware it's all in God's timing. And His timing is different than ours, of course it would have been great if he started a new job on January 4th, but he didn't. It's February 8th....and still no job, he's had 4 interviews, and he has about a dozen or more applications out there. Just waiting and praying and praying and praying.

I could write about the things that make me sad, but no one wants to hear about that. I could write about the antibiotics that I took in December that gave me another allergic reaction and now my skin is horrible again (I suffer from psoriasis), but I don't think people want to hear about that either. People don't want to hear about our financial troubles, cause I'm sure people have their own struggles, or have had them.

I could write about our blessings, ya, I will do that. We have been blessed, by some amazing friends, some of whom I may never know, but they got together and pitched in to help pay for our registration fee to the home school convention!!! What a huge blessing it is, I am forever grateful. We've never been blessed like that. We've had blessings but to that extent, I'm fairly certain we've never experienced. It's is a HUGE BLESSING!! We weren't going to go, and I was fine with that, cause there are things we need to cut, and that was one, but when I shared that with a friend, just cause, not looking for any kind of return what-so-ever, she was lead to do something about it. And we are forever thank-full!! Now we get to go and hang out with our awesome friends!!! Another blessing, a blogging friend came and brought me some catalogs and brought me a bouquet of Daisy's!! They were beautiful, I think I've got a picture of them, just not sure on which camera, if I find them I will share. It was sooo thoughtful of her and I was blessed by it tremendously!!

Look at that, nothing to write and I made a couple of paragraphs!! Happy day! Thanks for reading, maybe I will have something to write about the next time I feel the urge to blog!!

We have a 10 yr old in da house!!!

Yesterday was a fun day, we celebrated our one and only son with a few gifts, his choice for supper (hot dogs and ceaser salad, BBQed of course) And we had ice cream cake, and then we played Wii for a few hours!! Fun times! He loves his birthday presents, and he also lost a tooth right before bed, so bonus, he got $7 bucks for that, 2 bucks for it being a molar, and 5 for it being his birthday!!! Fun times were had by all yesterday. FUN FACT: For a month and a half we have all even aged children, 12, 10, 8 and 6. In march 8 turns 9, and in April 6 turns 7. But in December, 12 turns 13!!!!! CRAZY!!! There will be a teenager among us. I am excited and scared all at once!! That means I am getting older.....I will be 33 in April. As that number gets higher, I feel anxious. As the number of gray hairs that emerge get higher, I freak!! I don't want to go gray yet. Do I keep colouring now for the rest of my life, or do I let it go? People would always then think I was older than I really am. I still feel young, I still, most days, feel like I am in my 20's. I however, look in the mirror and am reminded that I am not in my 20's.

So, in other news, still no job!! However, he is currently taking a typing speed test right beside me for a job that he got called for yesterday. He has to submit his University transcripts, and a typing speed test, only one problem, he's trying to take the test on a laptop....it sounds like its proving to be difficult...Last time he took the typing speed test he had a 45wpm score...he sounds frustrated right now.....only time will tell.

We were going to have a birthday party for said son on Sunday, but mother nature had different plans!! We got a dumping of snow Saturday and Sunday, and we had to cancel due to blizzard conditions!! Crazy, when just 2 weeks ago we were enjoying + temperatures!! We rescheduled his party, I hope it works out for him, he will be so sad if people can't make it again. We got to see some amazing snow drifts though, too fun!!

Pictures to come when I can get them uploaded from my camera!!

Love made into Paper Airplanes

I don't often post about things like this for reasons that might be obvious. But I have to share the precious heart of my 6 yr old daughter. My husband has been layed off from a job he held for 11 yrs. It was a good job, and we were doing well as a 1 income family. It has been hard, and I am sure this is just the beginning. We've often told the kids straight out, we can't buy that because we have no money because daddy doesn't have a job. When we pray, we pray for everything, for God to provide, for daddy to get a job, for us to be able to buy groceries and so on. So this morning when the children were done doing their chores and daily school work, my youngest two girls, Alexa and Breanna were crafting in the school room. This is always a pet peeve of mine, I don't like when they make messes!! Sigh...then Breanna came out asking me how to spell things. So I figured that it would be good writing practise!!

This is what she made:The sign says: Selling Airplanes and Pictures and she posted it on our dining room window

And here are what they made:
The reason, "so we can have money cause we don't have much" in Breanna's words. Kept close to the front door just in case anyone comes. Oh my heart aches for my children, and in a good way, love. I love them soooo much!! Such precious hearts. Ever so thank-ful we are shepherding their hearts at home.

Life

This is what almost hit us, this right here. Ya, We were driving to go shopping, early in the morning to beat the 'rush', then out of the corner of our eyes we see this huge snow cloud in the centre of the ditch!! Hubby swerved and I turned around to see a truck coming out of the centre ditch and 'drive' onto the shoulder of the highway. Hubby pulled over and I called 911 (first time ever) He ran back to the truck to find the roof smashed in and the male driver bleeding from all sorts of places. His name was Kevin. We had to stick around and fill out a statement about what we saw. And then we were on our way for a day of shopping. But throughout the day, the scene replayed in our heads over and over, realizing how close we were to being hit by a speeding, rolling truck. We talked about it over and over, the kids (Noah) cried because they thought about how serious the accident really was for the male driver and for us. We prayed and thanked God for 'saving' us, prayed and cried some more and now I think we are ok. Glad to hear that the driver was treated and released, something else we prayed for!

I have been thinking a lot lately about life, and how quick it is taken. People out snowmobiling, and having fun, and in an instant it's all over. One minute celebrating Christmas with family, and a week later planning a funeral for a loved one who is gone too soon. Driving along the highway and out of the corner of your eye a truck slams into your vehicle and in a flash your breath is taken right out of you, forever. Now I know we weren't struck, and we are very thank-full for that, but there are ones who aren't so 'lucky' for lack of a better word.

All this to say that we just don't know when our time is. We can do all that we think will make us 'live longer' but there are the times when things are out of our hands! One thing that isn't out of our hands is how we live our lives right now, today. Also where we 'end' up after our time does come. Accepting Jesus into our hearts, and living each day for Him with ensure we go to Heaven, and I know that is where I want to 'end' up.