I said Young Man

I was once in your shoes, I was down and out with the blues....  Some things have changed since the YMCA was first established.  The Young Man's Christian Association now supports homeschoolers, in this area that is.  The kids go there on Thursday's for a PE class.  They absolutely love it.  As a matter of fact, Jake and I had a bit of fun with the whole YMCA thing last week, and now the kids think they know the song and dance.  So, as I type, Ben is piping it out.  "I will see you at the YMCA, hoo hoo, 1234 I said I will see you at the YMCA."  Then Jackie, in all of her 9 years of wisdom corrects him saying, "No, Ben, it's not hoo hoo, it's Woo HOO."  This is funny to me.  With my very best self control I don't correct them.  I like this new version and it doesn't involve fire helmets....

For the Love of Spring

It's middle March and all is well. We've been functioning as a complete family unit for about a month now, actually tomorrow will be the full month mark. Jake is working a lot, and he actually flew yesterday. The kids and I are in the grime of school, upcoming sports are lingering in the air, but my favorite thing is the feel of Spring. Yesterday, we had a rather long experience at the auto place. I can affirm that after 4 hours of living inside a cube with 6 delightful children and some very old people, all for the same purpose is an eye opening experience. To say the least, when we were released from the cube and free to take the truck back home that the meaning of spring took on a new effect. The air was lighter, the energy greater. If I were a dog I might just have chased my tail for a good 10 minutes. Haha! I am not a dog, so I took to hoeing the garden until my back hurt, throwing weeds every which way and even caught a glimpse of a bee in the cycle of pollinating a honeysuckle. The grub worms seemed to have multiplied. I threw them out of the garden and the kids competed to see who can gather the most. Ben filled his pocket with them, later they met a sad ending, though I won't give all the details, it did involve a brown paper bag, some prolonged sitting, and a remote control monster truck. Anyway, the delight of my day was Jackie. She had patiently endured the time in the waiting room on her birthday. Once home she donned her colonial maiden dress, on top of this she put on her new apron, followed by some other accessories. She grabbed one of the grub worms from the garden and ran off. I didn't think much about it, as everyone else seemed to be doing the same thing. She comes back to me a few moments later and she had constructed a fishing rod with some stick and string and had tied her grub worm to the end of it. It was the cutest thing, this sweet little girl, all dressed up on her very special day holding a stick with a grub worm hanging. I wished I was holding a camera instead of a hoe.

Jackie

Jackie turns 9 tomorrow, Wednesday, March 12. She is such a delight and is every bit of 9 and more. She continues to excel in all that she puts her heart into. Consistently motivated to do well in ballet and she adores her little sisters. I love to watch this sweetheart. Sometimes she'll be curled up in a corner devouring a story and other times she flits about the house dancing on her toes dreaming of being married to a charming prince. We love this little girl so much and give praise to our Father for His goodness to us all in bringing her here. Happy Birthday Darling!

Ben's #7

Last time we did punching balloons, they were filled with my very own hot air and I nearly passed out when I was done. I was wanting Jake to experience this same excitement of losing one's balance, so I asked him for some help.. I was snickering at the thought of it, then I heard the machine go. He's very clever huh?


Ben's delights; dad and cake.


It took about 4 blows, but he got them all out.


Squackers, the things in our mouths, not us...



Ben's gift in action.

More on the Cabin

As you can tell, our time was sweet. It was cold, rainy, then a surprise bit of snow to finish it off. The fire kept the cabin toasty and the steaks kept our palates pleased.

Last Day as a Six Year Old

This morning I was reading in the Carolina Room when Ben strolled in after waking up wearing a sweater and shorts (he has inherited his fashion sense from his left-handed grandfather).  He had his back to me and didn't notice me in the room.  I thought, "who is this kid in my house, that looks like Ben's blond hair and head, but this kid's legs are way to big along with his back?"  Well, it was Ben and I just hadn't taken notice of his growth since I have come home and no wonder he is actually turning seven years old tomorrow.  I am thankful to God for his infinite kindness to Ben in health and providence over the course of these last seven years.  Happy birthday son!   

Why I love Target

Not only do they have Starbucks Coffee, great prices, fun deco for the house and cute clothing, they also provide a way for husbands to surprise their wives. Thus, the story. It started a while ago with a few strange bits of info popping up, here and there. Then Jake came home from deployment. I knew something was going to happen, some sort of get away, but didn't have the when's, or the exact where's, and I only had a guess on the who's. So, there I am Saturday night ready to go to sleep and Jake says to me, "I would like to take you and the kids out for lunch after church tomorrow, so, you don't need to cook for us." How sweet. He's being so thoughtful. It will be nice to break free from the routine. Then I think, this is too good to be true. Something is going on. Then I think, no he just wants to take us to lunch, get over yourself. So we go to lunch and nothing happens. Then we go drop off some items at the Goodwill. Now I am thinking, okay I am tired lets go home. However he says, "I need to go to Target." Wow, that's a good idea, I am now back in the game and suddenly remotivated to have a good attitude. After all Target is a fun store, with great deals and maybe they finally got in their patio furniture and we can check it out. We walk around the store for a while, Colby decides what he wants to blow his money on. We check out the patio furniture and discuss how one of these summers we will buy a set. We move on, I point out how Target carries a fun variety of food now. Anyway I am tired again and would just like to go enjoy the day before it's gone. One last aisle however. The baseball card aisle. I am amusing myself watching Colby, Ben, and Jake paw through the cards. How sweet, the boys have their dad back home. Then suddenly, without warning, someone comes up behind and puts their hands over my eyes. I knew it would only be a very dear friend, to do that to me so comfortably. I am thinking it's Melia, but the grip on my head is getting tighter and suddenly I feel a bit concerned, like who would dare squeeze my brain so hard, they must think they know me pretty well to be so comfortable. Well it was my mother. I am shocked as are the kids. Jake hands me a card, which contains a plan of action to take me, and Silas of course, out west to Boone, North Carolina, where we can enjoy the mountains and escape for a couple of days. We had a marvelous time. I will post pictures once the camera is unpacked. To those of you who knew and kept it a secret, thank you! We were so blessed again by my mom coming this way. The kids enjoyed her very much and Jake, Silas, and I had a very restful time in our cabin up in the mountains.