Cookie Baking - Mmmm..

On Friday before Christmas, the kids had a blast with L., the kids former tutor, and her Mom baking cookies. They turned out delicious! L then went sledding with the kids while the Mom's worked on gingerbread. Thanks!!

Deer's Decorated Cupcake

How would you like to eat all those toppings!!

Happy Birthday Deer!!

Today Deer is 9! Yesterday she celebrated with friends and family.
She sledded with the girls, beaded matching bracelets, and just enjoyed her friends company. The girls decorated their own cupcakes. Then in the evening the Grandparents came over for pizza and a cat cake. Deer's cat, Kip, has been with her for 2 years now. Kip was a present on her 7th birthday. We are so grateful to God for Deer!! Deer is wearing the Lucy costume from Narnia.

Sunday School Program

Today was the kid's annual Sunday School Program. Our kids were in the choir. Dessert was doing sign language to "Away in a Manger". (Mom is his teacher.) Duke was our wiggly one on stage this year. He kept Mom busy with trying to catch his eye and help him keep his wiggles still. We sure appreciated the time all those dear Sunday School teachers spent with our crew.

Tractor in the Pond

Yesterday was an interesting day..... In the morning I asked Papa W if he could clear the ice with his tractor. We had a TON of snow on our skating rink on the pond. Gramma was nervous about it but pretty soon Papa was out on the tractor on the pond. He worked for over an hour clearing snow and was in the far corner of the pond when IT happened - Thalunk - and Papa's tractor was axle deep in the pond. We found there was a spring in that corner of the pond and that was why it probably couldn't take the weight of the tractor. BUMMER!! After a lot of work trying to get the tractor out, they called a wrecker and it got it out easy as pie. The blessing of the day was that when Gramma went to pay their friend for his wrecking service, he refused payment. Wow. We are praying for God to bless him but it sounds like that is what is already happening because he said God was blessing his business lately so he passed on the money. Thanks, Lord!

Drum's New Website

Drum has a new website at www.xanga.com/dog_dude11

A Field Trip to Cabella's

Papa and Gramma K, Uncle P, Little L, and our crew visited Cabella's today. We had a blast seeing all the animals and trying out bows and arrows in the archery division. The kids thought the elephant and African animals were awesome. It was so nice that the animals didn't move and you could just sit and study them up close. We got to finish with lunch at McDonald's!! A fun, filled day!!

More Gingerbread Photos

Here are more pictures of the finished products. It was a blast!! We decided to not save them so long that they were no good to eat so we have devoured about 90% of them. :-) Mmmmm...... The gingerbread was delicious!! We still have a little left. It takes a while to eat 3 Huge gingerbread houses. :-)

Gingerbread Creations

The Children had a blast at the home of friends making Gingerbread Houses. Here are the boys hard at work and Two of the finished houses.

Star Wars Fans!

Deer as Leah
Drum as Obi-Wan
Dessert as Yoda
Dime as Anakin
Duke as Luke Skywalker

Star Wars Fans

The Great Hunters!

In Kansas

Figured out how to add Pictures!

Busy Days, Narnia, Left-handed, Left Behind, Skating

The way our calendar looks, one would think we were not too busy. The way the days pan out though! Whew! Monday was supposed to be a quiet day - school, Dot had ballet which I was driver for. A few phone calls later and we were scrambling to get school done. Deer was absolutely thrilled that her two girlfriends were coming over to play!! Duke got to have his playmate over as well. And, yippee!, so did I. We got to visit in the midst of tying skates and making cookies for the crew. Then Dot's friend and her mom came over to work on speech stuff, Grandma dropped off the mail, We listened to Joy's speech and then everyone left to their respective homes while, Deer, Dot, Dot's friend, and I flew out the door for ballet. Whew!! Poor guys, I didn't leave them much for supper. They made do. Was worth the hustle though for the friendships.

We are planning to go see Narnia on Friday!! We read the book aloud and the kids have been saving and working up the hill. We can hardly wait. Dobson had an excellent show on it on Monday. We checked out the website and it is definitely sparking our interest. I hope to have my camera back to take pictures of the event. :-)

My camera is with our pastor at church. It needed counseling. Just kidding. Dunk and I were invited by friends to an event at our church. Thanks friends!! Naomi Carroll sang and there was a delicious dinner. We had a WONDERFUL time. Naomi had 12 volunteers come up with promises of a CD if they were good. Then she lined them up and gave them a paper. They had to perform actions to the song, "A Partridge in a Pear Tree". It was hilarious!! I happened to realize that my camera will shoot a short video clip, which I did. It caught the whole group in action and so I quietly shared the video clip with Pastor who will be able to share it publically next Sunday. I can't wait!!

I think Dessert is definitely left handed. He has been using his left hand exclusively for the last month or more when doing his "school-work". He is getting stronger with it and making straighter lines. This will be interesting as I've never taught a left-handed student how to write before. Guess never too old to learn something new. He inherits it from his Grandpa W. I won't be as mean a teacher as Papa's first teacher was though!

Dot and I have been reading the "Left Behind" series. She is on book 11 and I am waiting to start book 13 as soon as we get it from the library. WOW is it a good series. I have learned so much about Revelation that I feel like I'm taking a Bible study not reading a novel series. I passed Dot up in reading with a few very, very late nighters. :-) Apollyon is scary reading in the middle of the night. :-)

No word on Dunk's job yet. Keep praying for us. We continue to work on stuff around the house and work on leads. We believe God has His timing for us and want to stay with it. It has been an interesting learning process as we seek what He wants, not just grabbing for jobs to bring in money. Is definitely bringing us to our knees.

The ice on the pond turned out beautiful this year! The kids have been skating every day. I'm proud of the work they did shoveling it. The water was up when it froze so it is the biggest we've had. Anna is trying out figure skates this year (Jerry usually puts everyone in hockey skates) so that she can try and copy the pros. :-) We keep collecting skates from Goodwill so everyone just switched to their older siblings skates and we found enough for everyone to have skates with extra for trying to get some on friends when they come over and don't have a pair. We would love to put up cmas lights around the pond so that we could have skating parties at night. Just need to think ahead of time to pound some posts in before it freezes. Next year!! Not really on the top priority list to get done. :-)

Well, better get those kids moving for school. Dunk and Drum are at Menards. Hope you have a good day!!

Howdy,
I'm still working on how to add pictures on our different computer, so I'm going to skip working on how to add pictures (which I did the last time I was going to update but didn't totally figure it out) and just update.

Happy Thanksgiving Day!! We had a Delicious Thanksgiving Feast! We are all appropriately stuffed. :-) We really enjoyed going to our first Wed. night pre-Thanksgiving church service. We learned about the first Thanksgiving Day during David's term as King. It was very interesting. The kids had fun getting a chance to use the mike and say what they were thankful for.

Last Saturday and Sunday we celebrated my Dad's 60th Birthday!! My brother was here from North Carolina. It was soooo fun to see him and visit. Saturday night the grownups went out to eat. It was a blast to get to visit without being interrupted by wonderful children. We had a delicious meal at Russels and got to finish sentences and hear the end of everyone else's. It was wonderful to be together!

Sunday everyone met at Papa and Gramma's house and we had pizza and cake and showered Papa with some presents. The cousins got to enjoy each other's company and we left the house tired but happy. :-) Papa is still celebrating with friends and his side of the family this week. I think he will remember his 60th. Happy Birthday, Dad! I love you!

The weeks have been flying by with school. We are trying to stay up to date and eventually catch up a little from our time off in October. We were just going to take one day off for Thanksgiving, but it just didn't seem fair to do school on Friday. It would make it feel not like a holiday at all. I guess if we have to do school a little later in the summer, that will be better than no day off now. .....we'll see :-) This week I met with our school consultant and we discussed the upcoming months of school. It was great to hear that things are going ok despite our break and to problem solve some missing areas. I'm looking forward to small changes and continued progress.

Yesterday we met with a family who had us over to make gingerbread houses. I was flabbergasted by the amount of work she had went through to prepare the houses. She was working on her 6th batch of gingerbread when we arrived. She had printed out patterns online and then been cutting and preparing for a couple days. Wow!! We helped mix up some frosting and then set out candies we both had. Her husband set up an extra table in their dining room and we set up all the kids at their spots. Duke and Dessert had one, Drum and Dime had one, Dot and Deer had one, her daughter had one, and her two boys had one. WOW!! All different types of houses! The kids had an absolute BLAST decorating. They all did beautiful creations. I feel so blessed by this family. We finished the evening watching some of Ken Davis' comedy acts on a DVD. We will be returning on Saturday to put the houses together. Thanks! I will do the best I can to get pictures of the finished results online.

Yesterday, we were given an enormous gift. A VAN!! It is awesome with two side doors, a CD and tape player, etc. We feel so grateful and overwhelmed by such a gift. Thanks, Dad & Mom!
Our one van died, and we were down to one vehicle. We were doing fine with one car but when Dunk goes back to work it will be soooooo great to have two again. Plus, now he has a work van if he chooses to do furnace repair work. (that is after we get it fixed up) (I hit a deer again and we went over a center curb in Princeton that put a hole in the oil pan) The deer was the third one in three years - one every fall. We were teasing that the next time I head out in the evening and the kids ask where I'm going, Dunk will say I'm going hunting. I really, really hope though, that I don't hit a deer with the new van. I'm not too proud to drive a run down vehicle. I'm just thankful for wheels. But I really enjoy the look of the new van. :-)

Dot is begging and begging to go shopping this weekend. I've told her we will see. Not that crazy about shopping with all the rush. Is cute though to see her grow-up and think about and look forward to "shopping". I don't mind. She's been a delightful teenager so far and I am so thankful for her. Well, anyways, most of the time. :-)

Well, I don't think I've blogged but instead written a mini-book! God's blessings as you prepare for His Birthday!!

News and Ramblings

Howdy! I hope everyone is enjoying the continuing colors of fall. It is amazing to me to watch the scenery change from the greens, yellows, and reds to the deepening hues of yellows, oranges and browns. I hear we are getting snow this week. My children are eagerly anticipating it. :-)

Dunk is continuing to check on jobs. We have some options but are waiting for some answers. We will update as soon as options become reality. :-)

The kids are starting preparations for the Christmas program at church. No major parts this year but Dime, Deer, and Duke will be singing in it. Dot and Drum are too old this year. Funny to say that at thier age. :-)

We are getting back into the swing of things with school. We had a session of colds in the family but everyone is coming back on the mend and looking forward to the coming week. Well, Daisy is anyway. :-)

Currently reading Apollyon by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. Wow is this series fantastic. Is so interesting to hear in story form about the Tribulation period. It definitely keeps me up at night. :-) I definitely do not plan to be there!!

Howdy. I feel kinda wrung out but wanted to update my blog. :-) With Dunk out of work, we have been considering how to make ends meet around here.
After spending alot of time checking out sheet metal work online and with much talk in the last couple of years about changing his career, we wondered about changing his career to being a prison guard in Kansas! Talk about a change.
We felt God's urging to go and visit friends in Kansas and check out the possibilities we had heard. So, we packed up and headed south. The kids were nervous and eager about the possibility of moving and grandparents were calling us crazy. We had a blast of a family time and thoroughly enjoyed our stay and tour in Ellsworth. Deer loved getting to see her friend, K, again and the boys made new friends. Duke and Dessert enjoyed each having a friend to play with who was exactly their age! Daisy enjoyed renewing a friendship, cuddling their 1 yr old sweetie, and learning about the friendly town. It was definitely a trip to remember. We won't have to work too hard to remember it as Daisy had her new camera along and took 290 pictures!!! At 4 sec. per picture it takes almost 20 minutes to view them, but we hurry it along for friends. :-)
We were excited about the possibilities and considered very strongly the possibility of moving.
On Friday we met with a neutral Christian counselor to help us analyze our options. What we heard was more than we bargined for as he challenged Dunk to pursue God's vision for his life's work. Dunk has always had a heart for family cognitive style counseling (which he has pursued in an unoffical capacity with unsuspecting co-workers). We are being challenged to think outside the box and consider on our knees what the Lord has for us. We appreciate your prayers.
This next week we are planning to hold a garage sale to get rid of some valuable "junk" :-) We hope.
Thanks to those who have been holding us up in prayer. We have felt it and appreciate you.

Sunday

Here are a few pictures of the kids enjoying a beautiful Sunday!

The extra person in the picture is Deer's friend, Delight.

Are you having a good flip?

Drum's clavicle is continuing to heal despite his attempting to ride his bike and falling and playing blind man with the other kids and trying to sit where no chair was. I think he is finally willing to just watch the others so his shoulder can heal faster.

The motorcycle in the pictures is ours (believe it or not). It has really motivated the kids to finish their schoolwork quickly. :-)

We had an opportunity to see God work up close when our friends lost their home to a fire last Saturday. They lost basically everything besides a few pictures and the boys instruments. They have 6 children and homeschool. On Sunday they were offered a 5 bedroom home to live in until theirs is rebuilt and their church completely furnished it for them. Wow! It was cool to hear how God has worked through their friends to support and help them during this time.

Today we had family pictures. Daisy is soooooo glad that is over with. They turned out fine. We are looking forward to receiving the pictures. Hopefully I will be able to post one someday.

Now we are snuggling in to finish the day's schoolwork while it rains. (Well, my kids don't exactly agree with snuggling. They would prefer the term: strapped in)

Dessert Brought Bunnies

On Sunday, Dessert brought our baby bunnies to Sunday School. He was the hit of the day and loved it. It was a small group that Sunday which worked out great as we had three bunnies and there were three kids present. Everyone thought we were trying to give away the bunnies, but we assured them we wanted to keep the bunnies we have. The kids are feeding the bunnies animal crackers. We had to stop one child, mine, from eating the same cracker as the bunny.

Dot's Birthday!!

Happy Birthday Dot! We have our 1st Teenager!
She celebrated the day with friends and a sleepover followed by shopping the next day.

Drum's Clavicle Snaps

Yesterday Drum and Duke were running around outside. Duke tackled Drum who fell and heard his own collar bone snap. This is the second time this has happened to Drum. It is the same side, but we are not sure if it is in the same spot. We are still debating about getting an x-ray. Treatment does not change. Their is nothing the Dr's would do but put his arm in a sling, which we have from last time. :-( Please pray for Drum that his healing would be quick. He was very miserable last night but slept ok during the night. He is still in the same spot in his bed from where I helped him lay down last night. He is also extra down because he knows what he is in for, having had it happen before. Thanks for your prayers.

This is Deer in action during the obstacle course at the Homeschool Trackmeet. All the children participated. We had alot of fun! I will post more pictures as I am able.

Dessert Goes to Cubbies

Well.....This is Dessert's first night at Cubbies. He was so excited. I guess I forgot to turn the picture right side up before puting it on. Bummer. I'll keep trying..... :-)

Still Figuring This Out....

Well, I am not sure why I have two pictures on the site. Hmmm. Going to try again...

Not working........Hmmmm.....

Well, here is another picture. It is of my flower garden and favorite swing. The playground is in the background.

I'm not sure how to delete a picture that I don't want on and accidently have loaded. I will keep working on this. :-)

Happy Birthday Again!

This is the cake Deer Decorated for me. Thanks Deer!!

Happy Birthday

Howdy. This is just a quick update to let everyone know we are still kicking. :-)

Happy Birthday to Me! I celebrated a wonderful birthday with family. I received some wonderful gifts. I was especially excited about one gift which I have eagerly anticipating using - A digital camera!! Thanks Brothers!! I have had a blast learning about it and taking some pictures. I was trying to wait to blog until I could put a picture on the website but I'm having technical difficulties. I have contacted the camera makers and we are working on getting the tech I need for an older computer so it will happen! Just taking time - which I don't have a ton of lately. :-) Watch for a picture soon!!

Dejavue, Paperwork, and Tomatoes

Wow! I can't believe we are coming into Fall already! Dot and I picked up the girls for ballet class on Wednesday and it felt like just yesterday I was picking them up for their last day of class in April. I really enjoyed listening to the girl's chatter. This year there are more girls involved in car-pooling so, as fun as it is to take them, it will be nice to share the driving load.

Paperwork abounds as the start of a new season begins and everyone needs a form filled out - Awana, ballet, etc., etc. I need a stamp that doesn't just have our address, it should have every child's name, birthdate, and grade plus phone numbers and grandparents names and numbers AND my signature and the date. Brother! Dot went to a girlfriend's birthday party and I had to sign my name three times on the form so she could swim and rock climb. (It was well worth it -she had a blast.) :-)

Tomatoes have been coming out of our ears lately. The garden has been producing them prolifically. Besides passing on tomatoes to friends we have had enough for over 5 gallons of spaghetti sauce I figure and there are more out there. The squash are looking good and the raspberries are coming despite the deer's munching last spring. Hopefully the later warmer weather will mean the raspberries will have enough time to ripen. We have had trouble in the past with not getting as many as we could because they took so long to ripen. The green peppers have been doing fantastic despite the weeds growing around them. I use them basically in salsa or spaghetti sauce but Dot had a friend over who just munched them from the garden like an apple!

I figured out how to order books from the library and was tickled hot pink to go into the library and just pick up the books I needed. I am loving technology!