tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36750904909969419532024-03-04T23:40:06.628-06:00Love You Forevermommyoflove3http://www.blogger.com/profile/15960147429808863981noreply@blogger.comBlogger1470125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675090490996941953.post-74451145577302620892016-02-18T14:00:00.002-06:002016-02-18T14:02:07.006-06:00I'm Moving!That got your attention, I bet! No, I'm not <i>physically </i>moving but....my blog is moving! I have grown weary of blogger for a few reasons and also, there's been a lot of changes since I first started this old blog back when the boys were little.<br />
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So hop on over to my NEW blog (where you'll still find all my posts, pictures, etc!) It's called <a href="http://www.yellowapplepie.wordpress.com/"><span style="color: #cc0000;">www.yellowapplepie.wordpress.com</span></a><br />
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Yup...it has a new name! Don't worry, you'll get used to it quickly and I think it's a little easier to remember:)<br />
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See you there!mommyoflove3http://www.blogger.com/profile/15960147429808863981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675090490996941953.post-31794973961631273162016-02-02T07:40:00.005-06:002016-02-02T07:40:55.853-06:00100th Day of Homeschooling!I have been wanting to do a homeschooling post for awhile, as we get asked often how it's going and today seems perfect since it's the 100th day!! (okay, I started this post yesterday~Monday so...now it was yesterday!)<br />
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We are celebrating because it is a big accomplishment for <i>all </i>of us! We had smoothies and baked oatmeal this morning with "100" in berries on top:) We are doing little fun activities like filling out "100th Day Newspapers" and an estimation/actual sheet on activities done in 100 seconds. The kids are having fun!<br />
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Whenever people ask me how it's going, I have to think about it for a minute because it's hard to know what to say or what not to say. And I tend to babble a bit, afraid I am boring people! Homeschooling is going well overall. I don't always feel that way because just like most other people, we have good days and bad days.<br />
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It's been a big learning curve for us, figuring out how to work with each other in a small space five days a week! The kids can get snippy with each other and I'd be lying if I didn't mention that I can get snippy, too. Our days tend to go better when we start with a devotional and a little prayer:) We have to work hard on being respectful and NOT complaining!<br />
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<span style="color: #741b47;"><b>How do we keep order?</b></span><br />
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Our four rules posted on the wall are:<br />
1. NO complaining<br />
2. Do your best work<br />
3. Have a good attitude<br />
4. Be respectful<br />
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Short and sweet! If they do not follow the rules, the consequences are:<br />
1. You must leave the school room (it is a privilege to be in here!) and you will lose 5 points (we start with 100 points on Mondays) and possibly gain an extra chore for the day.<br />
2. Write 30+ times an apology for the offense. Lose 10+ points.<br />
3. Lose extracurricular activity and/or privilege. Lose 30 points.<br />
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We haven't gotten to number 3 yet, thankfully! They rarely have to do number 2 (that's considered a bad day!) and they really hate to lose points. If they get below 85 by Friday, they are not allowed to have dessert that night or watch a movie/play a game with the family. If they end the week above 100, they get rewards!<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;"><b>What do they study?</b></span><br />
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<br />
<span style="color: #990000;">Instead of investing in an already made up curriculum (which can cost up to $1,000 per child!), I did a ton of research and picked from several different things. Some are free and some I bought used on ebay. The biggest chunk of money I spent was on a new set of math books. The good part is that they will last for several years!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000;">I am always looking for more things to add to our curriculum to make it more fun or to go more in depth. We get a LOT of books from the library! As in, we always have <i>at least </i>30 or more checked out at a time. The library is an amazing resource! We even do their languages through a program at the library. Cool!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000;">If you have any interest in knowing specifically what they study, I am more than happy to share. I just figured it would bore you!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d;"><b>Do we like homeschooling?</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">It was a huge adjustment for us. I knew it would be (because I was told it would be!) but that is different from experiencing it:) Samuel had the hardest time but finally around November, he told me he liked homeschooling. Zakkai has trouble focusing (which wasn't a surprise!) so we have tried to do a few things to help, such as diffusing some calming oils in the schoolroom and he got a portable CD player and good headphones for Christmas so he plays classical music to block out his siblings, which helps a lot! I also separate them when I can:)</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394;">I like homeschooling most days. I love that they don't have homework and we don't have to spend our afternoons battling with kids cranky from a whole day at school, hungry, tired, etc. We are done when we are done! I like the extra time with them (mostly) and the extra opportunity to be able to instill the values we want to in them, without constantly having to undo the damage caused at school. And believe me, there was damage! I really like organizing all of our work and doing research for it. I love the people we have been able to connect with this year and all the support from other homeschooling families!</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #0b5394;">What is tough is constantly trying to guard our schedule and often being made to feel like I am this mean old mom who forces who kids to work instead of having fun. I <i>do </i>take this seriously and I have a responsibility to make sure their work gets done and they are learning a lot! I also get very frustrated when the boys mess around and pick fights and have trouble concentrating. It makes the days soooooo much longer! I also feel frustrated with myself often, wondering if I am doing the best I can and feeling the pressure to juggle all three of them, in three different levels of school. Exhausting!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #741b47;"><b>What about Eliana?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #741b47;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: #38761d;">Eliana, I have to admit, has had it easy this year. It has been so challenging to just get the boys going that she has had several days where I don't make her do anything. I always feel guilty but it is what it is and I am <i>trying </i>to have some grace for myself!</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #38761d;">She has workbooks she has been working through, Pre-K and Kindergarten and she loves doing several pages a day in those. She has flashcards with sight words on them that we go through and I try to do a letter of the week with words to practice writing and an art craft! Unfortunately, it's a little slower than I was aiming for:)</span><br />
<span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #38761d;"> She also participates in our Road Trip USA history curriculum and loves learning the states/capitals and coloring a sheet for each state. She knows some of her stuff better than the boys! She also listens in on Spanish most of the time and recently I got her a special book to work on her reading and she <i>loves </i>our reading lessons! I will be working hard to develop a curriculum for her kindergarten year next year and really incorporate her into the school day more. I will definitely need some prayers for wisdom for that because it can be overwhelming!!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">All in all, things are going well and we are all learning and growing together. Please feel free to ask any questions you have!!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span>mommyoflove3http://www.blogger.com/profile/15960147429808863981noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675090490996941953.post-72314198463475411232016-01-26T13:31:00.000-06:002016-01-26T15:10:18.220-06:00Oliver Twist! Warning! There is kitten cuteness overload ahead!!<br />
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Since Christmas, we have been <i>anxiously</i> awaiting our weekend of travel to get our new "baby," as we call him:) A week and a half ago, we hopped in the car after Ben got home from work and drove to Chicago. I think most people thought we were a little crazy driving so far for a cat but most people don't really understand what this kitten means to us. It's actually hard to put into words.<br />
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We started dreaming of him when things were falling apart in Chicago and we were making our choice to leave or stay. He became a goal for us, a sign of hope and healing, maybe. So we started our Kitty Jar and all five of us, and a few other people along the way, added to it little by little and it's hard to believe he's finally here!<br />
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We had another good reason for going to Chicago, too~we got to spend a little bit of time with our dear friends, whom we have missed so much! It was far too short of a time but we were able to get in a little play time with their adorable boys and catch up a little over some amazing flourless chocolate cake! (mmmm, my mouth is watering, remembering!<br />
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This was our first glimpse of our baby! The breeder brought him out and we all melted into a puddle and unanimously agreed that he was way cuter than we had hoped for:) He ended up in Ben's arms, purring, while I signed papers, etc. Darling!<br />
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Oliver is a Blue Minx Mitted Ragdoll. The Blue Mitted part means that he has gray ears, a tail and nose, and white "mitts" on his front paws and all white back paws. The minx part means that his fur is a blend of colors (cream, gray and a hint of a brownish-gray color) instead of being just cream (which it would be if he was only blue mitted.) And of course, his eyes are a beautiful blue, as Ragdolls are supposed to be!<br />
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He slept in his carrier almost the whole 7 hours home, except for a brief stint in my arms. I couldn't resist!!<br />
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Look at those baby blues!<br />
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He has quickly adjusted to his new home! His favorite place to sleep is behind my head on my pillow:)<br />
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After a few days, we let him check out our school room and he found a safe spot to nap!<br />
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He is a snuggle-bug! He loves to climb right up by my face and purr his little heart out and sleep! Sometimes he gets into such a deep sleep, he rolls down and I catch him in my hand and he stays asleep:)<br />
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Running up and down the stairs is exhausting!<br />
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He is everything we hoped for and dreamed of and we are all crazy about him! Welcome, Oliver Twist!<br />
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mommyoflove3http://www.blogger.com/profile/15960147429808863981noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675090490996941953.post-58218502451724531262016-01-12T20:22:00.001-06:002016-01-12T20:24:56.368-06:002015 RehashI was thinking that before we got too far into 2016 (it's only 12 days in so that's okay, right?!), I should think about what happened in the past year and pick out some highlights.<br />
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Last Year:<br />
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*We started out the new year deathly ill with the real-deal influenza and still remember the horrors of it a year later!<br />
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*Last January, we <i>finally</i> felt settled enough to begin to get involved in things and come out of our Ohio shell-shock.<br />
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*Zakkai turned 8 last February and got to celebrate with his Lego party on a cold winter night:) It was lots of fun!<br />
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*Zakkai started Tae Kwon Do at the end of March and is now on his 5th belt! It has been SO good for him, in gaining confidence and learning to control his body. He was even brave enough to test by himself this last time which was a big deal!<br />
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*Samuel started baseball in the spring, having only done some recreation baseball at the Y in Chicago. Ben was his assistant coach in the spring <i>and </i>the fall and they really enjoyed it! Samuel definitely grew in his skills and learned to love pitching and first base. He wants to do it again this year!<br />
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*Challenged myself to a huge May Minimalist game and got rid of tons of stuff and had my first garage sale!<br />
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*Samuel turned the big 10 in July, double digits! He got to celebrate with a friend/cousin party at Magic Mountain. He has definitely matured a lot and we begin to see what the dreaded "P" word will look like with him. (hint: emotional!!!) He also has a great sense of humor!<br />
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*We had a rough year at school and in March, knew something had to change for the next year. After months of talking, praying, checking out options, we made our big decision in July to homeschool for 2015-2016. Wow, what a change that has been! It was a rough start the first few weeks, as we did and did not anticipate but we began to see a change for the better after the first month.<br />
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*And...right when we were starting to get into the swing of things, we moved! It has been a <i>great </i>change for us for the most part. We really love our new home. It has lots of great space for us and just feels a lot more like home. Everyone who comes in usually loves it, too:) It's also great for hosting parties, as we have found!<br />
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*We found a science co-op to attend, started this fall and it has made a world of difference in our homeschooling adventure. We have met the <i>nicest </i>families and have learned a lot. Glad we took the plunge on that one!<br />
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*Our Joy-Girl turned FIVE at the end of October, after eagerly anticipating it for at least 6 months:) She had a rockin' Ballerina party, complete with a surprise bouncy castle! Her emotions have been up and down since turning five but she is working on it and is still (mostly) as sweet as sugar:)<br />
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*I also entered the world of building furniture with my re-purposed<a href="http://busyboymom.blogspot.com/2015/06/my-very-favorite-before-and-after.html"> <span id="goog_1136008693"></span><span style="color: #990000;">entertainment center-turned-sewing desk</span></a><span id="goog_1136008694"></span> and my new<span style="color: #990000;"> <a href="http://busyboymom.blogspot.com/2015/12/a-month.html">kitchen island</a></span>. It's really fun and kind of addicting! I already have new ideas for the next project...:)<br />
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*We reconnected with a few old friends, made several new friends and at the very end of the year made a church switch (same church, new campus) and have enjoyed that change. It's been better for all of us.<br />
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And a few silly things:<br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><u>*Favorite books read by me this year:</u></span><br />
"<b>Seven</b>" by Jen Hatmaker. Truly rocked my world. Loved it.<br />
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"<b>The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up</b>" by Marie Kondo. Recommended to me by a few people. It's a Japanese style of approaching de-cluttering and it was really cool! Some parts were...interesting but a lot of it was great and I am using a lot of it in my house and my mom and I are helping other people, too!<br />
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"<b>More Charlotte Mason Education" </b> by Catherine Levison. This was the book that finally made everything click about homeschooling for Ben and I and everything took off from there. It had some really great food for though about our children's education!<br />
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I read a lot more but those are three off the top of my head that really impacted me in different ways.<br />
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This year I am started off with favorite books on a totally different note as I research our family health and eating habits. My current favorites are:<br />
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"<b>It Starts With Food" </b>by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig<br />
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"<b>The Whole30" </b>also by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig. We'll see what comes out of reading these but they are definitely giving me "food for thought." Pun intended, haha!<br />
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<u><span style="color: #0b5394;">Favorite Movies of 2015</span>:</u><br />
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"<b>Inside Out</b>" definitely! We've seen it 3 times!! Once in the movie theater in 3D (in which I discovered I should never ever see 3D movies!) and then on Redbox. It's worth owning so if you haven't seen it yet, do it!! (side note: after watching it again over New Year's break, our little family was talking about our emotions and who we think we are mostly "driven" by and it was such a fun conversation! We all agreed that Eliana is mostly driven by "Joy" and it comes to my mind often as I watch her sing and dance and just enjoy life!)<br />
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"<b>Saving Mr. Banks" </b>I know this wasn't a new movie but it was new for us! It's the story behind Mary Poppins and the author. It was so well-done, even better than we expected and we loved it!<br />
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"<b>The Shop Around the Corner" </b>It's the black-and-white, old version similar to "You've got mail" with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. I loooooved this movie and Ben did, too. We are suckers for old movies!!<br />
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I am not sure what to think yet about this new year in front of us. It will be filled with changes (as years always are) and I must admit I am gun-shy of changes after the last several years but I am hoping to approach a new year with a little more hopefulness and eyes opened to the ways in which God is working.<br />
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Happy New Year!mommyoflove3http://www.blogger.com/profile/15960147429808863981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675090490996941953.post-44484784604530644622016-01-07T13:38:00.003-06:002016-01-07T13:56:09.089-06:00Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I have finally figured out how to get pictures from my phone to my computer, using the good old fashioned usb cord:) I think picture-less blog posts are so boring!<br />
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I made a new tree skirt this year for our tree!I got some fabric last year and never did anything with it (story of my busy life!) but finally decided to spruce up our tree:)<br />
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Funny...I never took a picture of the actual tree! It was pretty and very tall! The tallest tree we have had yet!<br />
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Eliana got shots a couple weeks before Christmas for her 5 year check-up and this was her reaction to the polio shot:( Poor baby!<br />
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Eliana and a couple classmates waiting for ballet class to begin:) So sweet!<br />
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Speaking of sweet.....Eliana had her first ballet recital just before Christmas! It was the casual Christmas recital (and SO cute!) and the fancy recital is in June. Eliana did a great job! Actually Eliana's class did the best out of most of the younger classes, if I don't say so myself:)<br />
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We made cookies over Christmas! Ben took the week off of work and we relaxed and hung out!<br />
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I was sick with a stomach bug on Christmas Eve so I felt pretty crummy on Christmas, unfortunately and had to take most of my Christmas pictures from the couch! The kids have really been into duct tape lately and they made each other (and us) lots of duct tape presents:) Samuel is holding his present from Zakkai~a printed picture of our family in a duct tape frame:)<br />
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Christmas morning at my mom's house. I barely made it but I so hated to miss out on all the fun! (Samuel is wearing his duct tape baseball hat:)<br />
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Eliana and Cousin Evy:)<br />
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The boys with some fun educational toys!<br />
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We also got money for a COSI membership (a really fun local scienc-y museum) so we went last week with a couple of friends. I haven't been since I was a little girl and since they built the new one so it was fun for all of us. Now we know what to do during winter!<br />
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And Zakkai belt-tested this week for his purple belt! For the first time, there was no one else in his group testing so he was all by himself. He was nervous but he did such a great job! We are proud of you, Mr Z!<br />
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We are so proud of him for all that he has learned and the confidence he is gaining!!<br />
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And THIS was our best Christmas surprise of all!!! It was a fun story how God worked it all out and we were able to surprise the kids on Christmas morning with the news that we will be headed to Chicago next weekend to pick up our new baby! (just one). We are so excited to meet our new addition!<br />
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Happy New Year!mommyoflove3http://www.blogger.com/profile/15960147429808863981noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675090490996941953.post-78984416485309338452015-12-08T14:39:00.001-06:002015-12-08T14:39:44.735-06:00A Month?? Hard to believe it's been a month since I last posted! Time is FLYING around here. We are so very busy all the time and it's hard to find a minute to take a breather! I find myself very tired all the time, probably due to the constant brain power required to teach these rascals of mine!<br />
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Here is our past month in pictures!<br />
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Here are my cuties on Halloween:) We have some unidentifiable super hero on the left ($1.30 at the thrift store!), Super Man (borrowed costume!), A Princess/Fairy/Ballerina and....a very austere and thoughtful Monk. Quite a crew!<br />
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It was very chilly out on Halloween night but we were still able to score quite a bit of candy.<br />
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We also took a field trip with our science co-op to Stratton Farms which is a working farm on a forest preserve. It was a really neat place! The kids were broken up in to three different groups and I stayed with Eliana's bunch.<br />
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They got to visit the greenhouse and taste several different plants!<br />
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And they got to feed chickens:) Eliana was pretty nervous at first!<br />
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But she stuck with it and let the chicken get a few nibbles:)<br />
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Their guide also took them into the woods to teach them about plants and to listen for different sounds. Here they are putting on their "deer ears" and listening to bird calls. The kids were like putty in his hands!<br />
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And let's not forget the pigs!<br />
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We finished up with some climbing on giant hay rolls. Who's that silly kid in the background?!<br />
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Playing in the leaves before we go!<br />
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We visited a park on a nice Sunday afternoon and I got my trio riding dinosaurs:)<br />
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We celebrated both of our mom's birthday! We had a nice dinner here with Ben's mom and family and unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures! And my mom turned the big 6-0 and together, with my sisters' help from far away, I threw her a surprise party. It was lots of fun! She is looking beautiful with her "new" teeth! She got her braces off just in time for her birthday!<br />
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And I have been working on a very special project for the past month!! Don't I look very cool in these safety glasses?<br />
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I have been sawing, hammering, drilling lots of screws, sanding, staining and painting!!<br />
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All in my grandpa's very nifty workshop with my stepdad. Wanna know what we were up to??<br />
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Building a kitchen island!! We have a nice square kitchen with very little counter space. I showed my grandpa a picture of what I wanted on my phone, he drew up some plans and my stepdad and I built it!! Here is is before being sanded and painted and put together.<br />
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And here it is all finished! We just brought it home last week:) Isn't it beautiful?!<br />
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We can't believe what a difference it makes in the look of the kitchen and how much space it gives us!<br />
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And this was a peace of amazingly delicious apple pie that my mom and I made at Thanksgiving . time, Mmmm!<br />
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And here is a beautiful Plain City sunset! The sunset and sunrises are so beautiful out here! We definitely love our cute little home:)mommyoflove3http://www.blogger.com/profile/15960147429808863981noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675090490996941953.post-25234268439168191522015-11-06T16:01:00.002-06:002015-11-06T16:01:50.878-06:00Happy Friday! Even though we don't own our house, we have been told by the landlord company to make it our own! They encouraged us to paint the porchswing, so I did!<br />
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Samuel and I both reached for the paint sample at the exact same time:) Great minds think alike!<br />
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I even found a cute little person to model our "new" swing for me:) And oh, the stories I could tell you about this girl! She has turned into a terror since turning 5. The <i>attitude </i>and mean little spirit, oh!:( But we had some good talks about it this week and the past two days have been like night and day. Hallelujah! So thankful to see that her sweet spirit is still there:)<br />
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The handsome guy is just so...grown-up! Speaking of attitudes.....his is much better these days. He had a very rough adjustment to homeschooling but this past month has been SOOO much more enjoyable! He even said he likes it now. Woohoo!<br />
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We are so very busy these days that I am feeling a wee bit overwhelmed. I keep thinking it will pass and then we'll have some quieter weeks but it hasn't happened so far. One day at a time, is my motto.....one day at a time.<br />
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Now I am off to take an even to breathe, eat some homemade pizza and hang out with my long-lost, hard-workin' hubby!mommyoflove3http://www.blogger.com/profile/15960147429808863981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675090490996941953.post-39324566608681342232015-10-25T21:41:00.001-05:002015-10-25T21:42:00.070-05:00Happy Birthday, Eliana!<br />
On Tuesday, our sweetest girl turned FIVE years old! She was a huge grouch the night before and was boycotting birthdays, parties and anything else we suggested but after a good night's sleep, she was on board with having a special day:)<br />
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Her brothers pooled together their money to buy her a little Lego Friends set and they were <i>beyond </i>excited to give it to her. I have serious suspicions that they woke her up just so they could have her open it! She didn't seem to mind too much.<br />
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We did school and other small things in the day but that evening we took her out to eat! She had such a good time, except for when they servers showed up with a candle in some cookies and yelled out a happy birthday song for the whole restaurant to hear! She was seriously mortified. I can only imagine what it would have been like if she was a teenager:) (hey, I'll have to remember that!)<br />
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Today, we finally had her birthday party! She has had her guest list set since the spring and changed the theme from Frozen, to Princess to Ballerina in the mean time. She settled on a Ballerina party and it was SO fun! I love planning a party and coming up with ideas but I am a huge procrastinator and then I dread the party. Then I love it while it's happening and after it's over. I'm weird like that!<br />
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The table was set with pink and purple (and a splash of yellow!), fitting colors for ballerinas!<br />
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I served little cups with berries, pretzels sticks, pink lemonade and homemade vanilla cupcakes with buttercream frosting. As I am delving more and more into "cleaner eating," I am shying away from products with food dyes in them. So after a little research, I found out that blueberries make a beautiful purple color!<br />
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I just simmered a cup of blueberries and 1/2 cup of water in a pan for about 10 minutes, stirring often. Then I poured the blueberry juice through a mesh strainer and pressed the berries until all the juice was out and let it cool. I added it to my buttercream frosting and voila! So pretty!<br />
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Some of our decorations:) Ballerina snowflake/origami!<br />
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Someone was <i>very </i>excited to finally have guest arriving!!<br />
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She invited 5 little girls, ranging between the ages of almost 3 1/2 and 6 years old. (one of the little sisters was too shy to take part in the picture!) They all came in their best tutus and ballet outfits!<br />
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Beautiful Ballerinas!<br />
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First I did a little craft with the girls so it would have time to dry during the party. I had cut out paper leotards before hand in shades of pink and purple. We glued them on white paper and painted their hands and made handprints for tutus.<br />
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It was a big hit and turned out SO cute!<br />
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I love how each little girls' was different and beautiful!<br />
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Next, we went into the living room for a little ballerina story. I read, "Ella Bella Ballerina and Cinderella." (Ella Bella books are very cute for those who love ballet!)<br />
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Love those listening faces:)<br />
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We had soft Nutcracker music playing in the background and I turned it up for some ballet dancing! Eliana led the girls in some stretches first:)<br />
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Then they twirled and danced to their heart's content!<br />
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I copied off of something they do in E's ballet class and pulled out a little stuffed animal to have the girls jump over. Big hit!<br />
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Love her face:) There were LOTS of pictures taken during this time but most were blurry action shots so I'll spare you! We also played, "Ballerina Says" (instead of Simon says) which was so much fun. I started it and then some of the girls wanted to be "Ballerina" and lead the game.<br />
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Next we had cupcake time!<br />
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Love, love this picture! Isn't she precious?<br />
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Blowing the candles out! The girls munched for a little bit and then we corralled them into the living room again for presents! (not hard to do at a party!)<br />
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Surrounded!<br />
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Another Lego Friends set!<br />
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She got lots of fun things from her friends and cousin! Then we asked all the girls to turn around so we could surprise Eliana with her big present from us, my mom and stepdad and Ben's mom.<br />
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Surprise!<br />
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A new play kitchen!! It was so cute to see all 6 girls crowding around having so much fun. We could hardly tear them away! Until..... Wait til you see the next part. My friend's husband happens to own and operate a very cool local business. He just happened to stop by and offered to do something special for the party....<br />
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Ah!! He set up a princess bounce house in our backyard!! (Oh, how much I love having a backyard!!!) I mean seriously, this was the icing on the cake.<br />
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We told the girls there was a special surprise in the backyard and brought them in the kitchen.<br />
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Love their faces when we opened the door! They all screamed and ran outside:)<br />
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What followed was ballerina/princess mania!<br />
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Our happy birthday girl:) I'm pretty sure we'll never top this so that means I don't have to throw another party again, right???<br />
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My friend's adorable little girl!<br />
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Say, "Ballerina!!" What a fun party. It is a joy to be surrounded with family and friends, who take the time to help you celebrate your sweet kids. We are so thankful tonight!mommyoflove3http://www.blogger.com/profile/15960147429808863981noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675090490996941953.post-83615964776549336152015-10-14T15:36:00.001-05:002015-10-14T15:36:44.818-05:00Busy Life!It is a beautiful sunny day here and we just finished school! Some days we get done sooner and other days we fit school in and around errands or visitors, of which we had 3 today! Most of the time, visitors are a <i>welcome </i>break!!<br />
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Here is a picture of our cute house!! We really are loving it here. The space is so nice and is just working better for us, all the way around. The <i>only </i>thing that is bugging me is that we are trying to locate the source of an unpleasant rotten egg smell. The landlords had the plumber out but it hasn't been fixed yet. Hopefully soon! <i> </i><br />
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This is the only picture I have taken of the inside so far:) We are still finishing up unpacking a few last boxes, finding homes for belongings and hanging up pictures. It is really starting to look like a home! Our home;) This is a picture of one wall in the bathroom, where we have tons of built in storage! This takes the place of a hall closet, which we don't have. I do like the large bathroom a lot.<br />
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We had a chance to go apple picking the day after our move briefly. We were <i>really </i>tired but we absolutely cannot pass up a chance to get fresh apples! We may possibly have gone twice this year:)<br />
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Cute Mr. Z!<br />
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Samuel pretending to eat an apple to make daddy jealous!<br />
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Cutie Patootie!<br />
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My mom adores her apples, too!<br />
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This was the first apple picking. It was much warmer that day!<br />
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Zakkai enjoyed trying to climb up to find the most perfect apples!<br />
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Checking out how tall everyone is! (or isn't....:)<br />
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Getting taller....<br />
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And taller!! This kid is catching up to me quickly!<br />
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We have a cute backyard to mow now. We were able to get an old push mower at an auction for $6! Zakkai LOVES to mow the lawn and begs to do so any chance he gets. This was the day we got it and he seriously spent at least an hour mowing that day:)<br />
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Z letting Eliana help:)<br />
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Mr Z also belt-tested last week for his green belt!<br />
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He did really well and is very proud of his new belt (which he was about to receive in this pic!) He is starting some new fun things with this next belt, including using sticks for special routines. We are so thankful that he has the opportunity to do this!<br />
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We have officially entered the "busy season" of our life. We were in denial for awhile, fooling ourselves into thinking it was temporary but we looked at each other this past weekend and said, "I think it's going to be this way for the next several years!" (possibly with a sigh and a groan!<br />
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Between settling in to our new place, school, TKD, baseball, ballet, and Awana, our days and evening are really full. We may or may not be looking forward to the end of baseball season so we can have a couple of our weeknights back again. Thank the Lord for fall and winter!!<br />
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Remind me I said this when we are knee-deep in snow in a few months:)mommyoflove3http://www.blogger.com/profile/15960147429808863981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675090490996941953.post-9720622717257148722015-10-05T20:40:00.000-05:002015-10-05T20:40:47.655-05:00New House!We are all moved in and finally got our internet hooked up today! As much as I try not to be too techy-internety, it is amazing how hard it is to live without!<br />
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We are settling in little by little. We even hung our first thing on the wall yesterday:) One very good sign about this place is that we are rapidly giving away/recyling our boxes. A year ago when we moved, I saved every single box that was salvageable! We all really love it here and can't wait to show pictures:)<br />
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One crazy thing we have done is to put all three kids in the SAME room!! It is a huge room so Eliana has her own cute girly corner and the boys have their stinky boys corner. (Hey, boys really are stinky!!) They all LOOOOVE it! Eliana so much that it's hard to get her to go to sleep. But that's really not a new thing with her.....She was super lonely in her old bedroom and would constantly say, "Mommy, I'm all alone in here with just my elephants and Hoppy and my stuffed animals and no persons!"<br />
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We are using the 3rd bedroom as our study/school room! We have some adorable old fashioned school desks that my mom got for the kids and our bookshelves and it is really wonderful. It is so much better than having it in our kitchen!<br />
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The layout of our new-to us (but really old!) house is much better than our last place. It has really cool nooks and crannies and built in shelves and cabinets, which I just love. We have adjusted really easily so far to having just one bathroom. That's right folks, just <i>one </i>bathroom for all five of us! It's a huge bathroom and has lots of storage and I am thrilled to pieces to not have to clean three bathrooms anymore:)<br />
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We are trying to get back into school routines and life routines again. Everything gets thrown so out of whack when you move! This is going to be a good change for us, I think. We are very thankful! Pictures soon!<br />
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<span id="goog_2077444775"></span><span id="goog_2077444776"></span><br />mommyoflove3http://www.blogger.com/profile/15960147429808863981noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675090490996941953.post-73300524637093225292015-09-25T20:11:00.001-05:002015-09-25T20:11:28.241-05:00Camping! And moving! We have been buuuuuusy! When we looked at the calendar at the end of August for this month, we felt really overwhelmed. But here we are....the day before moving day and we are still alive! But first, last weekend we went camping! Ben took his very first earned vacation day last Thursday and we took our long awaited camping trip, which had to be rescheduled because of all the rain this summer.<br />
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The boys got to sleep in their very own tent this time. They begged to be allowed to set it up themselves so we let them! They did a really good job:)<br />
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The end result! It's a very cozy tent, made for 2 to sleep side by side with little extra room so as they grow, we will probably have to upgrade. They were so proud of themselves!<br />
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My mom and Derek upgraded to a tent with a sunscreened porch:) They also had a hammock, which was a big hit!<br />
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Nothing in the world like a good campfire and s'mores!<br />
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We didn't go too far from home but it felt like another place! There was a nice trail to hike so we went on a long walk on Friday.</div>
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My stepdad loves to take pictures for possible paintings so I snapped him snapping pictures:)<br />
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Samuel with his walking stick! We all found good walking sticks for the weekend:)<br />
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Eliana and her daddy!<br />
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Love, love this pictures!!<br />
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We brought along the kids' nature journals and had them write observations about flowers, bugs and other things like these deer tracks. Camping is definitely educational!<br />
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Everyone hiking. We went with my mom, stepdad, my brother in law and niece. It was a fun crew!<br />
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Everyone admiring the scenery!<br />
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Eliana is such good buddies with her cousin Evy. They had the best time together!!<br />
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The boys were helping to blow up the swimming pool for the girls. It was pretty warm on Friday so it was perfect to cool off for a bit. Can you guess who's legs and who's arms those are?? (hint; it's a trick question!)<br />
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Derek took this gorgeous picture!<br />
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And here's Ben fully enjoying his brief vacation:) He took a nice long nap on Friday!<br />
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We only stayed 2 days so that we could still have a weekend, too. It was a short and sweet trip! We felt good about our camping skills this time:) Ben and I invested in a double sleeping bag which made sleeping SO much better! Now we don't have to drag along sheets, blankets, etc and be huddled shivering all night. Definitely recommend one!<br />
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We came back from camping and our whole week has been spent trying to balance school (more on that another time) and getting ready for moving this weekend. It has been CRAZY. As a matter of fact, I have to scram and finish getting ready for our moving help to come in the morning. Ah! Can't wait! This is going to be a fun place to live!!<br />
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Pictures coming soon! (a.k.a. after the internet is installed, which won't be for another week and a half:)mommyoflove3http://www.blogger.com/profile/15960147429808863981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675090490996941953.post-60033583010510451432015-09-08T20:51:00.001-05:002015-09-08T20:51:32.739-05:00Sports! We were not able to get our kids in sports much in Chicago, other than a few little classes through the Y. We were determined to change that this year! Zakkai, as you know, is now in Tae Kwon Do and he goes 2x's a week and is doing really well! He is currently a gold belt and will be testing at the beginning of October to become a green belt! I will be sure to post pictures:)<br />
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Eliana just got to start her very own, much-desired "sport" (as she calls it) last week! She is <i>finally </i>taking ballet! She is in a 4/5 year old ballet/tap combo class. She has her second class tomorrow and she is SOOOO excited! It's pretty much all she talks about.<br />
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Pretty in pink! Love that soft little belly:) Mr Z had one at this age, too and now he's a skinny as a beanpole!<br />
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She walked right in a sat down. I got to watch through a window the whole time and could <i>not </i>stop smiling:)<br />
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Practicing at the barre with her tap shoes!<br />
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She learned curtsying, walking on tip-toes, balancing, stretching and some tapping. It was just plain old the cutest thing I've ever seen! I can assure you that I will be posting more on this!<br />
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Samuel just started fall ball (baseball) a couple weeks ago and last Thursday was their first game. His new team are the "Green Dragons." Samuel wasn't thrilled about the new team name (change is hard for him!) but after the game, he was feeling much better about it!<br />
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His batting has improved a lot since he first started in April!<br />
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He even got to pitch for one of the innings! He says he wants to pitch or play first base so he and Ben have been working hard. His current coach (Ben is an assistant again) is letting all the kids try different positions for a few weeks and then will place them where they fit best. It seems like it will be much better than his last team, where favorites were definitely played and the same three kids got the best positions all season.<br />
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Samuel pitched SO well! He threw more strikes than any of the other pitchers and was named 'Most Effective Pitcher' of the night! He was <i>very </i>proud and so were we:)<br />
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They did lose the game but you wouldn't have known it from these kids' faces! They got some great hits and catches in and were proud of their hard work. Go Green Dragons!mommyoflove3http://www.blogger.com/profile/15960147429808863981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675090490996941953.post-62160966680485050832015-08-26T20:59:00.002-05:002015-08-26T20:59:32.721-05:00Fullness!We just finished Day 6 of the "Thomas Family Homeschool," as the heading of some of our worksheets say. (thanks to Daddy!) Things are going really well so far. Mostly. It is definitely going to take some time to adjust to the schedule, get the boys back into the routine of working again and figure out how to protect our school time from other intrusions and fit in other responsibilities.<br />
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The first day, last Wednesday, the boys and I just went over everything that we are going to do for the year. I showed them their binders that I put together, all the books I got, talked about the different subjects we will cover, let them ask questions, etc. It took longer than I thought it would and I was totally exhausted at the end of it!!:)<br />
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Thursday we did a little work in the a.m. and then had to take Eliana to the dr for yet another ridiculous mosquito reaction!<br />
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That is just one mosquito bite! It went from the size of a pea right before she went to bed Wed night, a quarter by Thurs morning and an apple by Friday morning! It was really hot to the touch and swollen and she was beyond miserable, crying that it hurt her so bad. We got a cream to help her and it is mostly gone now!<br />
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We had our lighter school schedule Friday and started full-time Monday. We have definitely had some meltdowns and attitude issues but we are working on that. I have already had to tweak a couple things with our schedule to make things run more smoothly and I think I will have to do that a few more times these first few weeks, as we figure out what works/what doesn't work.<br />
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I told the boys that I think they've learned more in the last 6 days than they did in 6 months last year!! You think I am joking....<br />
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We start out our mornings, after breakfast and exercise (MWF) with devotional/prayer time (definitely the best way to start out the day!), followed by calendar time. During that time we fill in daily planners, mark the day, weather, etc. and get ready to start! Monday through Thursday, the boys are doing English, Math, Spelling, Literature/Reading, Writing/Narration, Science, History/Geography and some kind of fine arts. Most subjects are in 20 minute increments. Just enough to get good work done, not enough to overwhelm them! (or me...)<br />
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The boys are learning Latin and Spanish. Ben does the former, I am doing the latter with the boys using a really neat language program called <i>Mango </i>that we access for free through the library! I am really amazed at how quickly they pick up on the language. They may complain about having to do two languages sometimes but they actually mostly enjoy it. And if they think <i>two </i>is hard, they have nothin' on their Daddy! He learned at least 9 over the course of his Ph.D!<br />
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(Z working on spelling words. They choose a different way to practice every day!)<br />
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<span style="color: #741b47;">Little Sweetie Pie is doing homeschooling, too! We weren't able to send her to her preschool for financial reason along with the disruption to our schooling schedule it would cause. It was a hard choice for us but she is very happy to be home with us learning! She has worksheets that she does and her own little pink binder:) She <i>loves </i>to pull it out each day and practice writing her name (she is working on lower case letters) and doing her worksheets. I plan to do the Alphabet Weeks with her that I did with the boys when they were younger, just a little more advanced. It should be fun!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #741b47;">It's definitely a lot of work and I feel very much in need of some quiet time in the afternoons when we are done but it is really rewarding and fun sometimes. They are getting to do things they never did in school and we are so involved now in what they are learning. Yesterday for example, for science/nature study, we took our nature books and went out in the backyard and observed the clouds. We talked about what they looked like, drew pictures and looked in our cloud books to see if we could identify them. We sat on the swings and the different levels of the playgym and it was peaceful, quiet and lovely! Who gets to do that in school?!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I am hoping we settle into our routines quickly because I need to get a move on packing! We move in 4 weeks. I tend to think of all that I need to do right when I am trying to fall asleep at night and work myself into a slight panic:) Moving is never easy and I tend to want to put off packing and all the little details until a little closer to time but I think it would behoove me to do it little by little since my days are so full now! Thankfully, we saved all our boxes from last year so that is <i>one </i>less thing I have to do.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d;">A beautiful sunset we saw in Plain City the other night on our way home!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d;">Life is very full and getting fuller by the day it seems but we are thankful and taking things one day at a time! Happy Wednesday!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d;"><br /></span>mommyoflove3http://www.blogger.com/profile/15960147429808863981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675090490996941953.post-36220495123704483962015-08-14T20:35:00.004-05:002016-01-12T20:02:55.770-06:00Our Exciting Life;)SHE..<br />
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a.k.a. Miss Adorable Ray of Sunshine!</div>
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gets eaten alive by mosquitos!<br />
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They think she is an extra-special tasty treat (which she is, of course) and she reacts so strongly, even to the point of blistering and scarring! <i>Poor</i> baby! It has been a miserably itchy summer for her!<br />
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HE (Mr. Warring-with-staying-small-and-growing-up-all-at-the-same-time)<br />
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looks like he came out of a war zone every time he rides his bike! This is only <i>one </i>of the wounds on his body right now! Sheesh.</div>
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SHEgoes wherever she pleases in her ballet costume, even to the park:) And quite frankly, it doesn't bother me! She is only four once....<br />
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We saw this little beauty at the park the other day...<br />
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<h1 class="page__title title" id="page-title">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">So beautiful!</span></span></h1>
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I am taking full advantage of the fresh summer fruits to make delicious things like this!<br />
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<i>Oh</i> yes.<br />
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And HE (a.k.a. Mr.-Imagination-Central) has learned how to cook eggs (and so has his brother) and that's <i>all </i>they want to eat! All day, every day! I need chickens!!<br />
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You can see that we are getting ready for school to start very, very soon! I am working so hard to organize this all!!!<br />
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We became officially official today!<br />
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And we really really need bookshelves!!!<br />
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And last but not least....WE are moving again! We are like the king and queen of moving, blech! As in, in this will be our 10th move since we were married....12 1/2 years ago. We lived in one cute little condo in Ohio as newlyweds. Four months after our I do's, we moved to Indiana for school and had a cozy apartment for 1 1/2 years. We left that sleazy landlord infested apartment for a teeny little duplex 6 months before we moved to Chicago. And that's where Samuel was born. When he was 8 weeks old, we moved sigh-unseen to an apartment in Chicago, where our rent immediately <i>doubled. </i>(yea, Chicago). We traded in that apartment for a slightly larger one the floor above after Zakkai was born and there we stayed for a couple of years.</div>
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Then once the boys started getting into <a href="http://busyboymom.blogspot.com/2009/10/first-day-of-school.html">school</a>, we had to navigate the muddy lottery Chicago school system and move to get <i>into</i> a school. We lasted one year in Ukranian Village, where <a href="http://busyboymom.blogspot.com/2010/10/bringing-home-baby.html"><span style="color: #a64d79;">Eliana was born</span></a> (and where we braved our first<a href="http://busyboymom.blogspot.com/2011/02/snow-day.html"><span style="color: #990000;"> blizzard</span></a>!) before heading to the Western Suburbs so the boys could go to a good <i>non-</i>Chicago public school. And there we stayed for 3 years until our move back to Ohio and into my grandparent's basement last summer. We roomed with them for 2 1/2 months before we found our current condo, where we'll have been for one year at the end of this month. Whew!!! Anyone else tired??</div>
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We are <i>very</i> much hoping and praying that this will be the last move before we can buy a home of our own in the next couple of years. But for now, this is a huge answer to prayer! Not <i>only </i>does it have a fenced-in backyard (oh yea!) and a porch swing (which they said we can paint a fun color!!) but it is a HOUSE (which we have never lived in!!) AND we will be saving over $300 per month from what we pay now. Can I get an Amen?!!</div>
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We have 7 weeks to pack up our much-reduced belongings (hooray!), get into a good school routine, start Fall baseball with S, start Awana back up, go camping and then we move!</div>
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Who ever said life is boring? Not me!</div>
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mommyoflove3http://www.blogger.com/profile/15960147429808863981noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675090490996941953.post-28270300707581517542015-08-04T12:48:00.001-05:002015-08-04T12:48:06.784-05:00August Fun!Summer is rolling right along! It is pretty crazy how quickly July flew by and now school supply signs are up in every store. Speaking of school supplies.....we don't have to go buy some huge crazy, specific list!! Somehow I have a really good stockpile of notebooks and pencils, folders and binders so I think we are pretty good. The supplies we will need will probably be more for science experiments and such:)<br />
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We went swimming last week...twice! The first time was at my friend's in-law's pool. It was nice to not have to share pool space with a bazillion other people! It was a mostly fun time (more on that in a sec....)<br />
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Swimming time wouldn't be complete with out goggles and noodles!<br />
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S getting ready to dive....<br />
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Woo!<br />
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Big splash:)<br />
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They did NOT want to go home!<br />
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Eliana sitting on her towel eating lunch with her friend Olivia;) As I mentioned, we <i>mostly </i>had a great time. We haven't been able to afford many swim lessons with the kids. Only a few sessions for the boys and none for Eliana. Samuel has grown in confidence since last summer with swimming but Zakkai has not.<br />
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When we first got there, we lathered on sunscreen and then I told the kids they had to wait with my friend while I ran into the bathroom before they could get in the pool. I came back out a couple minutes later to find Zakkai in the water at the edge of the pool, with my friend, still dressed in her cover-up, holding him from behind!<br />
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Apparently, he had reached over the edge of the deep end to get a pool noodle or something and fell in headfirst!! Samuel saw him a second later and yelled but no one heard him. Then Z was able to get out a scream for help and my friend dove in. He was <i>very </i>shaken up, as was I!<br />
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So, then he was totally fine swimming with a pool noodle the rest of the time until about 20 minutes before we were going to leave, when he got to close to the slide down into the deep end (where the floor of the pool slides down) and he slid down and <i>screamed </i> and totally panicked! My friend and I reached him at the same time and got him out and calmed down and then we practiced swimming with him the rest of the time. He didn't want to go back in at first but we made him practice his strokes and he was improving by the end!<br />
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He was a mess the rest of the night. Teary and emotional. We put him to bed early but he came back down crying and needed another prayer and a long hug:(<br />
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We went swimming again this weekend with friends at the public pool and he did completely fine and had a fun time! We definitely need to work on his confidence so this doesn't happen again!<br />
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I had a cleaning job the other day at my uncle's parent's house and they put out bubbles for the kiddos to play with. They were blowing some huge bubbles!!<br />
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Samuel's first sunflower bloomed!<br />
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Eliana and cousin Evy playing my piano:)<br />
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Swinging at the park!<br />
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A day at the splashpad a couple weeks ago!<br />
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Water play outside on a day we were stuck at home!<br />
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Exhausted after a busy week and a family dinner on Friday night! :)<br />
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My amazing Vitamix!!! We throw all kind of things in there. This one looks like coconut milk, spinach, carrots, grapes, apples, strawberries, pineapple, flax seed and a little honey, etc.<br />
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And it turns into this!! It's a different color every day:) So yummy!!<br />
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I am trying to find more ways to fight the on-going budget battle so I decided to make napkins so we can re-use them! It took awhile because we have been SO busy lately but I finally finished them last week! 15 napkins made out of some of Ben's old dress shirts, an old pillowcase and some fat quarters:)<br />
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Have a great day!<br />
<br />mommyoflove3http://www.blogger.com/profile/15960147429808863981noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675090490996941953.post-31209488606489950152015-07-27T19:47:00.001-05:002015-07-27T20:03:04.823-05:00Big News!! (and the story behind it!)<span style="color: #0b5394;">No, we are not having number four. How dare you think such a thing?? Moving on!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">Whilst (like that word?) we are still in the midst of making some decisions for our family/future, we have decided on one <em>very </em>big thing. As you might recall, I blogged a time or two about the rough year we had in terms of the boys' education. It was, quite frankly, an extremely discouraging, frustrating year!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">It started out okay but quickly deteriorated into almost daily complaints of, "I'm so bored!" or "I don't like school." or "I don't want to go to school anymore." We worked hard with the boys on their attitudes while simultaneously assuring them that we were in their corner fighting hard! We had teacher conferences, chats with the principal and even a couple fruitless calls to the superintendent's office before coming to the conclusion this past March that something <em>had </em>to change and quickly!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;">We began a several month process of checking out other schools, intense prayer, countless conversations discussing our options and also keeping the boys in loop as much as we could. We found one school that excelled impressively in academics and we went so far as to go for a tour and had the boys take placement tests. We even took a whole month to fill out the paperwork! They were immediately accepted and offered spots. We let them keep the spots while we continued to pray and talk to people. People encouraged us and listened and offered advice.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #741b47;">Still, even though they were officially enrolled, I hesitated that last month and a half of school, to say anything to their current school, not feeling fully at peace. The last day of school, I prayed <em>all </em>day about what to say and if this was the right decision to pull them out. We did go through major life changes in this past year, after all! Was it the right decision to toss in another big change so soon??</span><br />
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<span style="color: #741b47;">I went to the boys' school about a half an hour before it let out and when I walked into the office, was immediately greeted by the school receptionist, who had been <em>so </em>welcoming and kind to me all year! I asked her what the process for withdrawal was and she asked what school we were thinking of sending them to. I told her and immediately her facial expression and tone of voice became cloaked in careful politeness and cautiousness. She agreed that it was an excellent school academically but when I asked if she had known anyone who had gone there, she said her grandchildren! And then she invited me to sit next to her while she described their experience.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #741b47;">Her every word confirmed the fears that we had about the school and it's atmosphere of pressure and competitiveness. The principal is well known for caring only for test scores and not for the child his/herself. She had twin granddaughters in the school and they began to exhibit aggressive behavior at home, etc. After a heartbreaking scene at the kindergarten graduation, where one twin was brought forward with a small group and applauded over how smart they were and the rest of the class, including the other twin was left at the back of the stage and told they needed to step it up to be more like the "smarter" group, the family knew they had to do something and quick. They contacted the principal, who basically said in response, "If you don't like it, get out." So they did.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #741b47;">Mrs Jones (the school receptionist) looked at me very sincerely and said, "I heard you mention that you had been praying about this decision?" and at my nod she added, "If you are looking to raise your children with all of the morals and values that come with Christianity, that is <em>not </em>the school for you." And then she finished it with a gentle hand on my arm and a whisper, "I'll be praying for you."</span><br />
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<span style="color: #741b47;">Um, can we say an answer to prayer?? I picked up the boys, got in the car, called Ben and told him the story and we said, "Okay, that's not the answer." We felt immediate peace over the decision and called the school the next Monday to withdraw them.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d;">So what were our next options? Moving to another district? Keeping them at the same school and hoping it turned out better next year? There was one other option. A little seed of though that popped into my mind back in March, that we discussed off and on, not sure whether it was feasible or not. Until now.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d;">We have spent the summer praying, asking, researching, meeting with people and finally in the last two weeks, we have made our decision and it's a big one! Ready??</span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d;">We are going to be homeschooling.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d;"> ( I thought it was a funny picture!)</span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I know, right? You are my first peeps to know, other than our moms, and everyone's support would mean the world to us! I never ever would've considered it, had we stayed in a school like the one the boys were in while we were living in IL. They were thriving and loving school and were happy. And so were we. Great teachers, advanced classes, etc.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d;">And everything took such a turn for the worse this year. Education has become dumbed down, especially where we are, to minister to the large population of English-as-a-second-language kids. And that's fine.....as long as you don't throw the other kids under the bus! So the lack of education (kind of important to us!) coupled with the scary changes and shifts in our culture and what children are beginning to be taught were enough for us to take homeschooling seriously. The things Samuel came home telling me this year have been so difficult (and would break your heart!) and he is still struggling a lot with it all.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d;">I really had to examine my reasons for it. Was it to shelter our kids so they would stop being exposed to things at such impressionable ages? Was I being realistic about it or cloaking it in some fairytale story in my mind? After a lot (I mean, a lot!) of prayer, we feel very much at peace for our reasons behind our decision. We feel that it is not only our right, but our responsibility, to give our children a firm foundation (and in our home, that means a Christian foundation centered around Jesus) and a great education. Not a dumbed down one based on test scores. And no more of the school telling our children what is right and wrong and what they are allowed to believe or not to believe. That is <em>our </em>responsibility as parents and we take it very seriously. Not forcing our children to take on our beliefs but encouraging them, teaching them, raising them up in and modeling for them our beliefs, with the hopes and prayers that they will decide to love God for themselves as they go out into the world. (i.e. making their faith their <i>own </i>and not an umbrella faith!)</span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d;">Last week, I was <em>begging </em>God to guide me through the overwhelming amount of curriculums and be able to choose what is right for us. The curriculums out there on the market go to all extremes. Extremely conservative Christian curriculums where it's all laid out for you and everything is filtered very carefully to ultra-secular where anything goes. We wanted neither!!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d;">In the middle of last week, I was reading some homeschooling methods and curriculum methods to Ben while we were in the kitchen and all of the sudden, bam, we hit on one where we both said, "Yes!" and Ben really truly jumped on board with me. Another few days and everything just fell into place. We are praying for provision for our year and wisdom as we undertake this monumental task (or mostly me!) and we would so appreciate your prayers with us!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #38761d;">Next time, I'll blog about the method that we have chosen and the philosophies behind it. So excited! And nervous, and peaceful and everything all mixed up in one! We can't wait!</span>mommyoflove3http://www.blogger.com/profile/15960147429808863981noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675090490996941953.post-64988308293865218512015-07-22T14:26:00.002-05:002015-07-22T14:26:37.274-05:00A Fun Birthday Present! By "fun birthday present," you may have assumed I was talking about my Vitamix (which is the most totally awesome machine <i>ever!) </i>but no, I am talking about another birthday present. <i>Samuel's </i>birthday present!<br />
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Ben's mom went in with us on a very fun birthday outing for Samuel! This past Sunday, we headed down to Cincinnati for the day to watch a Red's game!! It was the first major league baseball game for Eliana and I to go to and the first Reds home game for the boys.<br />
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Within probably 15 minutes of the game starting, thunder started rumbling fiercely, followed by lightening. They quickly covered the field and asked all of us to take cover down by all the concessions, etc. So we huddled along with thousands of other people and watch the storm slowly move over the field, soaking it and then when it stopped, we went back to our (wet) seats and watched the fascinating process of the many workers uncovering the field. It was actually really fun to watch!<br />
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As you can see, all 3 of my guys had Reds shirts on:) We all inherited the Reds as our team because Ben loves them (although if you asked him this year, he would tell you they stink!)<br />
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Eliana and I don't have Reds shirts, as you can see:) After the rain went away, the sun came out and it was SOOOO hot and humid! We were literally dripping in sweat and had to keep reapplying sunscreen through the afternoon. I had to keep taking Eliana down where they had this humongous fan that blew mist out. There were crowds of people around it, trying to cool off!<br />
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We drank so much water, it wasn't funny! The game was really exciting to watch and made all the more fun with the announcements, fun music ditties they play here and there and crowd shots. The cameras did silly things like the "smile cam" or the "kiss cam." It was fun to watch! We were a little too high up to have the cameras make it to us, bummer.<br />
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One of the most fun things about the game was the home run that Suarez (a Reds player) got. They make a huge deal of home runs, shooting off fireworks, etc. It was awesome! Also, the relief pitcher, Chapman, who comes out for the last inning or two to finish the game threw his 500th strike which was the fastest record in MLB history. He was a fun pitcher to watch! We even got to see him throw a few 100 mph balls! (all the pics are on Ben's phone though) Zakkai was so fascinated with watching the speeds of the balls so he was thrilled to see it reach 100! (and so was I, quite frankly:)<br />
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We lasted the whole game (11 innings!), only to have the Reds lose but it was still a blast and the kids all got certificates saying it was their first game and/or happy birthday. We were all hot and sweaty and exhausted by the time we left (it was almost a 5 1/2 hour game!) We got in bed late but happy and full of memories:)<br />
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Go Reds! (or as Ben says, those Stinking Reds!) haha.mommyoflove3http://www.blogger.com/profile/15960147429808863981noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675090490996941953.post-8535665110915919922015-07-14T09:26:00.004-05:002015-07-14T09:26:58.600-05:00Updates on the Thomas Clan!I have to admit, I have been very tempted these past 2 weeks to just walk away from my blog forever and not come back. And yet, sigh, here I am again. I just can't seem to completely stay away! I am just not sure at all the direction this blog should take, or if it's worth the effort or if I should re-think what the purpose of this blog is for. I have to think about this!<br />
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Pictures aren't working as usual so you'll have to excuse me for the wordiness!<br />
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We have been super busy this summer and this is the first week in over a month that we have been able to have a couple of days to just breathe. Yesterday, all we did was go over to my mom's to give her animals some TLC (she's out of town for a week and my stepdad works all day) and the boys poop-scooped for a little moolah. Wow, so exciting! Woo!<br />
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Today is quiet, too and I am thankful. As much as we loved having family in town, it is tiring to go go go everyday. Not to mention that we totally blew our budget on all the extra little ice cream trips and fun little things that go along with visiting family and holidays! Ouch.<br />
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We celebrated a couple of bdays last week. Our Samuel turned TEN last Monday! He is growing up so fast. His interests are changing, his attitude is varying day by day, he's shooting up as fast as his sunflower plant outside, he is torn between growing up and staying a little kid! He even got kind of sad on the night of his birthday and said he didn't want to be 10! But that is totally my mini-me right there. I didn't want to grow up either. I was so sure I was going to live at home forever:) He's a fun kid though. He gets more subtle humor now, which is fun and he has been so good about sharing what he thinks about/worries about; usually right at bedtime. We love that he thinks about things seriously and really wants to do the right thing and love God. <br />
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We had a Magic Mountain party for Samuel the Friday before his bday with his cousins, Mr Z and two friends from school. Magic Mountain is a fun place with an arcade, go karts, laser tag, bumper boats, etc. Everyone seemed to have a really great time! The only thing Samuel didn't like was that he wasn't quite tall enough for Go Karts so he had to ride the Rookie Karts and got stuck with the slowest one! Bummer. Other than that, he had a great time.<br />
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On Wednesday, I turned...older. I admit I wasn't in a very good mood all day. For a number of reasons. I just woke up not excited at all and feeling a wee bit grouchy. But by the end of the day, I was feeling good! Ben got friends and family together and they all went in on a Vitamix for me and (all Ben's idea!) we had a smoothie party that night. I was nervous because we don't have a great place for entertaining because it's very small and closed in downstairs and the parking situation is yuck but it all worked out! We crammed in 21 people (including us!) and cranked out smoothies and milkshakes all night! We made at least 6 kinds, I think. It was SO so fun. It was funny though because everyone was like, "Yeah, bring on more smoothies!" and then all at once, everyone reached their limit and were just done:)<br />
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Can I just say, that I could totally be a Vitamix Spokeswoman?? I ADORE my Vitamix!! I have had my eye on one forever, it seems. I just can't even believe the night and day difference between it and my old blender. The blender worked decently for the past 5 years for us but it never mixed smoothies really well (you know, hunks of ice left in it and floating pieces of spinach....not exactly conducive for yumminess!) The Vitamix is freaking awesome! The consistency is absolutely amazing and I can't believe what we can put in there and have it taste awesome! We put in fresh fruit, veggies, frozen fruits, ice, etc and wow. Everyday, wow! It makes so much and blends it to perfection and I just love that we are getting more fruits and veggies in our bodies than ever.<br />
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Our whole family is rocking' the smoothie love every day. No one can get enough! I really can't say enough about it and how much everyone should have one:) Okay, ad over now! (Can I get Vitamix to hire me???)<br />
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Let's see, other news....we are on the brink of making some really big decisions and oh, it's a bit stressful! I guess I just need to get used to the fact that life <em>is </em>stressful as an adult and there aren't going to be many times where things come easily or run peacefully. Not for our life anyways! We are trying to be at peace with the fact that for some reason, God has the Thomas family on the slow track. (i.e. Sllllloooooowwwwww.)<br />
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Nothing comes easily to us, as it seems to for most of the people we know. Jobs, houses, settledness, etc. Now, I know that those are external things and that we are learning some invaluable spiritual lessons, things we are passing on to our children. And I am truly thankful for that. I don't <em>want </em>everything handed to me on a platter!<br />
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However....if I am really honest (which you know I like to be!), I would say that it would be nice to not have to struggle so hard to make ends meet or to have this giant school debt breathing down our necks or to be able to easily put our kids in sports or preschool or whatnot or to have a little home of our own so that we don't have to throw away our hard-earned money anymore.<br />
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The good news is that while some of the things we face are tough and quite honestly, discouraging, we aren't knocked down and devastated. We are just really trying to take things one day at a time and trust God to care for us and guide us in this great unknown journey of ours. A favorite verse(s) that I read yesterday:<br />
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Lamentations 3:21-25<br /><span class="text Lam-3-21" id="en-ESV-20376"><sup class="versenum">"21 </sup>But this I call to mind,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text Lam-3-21">and <sup class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-20376B" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-20376B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)"></sup>therefore I have hope:</span></span><br />
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<span class="text Lam-3-22" id="en-ESV-20377"><sup class="versenum">22 </sup><sup class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-20377C" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-20377C" title="See cross-reference C">C</a>)"></sup>The steadfast love of the <span class="small-caps" style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> never ceases;<sup class="footnote" data-fn="#fen-ESV-20377a" data-link="[<a href="#fen-ESV-20377a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]">[<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Lamentations+3%3A20-25&version=ESV#fen-ESV-20377a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]</sup></span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text Lam-3-22"><sup class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-20377D" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-20377D" title="See cross-reference D">D</a>)"></sup>his mercies never come to an end;</span></span><br /><span class="text Lam-3-23" id="en-ESV-20378"><sup class="versenum">23 </sup>they are new <sup class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-20378E" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-20378E" title="See cross-reference E">E</a>)"></sup>every morning;</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text Lam-3-23"><sup class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-20378F" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-20378F" title="See cross-reference F">F</a>)"></sup>great is your faithfulness.</span></span><br /><span class="text Lam-3-24" id="en-ESV-20379"><sup class="versenum">24 </sup><sup class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-20379G" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-20379G" title="See cross-reference G">G</a>)"></sup>“The <span class="small-caps" style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> is my portion,” says my soul,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text Lam-3-24"><sup class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-20379H" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-20379H" title="See cross-reference H">H</a>)"></sup>“therefore I will hope in him.”</span></span></div>
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<span class="text Lam-3-25" id="en-ESV-20380"><sup class="versenum">25 </sup>The <span class="small-caps" style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> is good to those who <sup class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-ESV-20380I" data-link="(<a href="#cen-ESV-20380I" title="See cross-reference I">I</a>)"></sup>wait for him,</span><br /><span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text Lam-3-25">to the soul who seeks him."</span></span></div>
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<br />mommyoflove3http://www.blogger.com/profile/15960147429808863981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675090490996941953.post-39260116450994251762015-06-23T20:07:00.003-05:002015-06-23T20:07:48.629-05:00Cousins! It has been a BUSY couple of weeks for us and it's not stopping anytime soon! We had fun last Friday with the kiddos cousins from Ben's side of the family. We got to see <i>"</i>Inside Out" with them and Ben's mom and we <i>loved </i>it!! (go see it!) Afterwards we ate pizza and played games. We love family time!<br />
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This week 2 of the kiddos Colorado cousins (my side of the fam) are in town. They are staying with my mom until tomorrow when they move over to our house! Wow, can we say 3 1/2 day long slumber party??? (I am already tired!!)<br />
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I have been doing cleaning jobs and then going to pick up my nephews to give my mom a break and let the cousins hang out. Yesterday we went swimming!<br />
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The boys are having an absolute <i>blast </i>together!<br />
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This was during rest time so they migrated to the splash pad part to stay wet while they were waiting:)<br />
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Eliana just jumps right in with all these boys! You can definitely tell she has brothers;)<br /><br />
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Um, yes, the boys were being...boys!<br />
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Double floaties! She couldn't decide which one to use;) She had SO much fun swimming with me while the boys were off playing together! I wish I could've gotten pictures while in the water. The boys were having jumping contest and the smiles on their faces made me so happy!<br />
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<span id="goog_1389202605"></span><span id="goog_1389202606"></span><br />
Getting dumped on!<br />
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Today after my cleaning, I picked the boys up and we all went to the Anthony Thomas factory for a tour! Turns out, it's really close to where we live. Who knew?<br />
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Dylan being sweet for his mom:)<br />
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Samuel decided to copy Dylan for Father's Day!<br />
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Goofy Jackson!<br />
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Posing with the 235 pound Buckeye!! It only costs $3500.....<br />
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Eliana found a chocolate cross and wanted me to take a pic:) No pictures were allowed on the tour but we all enjoyed it! It takes about 20-25 minutes and you learn about how the company started, how chocolate is made and get to watch the workers and machines from above! Very cool. And you get treated with a free Buckeye;) (not a 200 lb one though!)<br />
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Afterwards, I attempted to wear them out at my mom's with the slip n' slide.<br />
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So thankful for sunshine!!<br />
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Eliana slips very easily!<br />
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Wipeout!<br />
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My kiddos stuck with it quite a bit longer than their cousins until I had to make them call it quits so we could clean up and go home. Eliana was SO exhausted tonight from all the fun and sun so she got to sleep early. The boys are tired, too, but a bit wound up from all the cousin fun!<br />
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Now I have to clean my <i>own </i>house and get ready for a house full of BOYS! Ah!mommyoflove3http://www.blogger.com/profile/15960147429808863981noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675090490996941953.post-12518677166426398772015-06-17T19:59:00.001-05:002015-06-17T19:59:30.943-05:00Chicago Trip! <span style="color: #741b47;">This past weekend we went on a whirlwind trip to Chicago, our first visit back since we moved (one year ago this past Monday!) Ben earned a day off of work through a test he took so he was glad to have a brief break:)</span><br />
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<span style="color: #741b47;">We were totally unprepared for the emotions that hit us when we got really close and started seeing familiar exits, etc. We left broken last year. We were sent off by loving friends in various places, all hoping we would find peace and healing. And we have...and are but sometimes experiences or memories can open up a little of the rawness. And that's what happened for Ben and I. I felt increasingly anxious and Ben couldn't even face the thought of driving through Hyde Park, even to show our kids where they once lived.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #741b47;">So we stopped (or kept driving anyways) and said a prayer and just felt that God was with us. The anxiety was lifted off and we decided to just trust that He was with us and just to be ourselves for the weekend. </span><br />
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You know you're getting close to Chi-town when gas prices start rising! We left with gas prices hovering around $2.80 and found them up to $3.59 in Chicago. Ouch! Now <i>there's </i>a painful memory:) haha.<br />
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One of our main goals for the trip was to keep promises to the boys and to let them have some time with friends. Samuel, especially, missed his two best friends (the middle two) so very much this past year. I emailed back and forth with their moms the week before we left and made plans for them to hang out. Another friend was able to join at the last minute and they all got to hang out for a bit and then go bowling! It seriously made Samuel's weekend to get to reconnect with them. The boys were crowded at the front door when we pulled up and they all yelled, "Samuel!!!" So happy to brighten our guy's life:)</div>
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We let Mr Z hang out with the boys for a little bit at the house but then we made the executive decision to take him and E out and let Samuel have friend-time. We found an old favorite restaurant, "Smashburger," that we discovered not long before we left and split a couple burgers between the four of us. Yum!<br />
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E chose to sit with her daddy:)</div>
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And Mr Z was happy to sit with me!! Then we went and browsed through a bookstore briefly until it was time to pick Samuel up. After getting Samuel, we drove straight to our friends' house where we were staying. They are an older couple that took us under their wing that last year and were such a blessing to us! They made us feel so welcome this weekend and we thoroughly enjoyed our time with them! We spent Friday night just catching up with them:)</div>
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On Saturday, they took us to our old church, which was hosting a Family Fun Day. It was HOT outside and really humid so we lathered up with sunscreen, put hats on and prepared to have fun. I started to realize, as we kept seeing people we knew, that the weekend was becoming more about putting some healing pieces into place and seeing people from church, people who were instrumental in caring for us last year.<br />
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We didn't get to see other long-time friends, unfortunately, but we know there will be other times to soak up friendship with them!<br />
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Mr Z got a Zebra balloon made:)<br />
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Samuel got a really funny hat!</div>
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All three happy with their balloons!<br />
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There was face-painting, of course! Samuel had the funny idea of getting sunglasses and a mustache painted on:)<br />
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We called him, "The Evil Mustachio!"<br />
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He made us laugh with this face!<br />
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Eliana was SOOO tired but she waited patiently in line, almost falling asleep on Ben's shoulder, to get her face painted.<br />
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She got a sparkly purple bunny on her forehead:)<br />
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Poor Mr Z waited in line the whole time hoping to get Bugs Bunny painted on the side of his face, only to have the stressed face-painter snap at him that she didn't have time to do it. She was so short and rude with him, giving him no time to come up with a second idea, that she left him in tears. He does <i>not </i>cry the way he did for several minutes after we left the tent. My heart absolutely broke for him. Doing things like that are out of his comfort zone and take him a lot of courage and to be shot down as rudely as he was, was totally uncalled for. He refused to go back up and try again with the other lady. Later, when I told our friends what happened, Mr Chuck went up and had a few words with the lady and brought back apologies for Zakkai. He perked up a bit after that but it took him a little while to recover. He has such a tender heart!<br />
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Eliana in the bounce house!<br />
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On a little train ride!<br />
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E had so much fun bouncing (that's Samuel on the left! ha) that she dissolved into tears when they had to close it down and she had to come out. Can we say...tired?! We stayed for the concert just for a bit and then we were all so hot and tired, that we left early.<br />
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Eliana playing with Bella, Mr Chuck and Miss Sally's dog. The sweetest dog <i>ever</i>! She is a lap dog and loves to come snuggle with you. Perfect and gentle for kids!<br />
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The next morning we packed up all our stuff and prepared to go to the service at our old church. Miss Sally snapped a few pictures of our Lovelies!<br />
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Our Family! We so enjoyed going to church. Through the weekend, we saw every person (except one) from church that we wanted to see and connect with, so that was a big blessing. I walked into the building and just felt like it was "home." It's SO hard to find a new church and settle in and I really miss that feeling of belonging.<br />
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We said goodbye to Chuck and Sally at church (very hard!) and then went to lunch with another family that we had gotten to know last year. They have two boys, one Z's age and one a teenager. (The nicest teenager I have ever met in my life!!!) Their youngest was one of the boys Zakkai wanted to see, so that made me happy that he got some time in. We met at a funny little restaurant in our old neighborhood and spent a good hour and a half just catching up and talking. It was a nice way to end our trip!<br />
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So hard to believe that we lived here for 9 years and that we don't anymore! Wow.<br />
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Oh look, our favorite part of the trip! Not.....<br />
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Seriously, the most exciting thing you see on the trip from Chicago to Columbus. The windmills! There is a section of hundreds of them and everyone likes to look at them. Apparently, we are easily amused;)<br />
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For a long time, everyone was happy with their books on tape! So glad I got those from the library!<br />
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Eliana showing me hers:)<br />
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Samuel:)<br />
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Mr Z gets stuck in the back because S gets carsick. He didn't seem to mind, though, as he had full control of the DVD player while the audiobook was on:) He's our techy-guy!<br />
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And this.....is what happens when you drive late into the night after a busy weekend!! Haha! I snapped this right as we pulled in the driveway. About 20-25 min before we got home, E was just exhausted and falling apart a bit so we leaned back all seats and told them to rest. She loved the idea of her seat going back and within a few minutes, was out like a light!!<br />
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Not the safest position for driving (I know!) but pretty funny. It was only for the last 20 minutes and since she was quiet, I didn't care! We carried her right up and she never even stirred!<br />
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We were all <i>exhausted </i>on Monday. I mean, down to the bones exhausted. The boys have VBS this week and I got them there, did a little grocery shopping and it hit me like a ton of bricks! I could barely function the rest of the day! We saw this beautiful rainbow on the way to TKD Monday night. We got all the way there and found out it was cancelled and I have to say, I didn't mind! I got everyone fed and in bed as quickly as I could! Feeling much more like ourselves now, despite a super busy week.<br />
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B and I are very thankful for a good trip "home" to Chicago. It's hard to put into words what we felt by being there but it was good for us. And hopefully, the painful memories will be less sharp each time we go and we can instead remember God's grace and goodness to us while we were there.<br />
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We have so many blessings, in the form of well-loved friends, to go back and see!mommyoflove3http://www.blogger.com/profile/15960147429808863981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675090490996941953.post-9464124587765025232015-06-10T17:21:00.001-05:002015-06-10T17:21:24.430-05:00Recipes!I haven't shared any delicious recipes in awhile and I was just <em>positive </em>that you needed some, am I right? Right!<br />
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First up is a dinner recipe : <a href="http://www.chelseasmessyapron.com/slow-cooker-sweet-potato-chicken-and-quinoa-soup/">Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Chicken and Quinoa Soup.</a> I have never ever been a sweet potato fan <em>but </em>since this winter, I have been developing a whole new appreciation for them! Especially in soups:) They are delicious and good for you! The only thing I didn't add was the chicken, as we only eat meat one to two times a week. We didn't miss it! The texture is so not soup but rather "stew" like. I was admittedly a little worried about if it would turn out, as my last crockpot quinoa recipe was a total gloppy disaster. No worries with this one, it was done perfectly in 4 hours and a hit! Served with homemade wheat bread.<br />
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Next is Strawberry Pie! You may have seen my delicious picture of my beautiful pie from my last post and if you missed it...well, you'd better go look! I added a thin cream cheese layer because it keeps the crust from becoming soggy, plus it's delicious! I combined 3 different recipes to make my own combo.<br />
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<u>Strawberry Pie with Cream Cheese Layer</u><br />
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Pie Shell (store bought if you must, homemade if you can!)<br />
2 lbs strawberries<br />
3/4 cup sugar<br />
2 TB cornstarch<br />
1/3 c water<br />
1 tsp vanilla<br />
1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese, softened<br />
3-4 TB sugar<br />
1 1/2 TB milk<br />
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Preparation:<br />
1. Make your pie shell. Or take it out of the box. Bake it per directions and cool. I baked mine on 400 for 12 min with beans in the shell. Then took the beans out, pricked it with a fork and baked it another 6.<br />
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2. While pie shell is baking, wash and dry strawberries and cut off hulls. Take 1 1/2 cups of the strawberries and puree them. Slice the rest and set aside.<br />
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3.Combine puree, 3/4 cup sugar, 2 TB cornstarch and 1/3 cup water in a medium saucepan and whisk. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until it comes to a boil. Boil for 1 minute and remove from heat. Stir in vanilla and whisk steadily while mixture cools down; approx. 5 minutes.<br />
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4. Beat cream cheese, 3-4 TB sugar (depending on preference of sweetness) and 1 1/2 TB milk in a small bowl until smooth. Spread on bottom and a tiny bit up sides of cooled pie crust. Arrange sliced strawberries over the cream cheese layer. Pour strawberry syrup over the top, covering all the berries.<br />
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5. Cool in fridge for at least 2 hours before serving. Enjoy!!<br />
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I was going to post another picture of it just for your enjoyment (and mine) but alas, blogger is once again not cooperating. So go look at the last post! <br />
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We are headed to Chi-town this weekend for a quick little visit with a few friends. We can't fit in all the visits we want because it's a short trip but it will still be fun and it will give us an excuse to go again! My main priority was keeping our promise to the boys to go back and visit and let them see friends...especially Samuel, who left behind 2 best friends. Thankfully, both boys were available and their moms and I have been working out some fun plans for them when we arrive on Friday!<br />
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And next weekend, we go camping! Woohoo! <br />
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<span id="goog_1324281839"></span><span id="goog_1324281840"><br /></span>mommyoflove3http://www.blogger.com/profile/15960147429808863981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675090490996941953.post-28455036518450809212015-06-06T19:25:00.001-05:002015-06-06T19:25:45.335-05:00First Week of Summer! We survived our first week of summer...and actually had some fun, too! The kiddos had to come with me on a few cleaning jobs the first part of this week but they were mostly good sports about it and I tried to balance it out with fun stuff.<br />
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Bright and early Wednesday morning, we went strawberry picking! We broke the silence of the clearly serious strawberry pickers with our happy chatter and exclamations over the beautiful red strawberries we found!<br />
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And the kiddos all got to try one. Have to make sure they're good!<br />
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Samuel's strawberry blends in!<br />
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My niece ate more strawberries than she put in the box:)<br />
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Zakkai made it a goal to find the biggest strawberries he could!<br />
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Gosh, aren't they beautiful??! They blow store strawberries out of the water!<br />
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Had to do something with the 11 pounds of strawberries! I made some Strawberry Honey Chia Seed Jam with a lot of it and made this absolutely <i>delicious </i>strawberry pie and some strawberry lemon muffins today! The rest I froze for smoothies:)<br />
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Then after strawberry picking we met one of my best friends and her girls at a splash park!<br />
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Braving the chilly weather;) It was in the mid-60s but none of the kiddos cared! They stripped down and ran into the water. They were a little chilly but stayed active so they had fun!<br />
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The boys getting dumped on by a bucket of water:)</div>
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We stayed there for a few hours, eating lunch, playing in the water and on the playground next to it. Then on our way out, the kids wanted to stand on the park amphitheater stage and put on a little show:) Eliana just twirled and had so much fun. I love her serious face!</div>
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Chilly!!<br />
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Yesterday, I packed up a picnic lunch and we hung out at the park for awhile, after running a few errands. It was a beautiful day! Look how big she's getting!<br />
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She loves to climb!<br />
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All 3 kiddos loved this climbing thing (whatever it's called!) and spent a long time trying to master it;)<br />
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Samuel was so determined to figure out how to get around it.<br />
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He worked for so long but finally had to give up. Maybe next time!<br />
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Eliana, thoroughly enjoying her peanut butter and homemade jelly sandwich:)<br />
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Silly girl!<br />
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Then last night, we got to go on a date!! My mom came to pick up the kids and we headed out on our first date since Feb! It was much needed time, especially with all the busyness these days. We had a really good time. We went to our new favorite restaurant "Amul India" where we practically groaned with pleasure while we ate. Seriously. Amazing food.<br />
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Then we picked out a new paint-by-number to start! We so loved doing the one last spring and finally got a frame for it to hang it up! We spent the last part of our date getting ice cream and taking a long walk in the park until the thunderstorm started. It was refreshing (the date, not the storm!) and just what we needed!<br />
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A great first week of summer!<br />
<br />mommyoflove3http://www.blogger.com/profile/15960147429808863981noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675090490996941953.post-53102850361195636192015-06-01T19:03:00.001-05:002015-06-01T19:43:41.690-05:00My very favorite before and after!! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I learned something this past week. I sometimes have brilliant, <em>genius </em>ideas....in the middle of the night;) It's often my favorite time to think or write because I am more relaxed, I guess, or something. One night last week I was up because Samuel was up in the night feeling very sick (he got a little overheated from spending too much time outside in the hot sun) and while I was up off and on checking on him and wondering if this warranted a middle of the night urgent care visit, I had an idea. An awfully, brilliant idea!</div>
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And then I forgot about it. Until I remembered to tell Ben about it a day later and was surprised when even he agreed it was great! Ready to see it??</div>
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So this was our entertainment center. We bought it off of some friends probably about 8 years ago when they were moving away from Chicago. It was absolutely <em>perfect </em>for our 17x20 ft living room! And for all these years, it has served us well as a tv stand, book holder, dvd and cd collector and toy storage.</div>
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Until we moved into our current place which has a very small, narrow living room. Suddenly our perfect entertainment center became not so perfect anymore. In fact, it totally dwarfed the room! It took a week or so to get Ben to agree to try to sell it and I had 2 very interested buyers but for some reason both of them (despite at least 5 exchanges with each) couldn't commit to actually coming to get it!</div>
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So it went in the garage sale. And the price got marked down until we were practically desperate! And people touched it, looked in the doors, admired it....and no one bought it. So it was one of the items left behind after our 2nd attempted garage sale day. We even put a free sign on it! But at the last minute, I had my brilliantly brilliant idea.....</div>
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What if....we used the top of it and turned it into a sewing table for me? I was told we could buy legs and attach them easily. But after taking it all apart, I couldn't part with the two side pieces and one good idea led to another until....</div>
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Ta Da!! My stepdad and Ben were my willing partners in this adventure! This table took just under 4 hours from start to finish and was entirely FREE!!</div>
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We cut down the 2 side panels to make the sides of the table. They already had legs attached so they were perfect! Plus they are beautiful wood:)<br />
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We made shelves!! My stepdad was a genius in helping us put this together (he works with wood and had all the tools needed!) so everything is very sturdy and built to last.<br />
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Gleaming in the sunshine!!<br />
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Now in its new home! We built it Saturday afternoon but couldn't pick it up until yesterday because we had the wrong car with us. And let's just say, for the record, that Ben and I absolutely should never move furniture together. Every marriage has its limits and that's ours! Somehow, by the grace of God, we got it up the stairs and while dinner was cooking in the oven, I happily arranged my sewing supplies!<br />
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I have a small bookshelf also to the left with all of my fabric and patterns, since it doesn't all fit in the shelves. But oh, I am <em>thrilled </em>to pieces over this! Can I just tell you that this is the first time I will be able to sew with my legs under the table?? I was using a piece of furniture that is not meant for sewing so I would sit sideways to sew! Reeeeaaaally comfortable;)<br />
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It's hard to describe how I feel about my new space but suffice it to say, I am really really happy! And feeling the creative juices flowing. Yea to furniture repurposing!!!<br />
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mommyoflove3http://www.blogger.com/profile/15960147429808863981noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675090490996941953.post-88442505092148436502015-05-30T20:40:00.000-05:002015-05-30T20:45:45.169-05:00Garage Sale!! Wonder where I've been? Okay, well even if you haven't noticed the almost 2 weeks blogging break, I'll tell you! I have been working my tushy (pardon my French) off these past few weeks getting ready for a garage sale!<br />
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I mostly finished my May Minimalist Challenge (made it almost through Day 28!!!) and was completely and utterly overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I collected to sell/trash/donate! It literally took over our basement until there was only a narrow path to the washing machine. I couldn't wait any longer so I called my mom and said, "Quick, let's plan a garage sale asap!!"<br />
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So we did. And I worked my tail off carting things over to my mom's (she has a better location for a garage sale) over a period of several days. Then we spend 2 days sorting, setting up tables, pricing, etc. And not only that but my kiddos talked me into their first ever Lemonade Stand and I stayed up late the night before the sale squeezing 20 lemons for fresh lemonade and baking chocolate chip cookies!! Ah, the things a mama will do...<br />
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Mr Z making a sale:)<br />
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Some of the toy overload!! We did pretty well on the toy sales!<br />
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Wow, look at it all!!! We had a lot of furniture that we weeded through. The entertainment center in the middle was ours and it was taking up SO much room in our tiny living room.<br />
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Ah! How did this all fit in our house??!! My stepdad asked me, "Is it about the money for you or getting rid of things?" I didn't hesitate...."Getting rid of things!" (although more on that in a min....)<br />
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E taking a nap at my mom's on one of our getting ready days. My mom's cat Boo decided to take a nap with her:)<br />
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The kids all made really cute signs for their lemonade stand, telling prices and what they were offering (bottled water, freshly squeezed lemonade, chocolate chip cookies and brownies!) I so wish I had taken more pics and planned to but it was much busier than I realized so I didn't get around to it. Bummer! The kiddos made $35!! I told them they just had to pay me back for supplies and they could keep all the profit:) Gotta learn business!<br />
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We had so much stuff that we decided to try for day 2 on Memorial Day but just for the morning. It definitely didn't go that well because most people were busy. We only made $20 that day:) It was worth a try! We did really well on Saturday though so oh well!<br />
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Garage Sale helpers!</div>
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And...this is what a long day in the sun selling things will do to you!<br />
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No one said it would be easy!! I read that after you weed through your possessions and simplify, it would be a good idea to do a garage sale not only because who doesn't like a little extra cash! But also because it is so incredibly humbling to see all your stuff spread out on your driveway and it will make you never want to collect all of that again!</div>
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Let me just say....it is true! Ben and I both just could not believe the amount of stuff we had there at the sale. My mom and a few other family members put some stuff in but 90% of it was ours. Talk about humbling. </div>
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I felt so good about getting rid of it all and passing it on to new homes but I wasn't prepared for the amount of stuff we had leftover from the garage sale. It was like I had to "let go" all over again and it was actually tough for me! We made 4 trips to the local thrift store just with leftovers and I made a trip to Half Price Books with our leftover books (5 big boxes!!) I had to struggle a little bit and just felt like God was saying, "It is just stuff. Just things. Let go." So I kept telling myself. It is just things; I can't take any of it with me to heaven so I just need to let go!! We even had to donate some of the furniture since it didn't sell on Craigslist or in the sale. Let it Go. (anyone hearing Frozen in their head right about now??!)</div>
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So, my house fell apart during all of that work and once it was done (and I finished all my trips back and forth clearing out my mom's garage!), I moved on to redoing some of our furniture now that we got rid of the excess. First up is an old child's desk of my mom's. We painted it a pale blue a long long time ago and it was chipped, dirty and worn. Time for an update!<br />
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The inside drawer liner. Yuck!</div>
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I sanded it and painted it a light gray color and put new knobs on!! <br />
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Some new liner inside. (I wanted a soft gray or blue but they didn't have any. Oh well!</div>
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A little fresh makeover does wonders!!</div>
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And once we got rid of our giant entertainment center (which worked well when we had a huge living room once upon a time!!), we needed something new for our tv. We had this Ikea table we bought a couple years ago stored in the basement. We forgot all about it until we were moving stuff out for the sale!<br />
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I painted it the same light gray color!</div>
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New and fresh! You wouldn't believe how much better our living room looks. When it gets clean (ha!) I will take a picture;) It opened up our space so much!</div>
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I just love furniture re-dos!!! Just wait (oh just wait!!!) until you see my next one!!! Coming very very soon to a blog near you!! </div>
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<br />mommyoflove3http://www.blogger.com/profile/15960147429808863981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675090490996941953.post-22153205608105745752015-05-18T21:04:00.001-05:002015-05-18T21:04:29.185-05:00The Gift of Friendship and Less is More! <span style="color: #45818e;">This past weekend we were so blessed to have dear friends from Chicago visit us! I have said so many times that we met the most amazing people while we were there who were like family to us in a season where we didn't have any close by.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #45818e;">This couple is an example of that!!</span><br />
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This is Ben and Emily. Emily and I are always saying, "My Ben" or "Your Ben" to keep them straight:) And that adorable sturdy 2 year old is "Baby" Caleb, whom I had the honor of babysitting all of last year! How is he not a baby anymore??? And now he has a baby brother! "Wa-wa," as Caleb affectionately calls him. Otherwise known as Joshua:)<br />
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We have missed them <em>so </em>much this past year and it just felt like home spending time with them this weekend. We talked and laughed and teased each other. Got in baby snuggles, ate Der Dutchman, watched baby goats play, played games, oooh, and enjoyed deep dish pizza personally delivered all the way from Chicago!!<br />
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What a gift and treasure is a friendship like this. When they left, we were all teary and Eliana went inside and burst into tears. She cried and cried for at least 10 minutes and we all just sat, Ben and I doling out hugs and feeling the sadness ourselves of saying goodbye to people we hold so dear in our hearts. Ugh, we hate goodbyes! We love you, Lovaasens!!<br />
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It was kind of hard to jump back into busy life again today after the weekend but we had no choice! Back to school and work and busyness. I took 2 full van loads of stuff over to my mom's today for our upcoming garage sale! You wouldn't <em>believe</em> all of the things that I have been able to sort through and get rid of!<br />
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So, I "cheated" and skipped ahead in my May Minimalist Game. Yeah, yeah, I know. I couldn't stop myself and got too excited once I got on a roll. Ready for the current tally? (Drum roll, please!!)<br />
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So far, I have gotten rid of 378 things!! That's almost completely through 27 days in May!! Once I got going, it was actually really easy to keep going. I have tossed, recycled, donated and added to my sell pile furiously over the past 2 weeks. We were to the point of barely being able to get through the basement at all until I took some of it out today. I am SO ridiculously excited to have the garage sale. Call me a nerd!<br />
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I am already feeling the effects of less clutter and an easier maintenance. I am excited to show you some final pics, once we get rid of some pieces of furniture this weekend and repurpose some others. I am looking forward to my "home makeover:)" Less is More!!<br />
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Most of all, I feel such a peace about letting go of things that I have been hanging on tightly to and being able to share this journey with my family and get them to start contemplating all of this. I have had some really good conversations with Ben and the kids at various times over this simplifying process. I truly see it as a gift!<br />
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Happy Monday!mommyoflove3http://www.blogger.com/profile/15960147429808863981noreply@blogger.com1