I can't believe it is already October.  You know how time flies when you are having fun.  I have spent the past two months canning.  I have canned more this year than any other year.  I need to build more shelves in the laundry room for the all the jars.  The Lord has really blessed us this year with fruits.   And we still have more coming.  I have canned salsa, tomatoes, peaches, pears, and apples.  We have frozen some corn.  I didn't get any green beans this year.  They never came down in price.  

One fun thing that our homeschool group is doing this year is a Spanish Club.   Lee and Brittney met with other highschoolers and have a fun hour and half trying to speak Spanish.  The group leader is Peurto Rican and speaks fluent Spanish. 

The Lord has blessed us with a great piano teacher this year.  Brittney is taking private lessons from Cara.  Cara is also teaching a beginning keyboarding class on Fridays in a group setting.  James and Jessica is in this class.  So I have three practicing the piano this year.  

We are doing well staying on schedule this year with school work.  Our favorite book this year is Drawing Proverbs.   We start our day with this book.  We read the selected Proverb than draw a picture that goes along with the verse(s).  The kids are not artist except Lee so it is fun to see their attempts at drawing.  They are improving and that was what I was striving for. 

    Well it has been several months again since I have posted.  I wanted to but could not find the time to do it.  Every time I got on I started reading other post and never got around to updating mine. 

     June started off busier then ever.  My kids spend a week with my sister every year.  This year instead of me driving them to TN I met my sister halfway in KY. We spent the night in Wigwams.  They look like Tepees and are made out of cement.  Each Wigwam has a double bed, a table and chairs, TV, and full bathroom.  They were a lot of fun to stay in.  Much different than the normal hotel.    So if you are going to see Mammoth Caves these are a great alternative to a hotel. 

While the kids were in TN I finished up preparations for the Fish Booth.   Our homeschool group has a booth at the local Strawberry Festival each year and I am the coordinator for it.  The kids were gone for 9 days the first week of June.  

After they got home we unpacked their stuff and repacked it for the family trip we were taking.   Six days after they got home we left again.  We went to Niagara Falls.  We stayed at 4 Mile Creek Campground.   This was our first time camping in 13 years.   I wasn't to sure how well it was going to go but we had a blast.  We borrowed my dad's very large tent.  We spent 2 days up there visiting all the sites.   The waterfalls were awesome to see.   Our favorite parts were the Maid of the Mist ride and walking up under the waterfall.   We went to the Canada side but didn't stay long.  It was so crowded and hard to keep the family together. 

After that we headed to Hershey, PA.  Along the way we stopped at the Corning Museum of glass.  That was the coolest place we went on our whole trip.  We seen them working with a torch to create a glass sculpture.  My favorite part was the glass blowing demonstration.  That is something I have wanted to see for a long time.   All the hands on displays were awesome.  We could have spent a full day in there without any complaints from the kids but we only had a few hours.  

We stayed at the Hershey Lodge once we got to Hershey, PA.  Jim had a work conference there for 4 days.  While he was in class we went on a couple of bus tours with the conference group.  We went to Gettysburg and on another day to Lancaster County.  I really enjoyed the Gettysburg tour.  The gentlemen did a great job explaining all the different battlegrounds and other Civil War trivia.   We studied the Civil War this spring so the kids understood and related a lot of what they learned to the different sites.   The Hershey Lodge did not impress me.  It was way to large.  My husband and I both got lost in it.  It took me about 15 -20 minutes to find my room.  My poor husband roamed for 45 minutes before he figured out how to get to our room.  While we there we meet up with another family we had meet a couple of years ago at this same coference.  They also have a large family.  I am going to call them the W Family. I will leave their story for another post.  Anyway their kids and my kids had a blast hanging out together.   So many details about those few days but I must move on to the last part of our trip. 

Before we left on this trip my husband determined that we would see as much as possible before returning home.  So when the conference was over we headed for Philadelphia, PA.  While at the conference we found out the W Family was also heading to Philly.  So they got us a hotel room right next to theirs for one night.  Since they were going to be in Philly for 3 days we split off for the afternoon and went and seen some of the sites.  We seen the Liberty Bell.  We were walking the area when we seen these guys dressed up in Revolutionary  War costumes and were looking for recruits.  They recruited my 3 youngest for the Continental Army.  These three guys recruited about twenty kids off the street.   It was so much fun watching them go through  military drills with wood guns.   

The highlight of the trip for my husband was watching the Rocky movie at 10 p.m.  on the steps that Rocky runs up in the movie.  I think it was the highlight for Mr. W also. That is all the two men talked about the next day.   

We spent part of the next morning with the W family and then headed home.  We drove approximately 14 hours straight home.  My husband wanted to stay longer but we had to get home because B & L had to leave in 4 days for a missions trip. 

Yes B &  L have not been home much this summer.  After they got back from their 10 day mission trip the 4-h fair started. 

So much in so little time.  That is why I have not posted in the past 2 months. 

My baby turned 16 today.  Happy Birthday Brittney!!

It is amazing how fast time goes.  My sister called today to wish her happy birthday and started crying and talking about how Brittney used to sit on her lap and wore an adorable black and white dress.   Brittney is my sister's baby to.  My sister has no children of her on because of medical issues and she took a special interest in my oldest two.   Brittney was the first girl grandchild on my side so she has been spoiled by her Aunt Liz and Grandma.  There were 6 boy grandbabies before another girl came along.  So Brittney was special because she was the only girl for many years. Aunt Liz has taken her & Lee on trips every summer.  Buys them anything they want within reason.  And showers them with a lot of attention.  Aunt Liz is already planning on taking Brittney and Lee to visit some colleges this fall and next spring.   I think we all need these special people in our lives.  My kids have many memories of all the things she has done with them. 

Well last Thursday my dad and mom took Brittney and Jessica with them to IL for three days.  While they were gone I repainted the girls' bedroom.  My house is still a mess and needs a major cleaning but I have two rooms painted - one more to go. 

It is hard to believe that there is only 7 more weeks of school left this year.  We are hitting the books hard.  We lost almost 2 1/2 weeks with being sick.  We figured today that they will be able to finish math on time and Biology will be done by early May.  That leaves Tapestry to finish.  We are further behind in that.  I need to sit and figure out what is the most important areas I want to cover before the end of the year.  We are also trying to get our 4-H projects completed by the end of May.  We have been adding them in when we have extra time.  I think we will take a couple of Saturdays and work on them.  We have many projects this year!! 

I recently found a good deal on some paint.  So I have been repainting Christian's bedroom.  Since he was born he has slept in a bright pink bedroom with his sister.  When Lisa moved out he got the bright purple bedroom all to himself.  We are making it a play room/bedroom/storage (closet).   I felt it was time he had a boy looking room so I painted it a light blue.  It has taken me a week to get it done.  We have had so much sickness in the house that I can't work on it for more than 1/2 hour at a time. 

The color is so different from the other colors in the house that I sometimes stop and go what was I thinking when I painted these other rooms.  The colors are so bright and bold.  I am planning on repainting the other two bedrooms some time this month.  I am going with much softer colors this time.  I see now with Christian's room that there is a calming affect with the room.  The bright bold colors do not calm and relax me so they probably don't the kids.  I want thier rooms to be a place where they can go and relax. 

We are accomplishing some school work this week.  Lee and Brittney are feeling well enough to keep up with thier normal load.  Jessica and James are still not feeling up to par so I have not been doing much with them.  

My mom & dad are planning on taking the two girls with them to IL this weekend.  Jessica keeps saying she must rest so she will get better so she can go.  

I was inspired by another blogger to post about our bird friends.  I have not had a very good week and this seems so much cheerful than talking about all the things I didn't get done because I have the flu. 

Last fall Lee made this bird feeder for a science project.  Since this picture we have added a suet basket to the side.  He modeled it after one my father has.  My dad's has a bright red tin roof and is much larger.  Lee placed ours right outside our living room window.  We have many birds come visit us each day.  Our favorite is the Pileated Woodpecker.  Two come about once a week.  When they eat they make the whole bird feeder shake.   They are not the only woodpeckers who come.  Our regular visitors include Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Red-Headed Woodpecker, and a pair of Downy Woodpeckers.  

The other birds that come on a regular basis are Cardinals, Juncos, Blue Jays, Sparrows, Morning Dove' s & Chickadee's.  I hope as the weather gets warmer we will see some new ones. 

I never thought it was going to be this easy to get the birds to come to our yard.  My kids have learned so much about birds this winter.   I plan to plant some low shrubs close to the bird feeder  this summer.   I think I will have the kids build a bird bath also this summer.  I am sure our friends will enjoy that.     

Saturday afternoon Jessica was helping peel potatoes when it slipped and she peeled off a large chunk of the end of her finger.  It was hanging on by a bare centimeter.  I packed her in the van and headed for the prompt care.  Of course the one time I think my child needs stitches they did not think she needed them.  They laid the chunk of skin back over the end of her finger and put a bandaid on it.  So it has a been a challenging couple of days because everytime we had to change the bandage or she bumped it, it would bleed profusely.   It has finally started to reattach it self.  

All right I am done with the gross stuff.  Today we went shopping for food for our party tomorrow.  Tomorrow is our last day of speech class and we are going to have a party.    My students think we are having a big final exam.  Seldom do they get the opportunity to hang out and eat food. 

It's supper time so I must go.  

I took a break from blogging to see if I was spending to much time on the internet.  Well, I determined the little bit of time I spent blogging was theraputic.  It really helped me to write down things that happend around here. I have missed talking about our ups and downs. 

Well since my last post Christian (my baby) has turned 3 and Jessica has turned 8.  They are getting big so fast. 

Aunt Lisa moved out around the first of January.  Christian now has his own room.  Even though it is bright purple he loves having his own space.   He has done very well transitioning to a big boy bed.  Well he was bunking with the boys he was in a toddler bed.  He would not stay in that bed.  He would get up several times a night.  He now stays in the bed until morning and then he still won't get out of bed.  He lays there and yells for me until I come pick him up out of bed. 

Well that is all I have time for today.  Our 4-H group is going bowling this afternoon and we have to leave soon. 

This week we made some interesting chore charts.  I decided our charts had started to blend into the background and we were not getting all of our chores done.  I found a large picture of a turkey.  Each kid colored their turkey.  I cut out red, yellow, and orange feathers for each turkey.  On each feather I wrote a chore.  We then taped them to the turkey.  Now we have colorful turkeys on our pantry door.  It is also easy to spot who has what chore.  Next week we will pluck their feathers off and reassign chores.

We have been busy finishing up Jessica's soceer season.  James' basketball season started last week and his first game is this Saturday.   I am not to sure I like that he will be playing games every Saturday through the holiday season.   We will see how it goes. 

The speech class I have been teaching this year has been very enlightening.  Some of the students seem to struggle without much improvement.  Today we did impromptu speeches.  They had to speak for one minute on their topic.  Only one out of eight students filled the whole one minute.  Most made it to 45 seconds and then just stopped.  I was amazed that they couldn't come up with anything more to say.  The topics were very general and you should be able to speak for a lot longer on them.  Like what is your favorite movie or book, curfews, dogs vs. cats.  I know we will be working on this area some more.  These kids should be able to speak for longer then 45 seconds on a topic. 

     Last weekend was my mom's 70th birthday.  Myself, my three sisters and my brother surprised my mom with a weekend away.  Actually us five originals minus our spouses and kids took mom & dad to Indy to spend the night and out to dinner and lunch the next day.  We had joining  rooms.  The four girls in one room and my brother and parents in the other room.  This is the first time in 20 years that we spent the night together in a hotel without our children and spouses.   There is something about spending time with your family without interuptions and kids.  The hotel staff really took notice of us.  They all wished my mom happy birthday and brought her up cheese cake.  Friday night we ate super then  spent the rest of the evening in the hotel room talking and joking.  Saturday morning we got up and went out to a wonderful pastry place for breakfast.  Then we went back packed up and went shopping at the mall.  Before we headed home we went to Charlestons for lunch.  That was the best steak dinner I have had in years.    It was such a wonderful time.  We will always remember that weekend.  We all agreed that we should have done it sooner and should do it again in the future. 

  Lee and Brittney went to participate in Billy Creek Village days on Wednesday.  Billy Creek Village is a tourist destination that you can visit to see what life was like in the 1800's in Indiana.  The kids dress in period appropriate clothing and attend class in a one room school house.  Or HS group does this every year and my oldest loves going and participating.  She enjoys putting on her long prarie dress and braiding her hair.   She is getting to old to do it so they are asked her to be a teacher next year.   She is looking forward to doing that. 

    My mom called Friday morning and said they were going on a two day trip to watch their grandsons last football game of the year and wanted to take Lee & James with them.  So off went Lee & James.  They love going with their grandparents on these short trips.  While they were there they visited my grandma.  Grandpa George gave them each a really nice pocket knife.  They have talked  more about them then the football game they went to watch.  J & L had a great time with their cousins Jared (11), Jacob(11), and Justin(9).  They got up at 4 a.m. to play video games.  

Our dear friend Bert gave us an air hockey table this week.  Not a little thing but a full size one you would see at an arcade.  It is now in the middle of our school room floor.  I had to do away with the school table.   So schooling this week has been quiet interesting.  We are back to using the dining room table.  Well there is a benefit to that.  They must keep their stuff put away or we can't eat.   It has also been a major distraction with school.  They constantly want to take a break and play a game.  I know the newness will wear off with time and it will be less of  a hassle.

Monday we canned 36 quartes of apples.  We did half apple pie filling and half apple slices in sugar water.  I had hoped for more but that was all I could afford to buy.  Maybe in a couple weeks I will buy some seconds from the orchard.  My laundry room is filling up with canned goods. 

My dear husband also purchased a whole pig.  It went to the butcher last week and part of it came home this week.  Our freezer is full!!! Matter of fact I need to go rearrange the freezer so I can fit in the hams and bacon that are ready to be picked up.  God has truly blessed us with food for the winter months. 

James & Jessica are enjoying their sign language class.   I am also learning along with them.