I'm baaaacckkkk!

Ok I know all of last year I said I was going to blog more. I seriously had no idea how busy/crazy life was gonna get. Heh

However, it has been laid upon my hear that once again I need to start blogging. Not sure why and in what form it will take... Although I suspect it will be a little different than my facebook posts. I do play nice on FB, and I love it FB, but sometimes I really do find myself biting my tongue. I may let loose on here a bit more... LOL. This should be interesting. I am beginning to find my voice in this chaotic life, and although I know there are thousand other bloggers out there, I need to let loose too. :)
I will still blog and post pictures about family and my life too, I do still have some people (you know who you are...lol) that are still not on Facebook, so I am hoping to get a good mix going.
First thing first let me update the kids photos.

This last year has been amazing in so many ways... The kids are doing great. Tim did well in Archery, and is looking forward to starting back up in the fall. We are trying to save up to get him his own bow, and he is looking to compete competitively this next year. He has made some really great friends, and has been busy with his lego building. School for him is going well. People ask what grade he is in, and I have to stop and think. As a homeschooler, we do things a bit differently, so although technically he will be in 4th grade, he is reading at a 6th grade level and doing Math at a 4th grade level. Writing is one area we are still working on. I am hoping that once he learns to type it will be a bit easier... his brain moves faster than his hand, so he struggles a bit to get things on paper.
Alexa had a great year as well. We started a program called Keepers of the Faith, but had to drop it due scheduling. But we had made some really great friends, who also had scheduling issues, soooo we started our own co-op. We have three families and 5 girls that meet once a week. It has been fun. The girls have learned to cook, sew, make a budget and several other skills. We are planning on continuing this in the fall as well. She is technically going into 3rd grade, but is reading at a 5/6th grade level, she is on target for Math, and writing. Science is a weak point, so we may take some time this summer to work on that.
Erika, is the one who has shown the most growth school wise. She is 4, but we are planning on starting her on Kinder material in the fall. She can write pretty well, and she can read a few short words, but her understanding of things amazing me on a daily basis. Most of that comes from trying to keep up with her brother and sister. She also joined in the Keepers program this last year, and we also added a preschool co-op that we started with several families at our church.
Mike is doing great!! He has been with his current company 12 years, although they did get bought out recently, but it looks like things are settling down after the buyout. He has had lots of opportunities to teach both adult and youth Bible study at our church and he has been teaching a Greek class for almost a year now. They are almost done. Not sure what I will do with my Friday nights once I have him free again... LOL. He is, however, already looking to the future, as he has more people interested in another Greek class, and one of his students wants to move on to the next level. Lots of opportunities. I am amazed by him all the time. Almost eighteen years together and I am more in love now than every day before.
I am soooo amazingly blessed by my family and my cup truly overflows. (Even on the days they drive my crazy... LOL)
As for me, I am busy with life. I am park day coordinator for our homeschool group, and there are all kinds of activities going on in any given week. I cook for my hubby class on Fridays (to be fair, there are two students at the moment, so it does not add much to the food budget). We are now in prep mode for VBS at our church, which we are heading up. I keep thinking life will slow down... not sure when. July is pretty light right now, but I know my calendar tends to fill up fast. LOL. We will start back to school  in August and I know we are trying to plan a vacation of some sort in the next two months.
Wow, just writing all that out, is making me tired, and a bit hungry. It is dinner time here and then I am off for a time out with some friends, sans hubby and kids. ;)
Thanks for stopping by and I will post again soon... more pics to come too. :) Thanks!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Sorry I have not been in touch, things pretty much exploded in the month of August and we are soooooo busy now. I did art classes over the summer and between that and the occasional schooling (LOL), swimming, soccer camp and some day trips here and there, it was crazy. Now we are back into school full swing, including starting Erika on preschool/kinder material. I am in leadership for our homeschool group, so that adds to my load, and this is the first year we are going different directions with the kids. Tim is taking Archery lessons (he loves it!!) and both girls are in a program called Keepers of the Faith, which teaches them homemaking skills. They are learning how to cook this month, so my kitchen constantly looks like a tornado went through it. We are also doing a co-op class with some friends, swapping out teaching Art and Science every 2 weeks. All this with one car (yuck), but we are hoping after taxes next year to buy a cheapie one that we can pay off. Just something for Mike to take to and from work. That is the plan on our end anyway. Heh.
Mike is good. He has been at his current company for over 11 years and is doing well. He is also teaching a Geek language class out of our house once a week. I am good, like I said, just busy. In between being busy we are active in our church and it seems like each weekend I spend trying to get caught up on laundry and cleaning, and now that we have a bigger place we entertain a lot. Whew. It's all good though :) Anyway that is the quick version of our summer.
Hope you all are doing well, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Anyway, posting some randoms pics from our summer, enjoy!

Back to basics

Wow, so I realized it had been about 6 month since I blogged. I am now back on our main computer system, and part of the problem was that my laptop was older than dirt, and Linux did not like my camera. So I am going to try and get back to basics and start blogging on a more regular basis, now that I have the main system  back at my finger tips. :)
What prompted the change from the laptop, you may be wondering... Weeeeelllll, we bought a house. In the house, I have a school room/office/craft area so we decided that I could have the bigger system back. Yay.
(BTW if you want our new address shoot me an email and I will send it you.)
We are sooo very excited to be in our own house. Space... glorious space. We went from a four bedroom 1055 square foot rental to a four bedroom (plus office) 1919 square foot house.  Yay!! Pics will come later, for now I will just get some current ones of the kids up. LOL
Kids are doing great. Adjusting well to the new house (we have only been moved in just over two weeks now). Of course we have not done much in the way of school, that starts today. (Insert evil laugh here!) but I am excited to be able to have a school room.
Anyway more to come later, but here are some current pics of the kids:

Update

Waiting is just a gift of time in disguise — a time to pray wrapped up in a ribbon of patience — because is the Lord ever late?
We have had to do a lot of waiting this year. I don't like waiting. It's frustrating, but I am learning patience these days. LOTS of patience.
We have had a pretty good and busy summer. Playing at the pool, get togethers with family and friends, field trips, VBS, our 16th anniversary, we even celebrated our Pastor's 50th Anniversary, but we have not managed to take a real vacation. So this upcoming Saturday we are headed up north. Even if it's just over night, it will get us out of the record heat for a bit.  I am soooo looking forward to that.  (I am sure I will come home with a camera full of pics to post.)
Things are starting to pick up for the next few months already... birthday's (Mike will be 40 in Sept. and Erika turns 3 in Oct.) we have lots to do for school, getting back with a homeschool group, field trips, family time, as the weather turns nice (hopefully sooner rather than later) we will be out doors more.  Lots to do.... holidays are not to far off now. I am sure there will be lots of waiting too. I hate waiting. But God is good and all things come to those who wait patiently on Him. So I will wait.
Kids are growing. I just looked at the last post and it hit me how much they have changed since then. Tim has lost 1 more tooth since then and now has 2 more about to come out. He seems like he has grown a foot... he is sooo very tall and lanky. Lex has her first loose tooth and is so excited to be visited by the tooth fairy. :) She has also grown taller and is starting to fill out a bit. She seems to waiver between being a tom boy and girly girl... but she loves to have her picture taken.  Erika is the most changed I think. She is taller and her features are more refined now. She is a full fledged preschooler. She loves to learn and is in the business of annoying her brother and sister. :)
Anyway here are some random shots from our summer. Enjoy!

 

For even more pics you can check out my photo blog here :)

Thanks so much for checking in... take care!