New Seasons

I am lousy at keeping this blog up! Life is slowing down...kind of...so maybe?

Beth GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL LAST MAY. Yes, I needed to shout that at you. I am still freaking out a little bit over it even still. She even got into several colleges!! She had multiple offers to play soccer but decided against it. But, you know what? She GOT INTO COLLEGE! I didn't screw her up too badly!!

My first is grown.

Yikes. I am old!

She is such an amazing young woman and I am so blessed to be her mother. She started college last week for Pre-Vet and that has me gasping for air. Life is moving too quickly. Sarah is a Senior and is planning her life after high school. Missions work, here she comes!

In June of 2017 I will only have two kids at home (technically), they of course can stay as long as they need to. I will only have two to homeschool. My time is so short.

I love this phase of seeing their personalities blossom and their independence grow. They are going to be fantastic adults!

 

Sarah's Senior Pics will be coming in a few months. Aaagghh!! I don't want them to happen and I am crazy excited all at the same time.

 

Hello, Again, Hello

Yeah, my blog is all but dead. I always mean to post but can't find the time to sit down and do it. How lame is that?

I actually do have the time I have just chosen not to.

Because I am lazy.

And I don't manage my time well.

And I got so behind that I just shut down.

 

This year is going to be different. I am going to slowly catch up on everything. It will take time but it is going to happen.

It probably won't be pretty but it will happen.

 

Starting with Christmas.

We celebrated Christmas a little differently this year. Bethany and Steven sang at all three Christmas Eve services this year. I was not happy about it. I guard Christmas Eve and keep it for our immediate family only. We open our pajamas, watch a movie, and eat snacks. It's what we do.

I would like to say that I was a mature adult about it when they told me but honestly, I was trying not to cry. It wasn't one of my finer moments. I walked away and thought about something else. I came to terms with it and they said yes.

Little did we know that Bethany would get sick right before Christmas. Really sick. She had to work a five hour shift on Christmas Eve and then go straight to church to sing. For almost three hours. She barely survived. Seriously. We gave her ibuprofen, EmmergenC, and tons of water. And lots and lots of prayer.

By the time she came home she was feverish and coughing up a lung. It was awful. For her and us!

 

Christmas day was even worse. She was feeling horrid. I started her on antibiotics and we set off for my in-laws. Beth stayed in a room sleeping most of the day but at least she was there, right? It was a really great day filled with food, family, and laughter.

That night was not so great. Bethany got worse and Steven and I got a stomach bug. Which Bethany caught a little later that night. Seems that it spread through the entire extended family. No lie. So Bethany was coughing up a lung with bronchitis and throwing up her guts from a stomach bug. Good times.

 

The next day we took her to the doc and got steroids to speed up the healing but it wasn't quick enough for her to go to work on Saturday. She spent four days in bed, literally.

 

The rest of us worked around the house and stayed away from the sickies. Yes, I was one of them but I kept working and rejected the feeling of throwing up. Yes, I said that. I refuse to throw up until it erupts out of me. I.hate.throwing.up.with.a.deadly.passion.

 

Steven and I started some projects on Saturday in betweeen napping and eating saltines. He worked on transferring my pantry to the walk-in closeet and building more shelves. He got it transferred but still needs to add in a few more shelves. I worked on the Reading Room.

We have had the reading room for a while but as of late it became a catch all for everyone's stuff. It started out that no one was allowed in my room but slowly it was overrun by kids and their stuff. I was just too busy to do much about it.

I was longing for a quiet place so I started on it Saturday. I rearranged the furniture and made the kids collect their crap stuff. I dusted and removed tables I didn't want anymore. It became a room I can't stay out of! I love it. It is once again my room and my quiet place.

It was worth the queasy feeling throughout the day to be able to sit in there and relax.

 

Sunday we stayed home and slept and watched movies. Bethany stayed in bed almost all day unable to eat or walk without coughing. Bug came back after being gone all last week and we returned to normal.

 

We have one more Christmas and then the season will be at an end. The sickness will hopefully stay away and we can enjoy Steven being home.

 

Bug is Growing Up

Birthdays for us are kinda crazy. We have birthdays in December, January, February, March, April, and July. It gets a little stressful to figure out whose birthday is in the month we're in when I can't remember what month it is to begin with!

But, March is Bugs' birthday. She is FOUR YEARS OLD this month. I just can't believe it. She has grown so much from the first day we met her. She was 9mo old and such a little thing. We have had her for three years now and we can't imagine life without her. The kids were talking and they don't actually remember our family without her! She is a sweet addition to our family.

She is a handful sometimes though! She definitely keeps us on our toes and trying to guess what she is going to do next. She keeps us laughing constantly. We love her so very much.

Happy Birthday, Bug. You are a challenge and a joy. You are loved.

 

 

 

A birthday

Friday the 6th we celebrated Hannah's 12th birthday. She is such a sweet young lady and we are blessed with her quirkiness everyday! She loves math, bugs, long fingernails, helping people, ballet, being silly, and so many more things. She is a gentle spirit that quietly moves through life. She is such a blessing to our family.

I can't believe how much she has grown this last year. She is now the same height I am and her feet are bigger than both of her older sisters.

She is such a joy and I can't wait to see what God has planned for her life.

 

She was helping this little guy. We have no idea who he was but he needed help so she took charge of him!

 

Love this picture. She was tickled with something and just quietly laughed. Love it.

 

Happy Birthday, Peanut. Love you more than words can say.

 

A Week of...

Well, Sabbath Week fell the first week of December so we are all anxious to start our break. Unfortunately that meant that we weren't focusing on the now. We were all exhaused from the play and Hannah decided to get sick the following week. She was better by Thanksgiving but then Naomi got sick after that! lol It's always something, right?

Thanksgiving Day we went to Steven's side of the family and spent the day eating and visiting. It was a pretty low-key day and it was great. The cousins all played, went to the park, and sneaked treats. The adults sat around visiting and sneaking some treats! Just wish Bug could have been there with the cousins. They kept asking about her, it was so cute.

Friday, Steven and I went on a date and did some of our Christmas shopping. No, not Black Friday shopping. Although we did get some great deals! We got a chunk of things taken care of and had a wonderful time being together. That night we watched a family movie, I think.

Saturday we headed out to my side's Thanksgiving and spent another day eating and visiting. We went to a Craft Fair in the morning and ate our way to oblivion in the afternoon. We are pretty good cooks if I do say so myself. And the fact that there were more desserts than main/side dishes shows you where our priorities are. heehee

We were pretty tired out by Saturday night and decided to stay home from church on Sunday and just spend it with us. It was a super low-key day that involved naps and reading and watching movies.

That was the week. More or less. Throw cheerleading, signing up for indoor soccer, ballet, doctore appointments, a little school, cleaning house, making Christmas presents, and a few more things and that about covers it!

 

Thanksgiving

Today we get to spend the day with family. We get to eat, visit, and remember our blessings. We are truly blessed. Bug and her family are celebrating together and we will miss her-we aren't all here without her!
Enjoy your families and hug them often.
You can also read my latest article over at Homeschool Mosaics today. Check it out!

Getting Ready

This post is for me. I need to prepare myself for Bethany's first formal on Sunday Night. She has the dress and we just need to find the shoes, jewelry, and jacket.

I am kind of putting it off. Why? Because she looked way to beautiful in that stinkin' dress and it made me realize that in three short years she will be an adult. I could cry just thinking about it.

Good and Bad tears. She will be a fantastic adult I have no doubt because she is a fantastic teen but she won't be here every day. Yes, I know that is good and I will be glad to have one less body around sometimes but I will miss her.

For now, I will enjoy the sweetness she brings and I will ignore that stupid formal coming up! ;-)

Renita

Singing with Dad

This weekend our oldest dd had the opportunity to sing at a wedding.  The bride happened to be our 'old' babysitter.  She watched three of our kids when they were young and evidently grew up when we weren't watching!

She called about 3 1/2 weeks before her wedding bc the original singer backed out for some reason.  Steven hesitated since the wedding was on my birthday but I told him that he had to do it.  It was her wedding.  Then I suggested that we have Sunshine sing with him.  Perfect!  His brothers would sing one song while our nephew played the piano and Steven and Bethany would sing another song.

They picked the songs easily enough and practice commenced.  I helped Sunshine rehearse during the day and finally the week before Steven started practicing with her.  She was fantastic.  No lie.

I was anxious for her because she was so nervous but I knew that if she let God work through her natural talent she would be fine.

Her first game was scheduled for the night of the rehearsal and another wedding of a friend but then was changed to the night before.  So we had a game on Thursday, a wedding rehearsal and another wedding on Friday night, a wedding on Saturday night, and my birthday on Saturday.  Whew!  It makes me tired just typing it out. lol

Anyway.  The rehearsal went well so I'm told.  Steven was pleased and looking forward to singing the next day with her.

We had already picked out a special dress for her and fixed her hair that afternoon.  She looked beautiful.

The wedding came and they headed up for pictures and another rehearsal.  She was as ready as she could be.

Sunshine told me right before the wedding started that the wedding planner asked if she was willing to sing at other weddings and that she was impressed with how well she sang.  Woohoo!

I think I was more nervous than she was.  I was shaking!  I just kept praying that she would relax and let God work through her.

The time came for them to sing and they nailed it!

Afterward a young man came up and asked if she was my daughter, I enthusiastically said yes!  He proceeded to go on and on about how good she was and how he thought he was listening to the finals on American Idol!  He was so excited to tell her how well she had sung.  He said she even outshone Steven!  It was great.

She received quite a few compliments but still doesn't quite believe them yet.

Listen and see what you think...

Another Year? Really?

I can not believe that another year has passed and that our youngest is SIX YEARS OLD!  This year I will have a 13yo, a 12yo, a 9yo, and a 6yo.  Wow!  That is crazy.

The year has gone by so quickly.  I remember Bean asking the day after her 5th bday how many days until she turned 6.  I thought it was going to be a long year!  I was so wrong.

When I went to write her bday post I was sure that I had just done so a few days ago.  Nope.  It was last year.  Here is the story, or at least part of it, if you want to read it.  She is such a wonderful addition to our family and we can't imagine life without her.  She makes us laugh everyday and encourages us constantly.  I hope she never loses the sweet and simple gift of encouragement that she has. 

And I know the check out woman at Wal-mart doesn't want her to lose it.  When we were there last, Bean told the woman she was pretty and did a good job!  Sometimes it's the simple things that matter. 

Bean sees everything, she takes it all in.  Not much gets by her even when we want it to!

Hug your kids.  Love on 'em.  Spend some time getting to know them.  Play with them.  Life is too short to regret not spending enough time with them while they still want us to.  ;-D

Sweet Birthday

My blog is being scraped again.  If you are reading this on a website other than www.crazyhomedaze.blogspot.com you are reading a stolen copy of my content.

Our sweet third born daughter turned Nine Years Old today.  (I am posting this many days late!)  I can not believe that my Peanut is nine!  It sound cliche but it really does seem like yesterday that she was a newborn in the hospital just quietly looking around at everyone.  She was such a quiet baby.  She was always watching but very quiet.  She was so quiet in fact, that she didn't start really talking until she was over 18months.  After the first started talking at 4mo and the next around 6mo -and I mean full words here- this freaked me out.  I could tell that H understood us because she would respond and her eyes would dart to what we were talking about.  She just wouldn't talk.  So we taught her sign language.  She caught on quickly and used it like crazy.  The older two tried to hover and anticipate her moves, but I wouldn't let them.  I knew that the third child could get 'lost' if we weren't diligent and I wanted her to have her own place and her own voice.  Even if she didn't!

When H was just over 18 months old I was worried that she wouldn't talk.  I was on the verge of taking her to a specialist or something.  Then she looked at me one day and said, "Mom, can you get me some water?"  Seriously.  I almost passed out!  From then on, she has only spoken when she has something to say.

H remains our quiet, thoughtful child who has the sweetest spirit.  She is kind and compassionate and has an incredibly sharp mind that she puts to use by watching everything all the time.  Nothing much passes by her.  We sometimes think that she isn't paying attention or that she is zoning only to find out later that she was paying attention and even more than we thought!  Her soulful eyes are ever watching for a way to help and encourage.

I can not wait to see what God has planned for this amazing little lady.  Love you, Peanut!

Surprise!

Sitting at a make-up soccer game last week, Steven and I were checking our calendars to see what was going on on Sunday, May 2nd.  We both checked and saw nothing (see previous post on Sundays!).  After a few minutes of staring at our calendars, which are on our phones, we realized that Sunday, May 2nd was our anniversary!  roflol

We both forgot.  I had spent so much time getting ready for his birthday that our anniversary slipped right past me.  We sat there laughing at each other and I realized that the other people sitting around us had heard us and were laughing at us.  :-D  Oh well, at least we forgot together!

We were able to go out and celebrate our 18th anniversary just the way we wanted.  Steak and a bookstore.  We are simple people with simple pleasures. 

Eighteen years, wow!  I picked a great guy.