White Cracker Candy

If you're looking for a different food gift to give to your loved ones and friends for Christmas, check out this prettily packaged candy that my friend Kathy has available.

White Cracker Candy

Fall Texas Trip - Oct. 30-Nov. 9, 2009 - PART I

We could hardly wait for Brad to get home from work on October 30th. We had the van loaded (the van that Brad's aunt graciously loaned us for the trip) and were ready to go. We finally had everything together and ready to hit the road around 7 p.m. After saying a prayer for our safety, we began the 13-hour journey. It was a little harder this time, and we decided that would probably be the last time we would try to drive all night. But little did we know....(I'll save that story for later.)

We arrived in Texas around 8 a.m. We were too tired to do anything when we arrived, so we tried to rest as much as we could. It was Halloween, and Brad's parents had some friends coming over to go trick-or-treating around their neighborhood. Cari and Amelia wanted to go along, so they dressed up in some princess dresses they had brought and had a great time trekking around the neighborhood for candy. (Amelia wanted to go again the next day, but I explained that unfortunately that wasn't the way it works.)

We took some pictures and loaded them on a CD while we were there but forgot to bring the CD home with us, so I don't have photos of the first couple of days.

The next day, Brad's parents had invited over some family and friends, so I suggested we make it a birthday party for Matthew since we would be traveling home the following Sunday - his actual birthday. Everyone liked that idea, so Brad and I went on a search for the perfect birthday cake for a precious one-year-old baby boy. We didn't find it. So, we made him a chocolate cake with his name spelled out with M&Ms (actually, it had *Lil Buddy* on it - he gets called that much more than he does Matthew). We have some cute photos of him with chocolate cake smeared all over his face. But alas, they are sitting on a CD in Texas. If you're my friend on Facebook, you've probably seen them already as Madison did have the opportunity to put them on there while we were still in Texas. I could probably copy and paste them on here somehow, but I'll not worry about that right now.

That's all the vacation talk for today. I don't want to overwhelm you.

But there is one more cute thing I want to throw in. At Matthew's birthday party, I was curious to see if he'd like his cake or not. Why you may ask? It's Madison's fault. When she turned one, we had the pretty store-bought cake prepared for her, and when we placed her piece on the high chair tray, she cried terribly. She didn't like the cake.at.all. Is that crazy or what? To this day, she still does not like the icing on birthday cakes. She likes the cake part, and that's it, which works well for her sisters who do prefer the icing over the cake. To make her happy on her 1st birthday, we gave her a hamburger bun, and that suited her just fine. Her pictures aren't nearly as interesting as it's pretty hard to make a mess with a hamburger bun. So hard to believe she's about to turn 14. Almost time to pull out the hamburger buns!

I Shall Return....

I've been wanting to post pictures of our recent trip to Texas, but it seems I've hardly had any spare moments here lately. I'm sure most of you can relate. To prove my point, here's what yesterday looked like.

Got up early and did my medical transcription (my part-part-time job), took a break to fix Brad's lunch and send him off to work, and then back to finish medical transcription. Upstairs to fix breakfast and personal Bible devotion. Got some clothes washing and then time to wake up the girls. Ate breakfast and did a few chores and started getting everyone dressed for the day. Back downstairs for school time until lunch time. Fixed lunch and had an impromptu picnic in the neighbor's yard (since they weren't home and Amelia and Cari thought it looked like a nice place for a picnic). Afterwards had a little play time outside and then time to feed the rabbits. Back inside to clean up the kitchen and then start putting supper together. Finished just in time to finish getting dressed, get Matthew dressed for pictures, and then shuffle everyone out to the car. Took Madison to basketball practice in Roopville. Dropped her off and turned around and headed back to Wal-Mart to have Matthew's one-year pictures made. Afterwards, looked at shoes for the girls to try to get some ideas and sizes for Christmas. Grabbed a snack and then headed back to Roopville to get Madison. We then headed home where I popped supper in the oven and finished cleaning up the kitchen. Time to eat. Afterwards, we had to go back downstairs to finish our history and reading and also for Bible time with Dad. Then back upstairs to clean up the kitchen again. Next I put on my PJs and collapsed on the couch while simultaneously watching Jon & Kate Plus Eight on TV and Matthew trying to keep up with Cari and Amelia in the living room. I finished the night by trying my best to stay awake while rocking Matthew to sleep. He went to sleep quickly, and I promptly followed.

I enjoy days like that - when I feel like I've earned my sleep. But, too many days like that in a row is not a good thing. Today is looking pretty similar except Madison actually has a game this evening in Roopville, so we'll be away from home for a longer period of time. I just wanted to update my blog real quickly before I got going this morning, and maybe I'll get those vacation photos on here soon. For now, I better get off of here and get busy!

Fun Family Fishing

We (me, Brad, Madison, Cari, Amelia, Matthew, Angela and Alex) met at my mom and dad's home this past Saturday afternoon for a nice, relaxing day of fishing. It was a little chilly, but the fish were biting (for some of us anyway!). Some of us caught'em, some of us cleaned'em, some of us cooked'em, and ALL of us ate them!

A Week of Autumn (in pictures) (and a few words)

Cari wasn't being punished - she just felt like writing "Fall."

My children had never had caramel apples before. They didn't like them. I, on the other hand, LOVE caramel apples!

We took a midweek field trip to Carlton Farms with some of our homeschool friends. It was a gorgeous day and a great day to get together with friends and experience life on a farm. We visited their animal barn and got to pet some of their baby animals. We also took a hay ride into their pasture, and the driver stopped about halfway through and let the children feed the cows some hay that was on the trailer. I don't know who enjoyed it more - the cows or the children?! We then went through a corn maze and later had a picnic atop some hay bales in the warm sunshine while watching the kids attempt to corner and catch some chickens. All in all, it was a lovely day. Below are some pictures from our trip.

Probably the closest Madison will ever come to milking a cow.

Quick snapshot of Amelia and Matthew before we continued to find our way out of the corn maze.

It was nice to take the week off from regular school work and focus on Autumn. We were able to learn some new things and have fun while doing so. We ended the study by making some Honey Pumpkin Bread. I would have taken a picture, but I wasn't quick enough. You've got to be quick around here if you want to get a picture of food!

More about ~ Grace ~

I am truly enjoying the church we are currently attending. As I've shared before, my husband and I both have the desire for him to pastor again someday, but in the meantime, we know God has us at this particular church for a reason. We are learning so much, and we are confident that everything we are seeing and being taught will be of great use in the future. I don't think we've attended a service yet where I haven't learned something new or had another one of those things corrected in my mind that I've always believed but never really studied. God's Word, the whole council of God, is clearly expounded - and that's the way it should be. If we can't go to John MacArthur's church (that would be a bit of a drive!), I think we've found the next best thing - just on a much smaller scale. ;=)

On Wednesday nights, we've been studying forgiveness. You may wonder how that topic could be studied for more than one evening, but you would be surprised. As a side note last night, he mentioned something about grace, and a lightbulb exploded in my head. I had absolutely never considered it this way before.

God gives us enough grace to get us through each day. We don't have grace for the worries of yesterday or for what is going to take place tomorrow, next week, or next year. And we can't "borrow" from today's grace to take care of those worries. We should deal with each day with the grace we've been given, and let tomorrow take care of itself.

Matthew 6:34 - Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

What's Going On Around Here?

Just a few updates under various subjects:



*Sports*
Madison just finished with fall softball. They had two tournaments, two weekends in a row. With basketball soon approaching and fall vacations, that is all they could fit in for this season. They moved up to the 14 and under bracket, and I think they did very well for their first experience with this age division. They won a few, and the ones they lost were mostly by one point - no more than two or three. The coach held tryouts several weeks ago and half of the girls are new to the team. I think we've ended up with a great team, and all the girls seem to have good attitudes, which Madison's coach is very BIG on. On the team, we have girls from different schools - Bremen, Haralson County, Cedartown, Mt. Zion, and of course our one lone homeschooler. I was curious to see how they would all mesh together, and of course it takes a little time for the girls to get used to each other, but I think they're going to be a good fit. I'm looking forward to their spring/summer season. In the meantime, we have basketball season fast approaching. Madison will be playing for a Christian school, and I'm hopeful that Cari will be able to also. I have about two weeks left before the deadline for rec. ball, so I have to make that final decision soon. Cari just wants to play for whoever starts first. She is so ready to play she says.



*School*
We've finally figured out our curriculum for this year, and I feel so much better and not nearly as stressed as at the beginning of the year. We're using CLE for reading. We'll continue to use their spelling and Bible until the workbooks run out that I ordered, and then we'll use something else. I went back to Easy Grammar for Madision and Easy Grammar and Daily Grams for Cari. The CLE grammar was just way too difficult. At one point, I had thought we would stick with it and muster through somehow, but obviously I wasn't thinking clearly. I had it in my mind that we needed to stick with it in order to properly prepare them for college (if through much prayer and seeking God's will they find it necessary to attend college). Then I got out my English/Grammar book that I used in college (one of the few books I saved), and it was nowhere near as complex as what we were doing in 8th grade grammar! So, that was my permisson to dump it and go back to what we used before! We switched to All American History for both girls. We had used this in the past but only made it halfway through, so we're continuing on with the second half. Madison had actually requested to do this as she really likes that curriculum. I like it, too. I switched Madison back to Apologia Science, and Cari is staying with the CLE science.



But for this week, we're having a relaxed learning week. We're studying Autumn and various aspects of it. We have workbook pages, things we're watching on the computer, fall recipes to make (we're making caramel apples today!), nature walks, and we're planning a field trip tomorrow to a pumpkin farm. Cari is very excited about this. She could absolutely do school like this all the time. Who knows, she might would learn more this way!? Maybe I should listen to and try to take to heart what Dr. Ruth Beechick says ~~ Homeschooling naturally is natural. Don't work too hard on making it artificially schoolish. I'm working on it.


*Matthew*



Matthew is 11 months old now! I can't believe we'll soon be celebrating his first birthday! He has been so much fun to have around, and I'm so thankful that he is here. I never imagined having four children but now can't imagine not having four. It saddens me to think what we would have missed! And what are we missing yet? Hmm.... That's a whole other discussion right there! Back to Matthew ~ he's standing alone and has taken a tiny step on his own but no official walking yet. I remember "coaching" Madison with her walking, but with number four, I am in no hurry to see him walking. It is totally up to him and when he's ready. He has three teeth now - finally. We didn't think he was going to have teeth for a while, but they all came in at about the same time. He LOVES to eat, so that was a huge plus for him in getting to try new things. He has started smiling with his nose all wrinkled up, and I love this photo I took of him in the bathtub the other night. He was taking his first bubble bath, but I could hardly get him to stay sitting down long enough to show the bubbles! He likes to stand, that's for sure. I have to eat with one hand, feed him with that same hand, and hold on to one of his legs with the other hand to keep him seated in his highchair during meal time. He has even figured out how to wiggle out of the highchair seatbelt. He's quite proud of himself - you can just tell.




*Amelia*
Amelia has so many cute things that she says. I really need to write them down or put them on here more often so I won't forget. Because I know I will if I don't. Last week, she found a tiny shirt and said, "Mommy, you know what this goes to? It goes on my Hot Pocket." I was thinking "What?" I turned around and looked. I said, "I think you mean Polly Pocket." Obviously, food gets more attention than toys around here!




*Rabbits*
Please...someone come get those rabbits. Seriously, that is part of our prayer time every day. Lord, please send new families for these rabbits. We're very anxious for Him to answer that prayer!