High School

As I have recently reconnected with friends from elementary school, junior high , and high school on Facebook, it really got me thinking. I am SO glad that God helps us grow and mature after high school. I don't know about you , but I am not even remotely the same person I was was when I graduated!

My "old" friends have a hard time believing that I homeschool because I was not a big fan of school back in the day! That is actually part of the reason I do homeschool. I want my kids to enjoy learning! I also want to be able to spend extra time, if needed, to be sure they really "get" the information and I want them to be able to fly through material that they have a good grasp on.

It is so cool to reconnect because I get to see the kinds of people my friends have grown up to be. It helps me realize how much I have changed and that God keeps forgiving me as I mess up and then He lets me start again with a clean slate!

So, thanks to all of my Facebook friends who were my friends back then and still wanted to be my friends now!

Garden Again

We have started up the garden again. I am using our raised bed from last year for my early spring & late summer gardens. In these we have: sugar snap peas, Alaska peas, winter squash, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce and spinach.
My dear husband has made 2 more raised beds, which we spent an entire day filling with dirt, that measure 6 feet by 16 feet each. Needless to say, we will have TONS of veggies this year!
We also are experimenting with strawberries, blackberries and grapes this year. I will keep you posted on those!
For those of you wanting to plant this year you still have plenty of time. Feel free to search my site for other postings under the label "garden".

Flashback

Random thoughts from my childhood:

• Camping with my parents - the primitive type, not the camper type
• Getting carsick - a LOT
• My bologna has a first name...
• Riding my bike with the banana seat
• Playing hide and seek with my brother
• Going to Pensacola Beach with my family and friends
• Skiing - snow
• Racing crawfish with my cousins then throwing them in the pot (the crawfish, not my cousins)
• Playing in my treehouse
• Hanging out at our neighborhood pool
• Getting chased and stung by a swarm of bees

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas Program

Casey (the angel) & Cody saying her verse

Casey (in the middle)

The girls were in the choir Christmas program again this year, and again, it was spectacular. All of the kids were adorable and there is so much talent in those young people! They sang, danced and acted wonderfully, it was a joy to watch them all!
Cody stepped up to the microphone and said her verse, right on cue. Casey knew her lines, her song and dance number and her solo - she was the "Hipp. She was also beautiful as an angel in the last scene.
We are very proud of our girls and SO blessed to be in such an amazing church that helps them fine tune their talents while teaching them that those talents are God-given and should be used to glorify Him!

New Tradition

This year we have started a new Christmas tradition at our house. We bought a small pre-lit tree and put some very special ornaments on it. All of these ornaments belonged to either my maternal grandmother, my paternal grandmother, or Joe's maternal grandmother. As we hang the ornaments on the tree we tell the girls about our grandparents and other Christmas memories we have from our childhood. It was a lot of fun and it was cool to see that our grandmothers had some very similar ornaments. The girls enjoyed it this year and we hope this is a tradition that they can continue when they have children of their own!

I know, I know

I know it has been a REALLY long since since I update the blog - I do apologize!
When Joe was not working I spent many mornings homeschooling the girls and then heading off to work a part-time job in the afternoons. Plus with soccer, choir, church etc... my computer time was put on the back burner!
It is with great thanksgiving that I announce - Joe got a new job! He is thoroughly enjoying it and although the hours are a bit crazy he gets a lot of days off. I am still working a little bit here and there to make up for the loss of income that we have with the new job. Fortunately, we have great benefits and the income is much better than unemployment!
So, thank you for your prayers during the past year and thanks to God for His amazing provision!
I will update again soon - I promise!!!