A minute in the life of a home schooling mother...

Yes, weapons are sometimes seen in our school! "Hand over your gun" also gets repeated from time to time!

Here is a sampling of ONE MINUTE of my homeschooling day today...

(Easton,) "Mom, do I cirkle dis or cwoss it out?"..."circle." (Dylan,) "Is that my next word?"..."no, your word is self-conscious." (Jayden,) "Mom, how many letters are in spoil?"..."5." (Spencer,) "I thought 3 + 4= seven?" ..."It does." "But, you just said 5!" (Meanwhile Anaya is hollering,) " PEEE!"
What in the world...must we all speak at the same time? Give me a break children!! I laughed about the whole situation...after a while! No wonder I am ditsy sometimes, my kids use up every last brain cell I have through out the day!

Market Day project...

Spencer made these beautiful candy necklaces for his Market Day project for Friday Addition.
Look at the concentration on his face, tongue out and all! He was having a good time until he stapled his finger, he howled for quite some time about that! OUCH! This was a fun project...until the injury! One down, 2 more to go...(hopefully I won't have to help the other boys as much!) I get 30 cents an hour for my work, I earned about...90 cents today! I guess I can't complain, that's 90 cents more than I usually make!;)

reluctant youth leader...

Some of our kids helping with worship.

3 of the 8 high school students that joined us to work as kitchen staff.

Playing foosball.Doing the "break it down" table slap thing!

Ryan trying to learn the "break it down" table slap thing, he actually did very good, I didn't even attempt it!

Paint ball, in the snow and sleet!

Dylan and Maggie playing scalps!

The great group of kids we were able to spend some time with!

I wish I could say that I was so excited to serve the Lord this weekend and spend time with some of the junior high youth at the retreat...BUT I cannot! I knew the forecast was calling for rain and cold weather, and quite honestly I wanted nothing more than to stay in my nice warm home! But, Ryan needed another youth leader to help him out and so by default...I had to go! Ryan got sitters for the other kids (another reason I wasn't going to go~I know it is no small task to get someone to care for 4 kids!) But, thanks to my dear sister in laws, I was able to go! And, I am pleased to tell you, that I had a great time. The kids were great, and I had fun hanging out with them. (Which was no surprise, I do enjoy working with them on Wed. nights!) I did skip out on paint ball (it was raining/snowing and COLD!) I am not a fan of getting shot at, especially in the cold/wet weather! We watched an amazing video about a missionary who went to live among a tribe and eventually was able to share the gospel in their language. It took about 3 months of teaching 2 times a day(after many years of living among them) to go through the whole bible, story after story. In the end, they were so happy to hear about the good news of Christ that the whole village jumped up and down...for 2 1/2 hours! 2 1/2 hours! WOW! It was amazing, I cried. When was the last time I got that excited about God and what He has done for me?!...NEVER! I want that! "Lord, forgive me for my reluctance to go and serve you. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to go and grow!"

Caramel apples...

Good, but messy!

Easton told the boys to take their shirts off too, "so ya don't get all sticky!" But, they decided against it!
These things are the best! I hate unwrapping all of those caramels. They heat up super quick and easy. Maybe everyone already uses these and I am just a little behind ~who knows, but I thought I'd share!

Flip!

Anaya learned how to do a flip! I didn't even know that she could do them, and then yesterday she started flipping all over the place! It's no wonder though, her big brother Jayden is always flipping around and is quite regularly on his head more than his feet! We have a couple gymnasts on our hands!

Awestruck wonder...

You can see the big waves on Lake Michigan, but what you can't see is the wind...
Now, I know you can't see the wind, but, you can certainly see it's windy from this picture!
So Ryan said, "I can't see your face"...No, really? I can't help it!! Here is my attempt...
Or maybe this...nothing was going to help, short of a ponytail holder! Anaya had the right idea, face the wind! The boys thought it was funny, except of course for Easton, he was nervous. All day long he would ask "what was that?" with wide eyes. It was of course the wind, howling and banging things around. He was quite upset that we were actually going out in that wind! Poor kid!
The huge waves and powerful storms remind me one of my favorite songs (right now,)"Revelation Song" by Phillips Craig and Dean.

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come
With all creation I sing:
Praise to the King of Kings!
You are my everything,
And I will adore You…!
Yeah!

Clothed in rainbows, of living color
Flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder
Blessing and honor, strength and
Glory and power be
To You the Only Wise King,
Yeah


Filled with wonder,
Awestruck wonder
At the mention of Your Name
Jesus, Your Name is Power
Breath, and Living Water
Such a marvelous mystery
Yeah...

more random thoughts...

We found the best place for Anaya to eat her sucker.....In the tub! Wow, do those ring pops ever make a mess! Problem solved! Happy baby, happy mommy!

Some of the bows I have been working on. To buy these would cost me a fortune, but lucky for Ryan;) I like to make them! Because bows are in fact...a necessity!

Tonight we went through 40 hot dogs and 40 buns, 16 sausages, 8 2liters of pop, 2 family sized bags of Doritos/Cheetos, and 1 1/2 bags of marshmallows, 1 package of chocolate, 1 big box of graham crackers, and 2 bags of Reece's Peanut Butter Cups! We started off roasting the hot dogs over the fire, but then came the rain so we ended our night with smores made in the microwave!

A fun night with the youth group=priceless!