Who wants to see.....

Easter pictures!!!!


Hey, it was only two months ago! Gimme a break, I'm still dealing with the no camera cord situation, which will soon be no camera as my mom has quite sharply requested that her camera be returned to her asap! Hopefully, she'll forgive me if I "forget" about it for a few more days. I GOTTA have a camera for Brooke's birthday party, don't I?

Speaking of, my baby *tear tear, sniff sniff* turned 11 yesterday! Her party is this weekend, though. I still cannot believe it. I have no little ones anymore except for all the ones at the daycare. I'll always have them. But I miss babies. It's time for someone close to me to have one....hmmm...just don't know who I could be talking about. Could I mean... Mia!?


Yes, I do! But alas! She got a dog this weekend instead. A great dane of all things! They named her Lola and I'll share a picture ....well someday! I told her she was nuts! Doesn't she know the bigger the dog, the bigger its poop! Hello?

But anyway, back to MY baby! Happy Birthday, precious! I know you are looking forward to your party. She has requested her own cell phone. We're *thinking* about that. But the other thing she asked for was a cabbage patch doll. Now she already has one that she's had for a few years but this one is different. This one, she wants to be black!

That child is obsessed and crazy about people of color! All her favorite kids at the daycare (with the exception of a few) are black or Indian. My mom just got a new baby at her daycare from Kenya and Brooke is in LOVE, I kid you not. That is her goal when she grows up--to adopt a black little girl! The darker the better and she wants it to have the nappiest hair! (is it okay to use the word "nappy"--I don't know, I guess I will have to learn all this pc stuff if she ever DOES actually get a real black child!) So we are currently searching for a black baby doll, which if I'm completely honest--I think that's cool!



Okay, so onto Easter pictures...

Dying eggs...





check this egg out! Dylan left it in the "cammo" dye overnight just to see what it would do! Looks gross doesn't it?



hunting eggs (with money inside!)




posing for a family pic...




My awesome parents...



Hope you enjoy!

Not much time...

for blogging these days. Dylan's last day of school is tomorrow. The girls have been done and I began packing up the Discovery Room today. No sniffles here, though. I am VERY excited about the summer and the upcoming school year as a 4K teacher! God just confirms every morning to me that that is exactly what He wants me to do! I love it when He makes the path so clear! I just thank Him for the opportunity to work with such fabulous people, especially my boss. She is just so awesome--there are no words!

Summer work schedule begins next week but there will still be time for what I make time for and that includes Brooke's 11th birthday and Jeff's 40th birthday coming up in the same weekend. Also looking forward to the Nielsen's weekly pool parties and just everyday summer fun.

Jeff got great news today--his company got a contract to build a bridge in Massachusettes which means two years worth of work for the company and some significant overtime for him. We are not sure when that will start. It could be next week, it could be a few months. But it is definite. God provides! And He sustains and that's basically what we're doing right now.

We are starting to feel like it's time to move again. We are just outgrowing that ltitle house. But we want to be very careful and prayerful about when and where. The house we're in now--it was a total God thing, the location, the timing and everything and I'll have to share that sometime. And we have been so blessed to have wonderful landlords. In fact, sometimes I'm overwhelmed by God's blessings in the people he surrounds us with--landlords, bosses, friends, dance teachers, family, etc. And I have been feeling for awhile now that it's time to move but the urgency lately is just impressing upon me that I know I must remain faithful in prayer that God will lead us to the house he has picked out for us. Until then, please pray that He will sustain us where we are and help us maintain the space! LOL

My van is another thing that's been worrying me lately. It's still going good and that's yet another testimony that I need to type up and share sometime--another God thing! But it DOES have over 300,000 miles on it, is 16 years old and the wear and tear is really, I mean REALLY starting to show. I have really enjoyed it and I have really enjoyed not having a car payment for the last 5 years (we got the van 3 years ago--about ready to go into debt for a car again when it was practically dumped in our laps by some more wonderful friends!) I am so not looking forward to more debt (sorry Dave Ramsey, I've tried and continue to try and stick to your plan but it just aint for normal folks like us! Maybe when I get my first book deal! lol) but I'm afraid the time is quickly coming upon us. I would love for the van to hold out until God puts us in our next home but honestly, I'll be grateful if it makes it through the summer! And what a hot summer it will be--did I mention it has no air? No big deal, throw my hat on and roll down the windows. I've done it before!

Nonetheless, Lord, I will STILL praise you! You are awesome and wonderful and all those words that I just don't have right now. I am so thankful and so humbled for all that you do not just in my life but in the lives of those around me.

And to all my lurky-lous out there that NEVER comment---I love you, too and hope you find God's blessings this week!

My latest read...

The Duggars: 20 and Counting!

I'll be honest. When I first heard about this family several years ago, I thought the same thing as everyone else--they must be nuts!! But after a few years of watching them on Discovery and TLC, I have fallen completely in love! And everyone is entitled to their own opinion about having lots of children. But I believe they have more business having 20+ kids than some people in this world have even having ONE kid! I love Michelle Duggar's (and hey, she's got my name, that's in her favor!) sweet spirit. How I wish I'd been blessed with such a disposition.

A lot of what's in the book is repetitive of what you would learn from their shows. But there is a lot more detail about how things were when they were first married, more from their own childhoods and where they've learned the various things they practice today--spirituality, frugality, etc. I love hearing other people's stories, particularly what makes them who they are. I find it gives me a much deeper appreciation for the vast differences there are among us all. And I always try to take something away from each person's story to incorporate into making myself a better person and believe me, I found a LOT in this book to take!

I don't pretend to believe that our family would ever completely mirror theirs (or any other family) nor would we want to (no insult intended) But they definitely have some great ideas and some fresh approaches to accomplishing harmony in the home. Actually, it's probably NOT fresh. They get a lot of what they do from the Bible. It just seems fresh because most of us--even those of us who love the Lord--don't or are not always successful in putting those concepts into practice.

One thing that really struck me was their belief about obedience. This is definitely something I have had difficulty with in my lifetime--being obedient to my parents and being obedient to God and I think it's something a lot of people struggle with. We are born wanting to do what we want to do and we don't always understand that sometimes, what we want isn't what's best for us or that the world doesn't revolve around us (shocking, isn't it?) If we're smart, we learn early that obedience brings about many blessings. I'm obviously not very smart. That's not to say that I haven't been blessed. I have been blessed far beyond what I deserve. but I can definitely look back and see that I have missed out on a lot of what God had for me because I refused to heed Him. I don't spend a lot of time looking back though. It's pointless. Id' rather concentrate on using what I have learned to press on. I just pray that my kids don't have to learn this the hard way like I did! That is why we are going to try and incorporate some of the methods I learned in this book to try and emphasize obedience to our children. Now, it's not like I've let them run buck wild up until this point. But it's always been more of a "do what I say because I'm the mom" kind of thing without rhyme or reason. We are going to break it down further and discuss more instead of having everything be either totally lax or totally authoritarian. We are going to discuss the four points of complete obedience--instant, cheerful, thorough, and unconditional. We've already begun having some great discussions and teachable moments.

We've also come up with a baseline of family goals, though when we have this discussion I'm sure the kids will probably have some to add. I call them goals instead of rules because to me, the word "rules" just seems to set us up for failure. And we will fail. Even Jeff and I do not behave appropriately 100% of the time because we, too, are fallible human beings. But we can still have GOALS--something to strive for. much of what I've come up with so far is common sense. But the wording I did get from the Duggars and it seems more positive than "Do this, not this or don't do this" and I've long been a fan of positive discipline and positive attitudes, my whole life really (why dwell on the bad? I just don't get pessimistic people!) but particularly since I read Karol Ladd's book, The Power of a Positive Mom years ago.

Also included in this wonderful book, as I alluded to earlier, are tips on being frugal including many wonderful frugal recipes. I have copied a few to try but of course, my rule is they don't become part of my "collection" until they have been "tried and true" by us personally. So check back in my cooking blog later to see what's been added.

And for us homeschoolers, Michelle has included many of her homeschooling resources and character training tools. Many look very interesting and I'm in the process of checking those out myself and just like with the recipes, if I find anything I plan to use, I'll be sure and share it with you.

I definitely recommend this book, even if you, like I used to, think they are "nuts". I'm positive you will find it a great read and hopefully you'll be able to take something away from it for yourself just as I did.

Blessings,

Our weekend...

God answers so many prayers for me and I am so unworthy that it always, always blows my mind how good he is to me and my family.

We have been struggling a bit this year more than ever, actually, even though we've been long sufferers of financial issues as I will share about some other time. It's actually a HUGE part of my testimony that God is indeed great and I have it on my blog "to do" list to share more about our financial woes and wonders.

But this year, for whatever reason has been even more challenging. It seems the more we try and cut back, the tighter everything gets. How is that? When we first moved to Clay almost 6 years ago, I'd just left the bank to follow God's call to become a teacher. That cut my salary by 3/4! (yes, I once made the big bucks! Hard to believe my little thrift-store shopping self ever had such a much higher standard of living) and we still had a car payment, cable bill, two phone bills and so many other things that we thought were "needs". Now we have no car payments, no cable and only a cell phone. I sew a lot of our clothes, I cook and clean frugally and have cut out so much from our "spending plan" (I've always hated the word budget because for us no two months are ever the same so it's hard to create a "budget") and still from week to week it's such a stretch! And then when something unexpected comes along like a trip to the ER or an outrageous cell phone bill (thank you, my lovely text-crazy daughter!) it blows us out of the water.

Nonetheless, even in today's economy, (are we in a recession or not? All the republicans still keep saying it's media hype but I gotta tell ya, if we're not in one, it certainly feels that way!) there are things I am indeed grateful for:

1. My husband still has his job. His overtime may have been cut out but so many at his company have been laid off indefinitely. Thank you, Lord that not only does he have seniority, he also has the skills that keep him in demand and right now I'm tahnkful that he's even getting a full 40 hours!

2. I have a job. And not just any job but a job that I love. A job that I'm good at and a job where I'm appreciated. I don't make much money right now but it will get better when my hours increase and God has even worked it out for me to continue to do what I love (homeschool my girls) while I help contribute to our family's income.

3. We have health insurance. Even though I sometimes complain about what it doesn't cover, I am glad to be able to whip that card out when I need to when so many people do not have that small luxury.

4. We do (or we did, lol) have some small savings in 401k and we still have Jeff's pension which is very, very good.

So we're not completely desolate. I hated having to pull money out of savings to keep us going but I'm glad it was there for us to do so. And getting back to what my post was originally supposed to be about--the check came just in the nick of time for us to pay some bills and take a little much needed mini break for some good family time.

Friday, we went to Atlant to Six Flags for homeschool day. It was dope, dude! (like my Randy Jackson impression!) I was a little apprehensive about going because even though it was such a good deal (for $24.50 you got admission, lunch and a return ticket) I'd heard it's always so crowded on homeschool day. It wasn't. I've been when the lines were MUCH longer. The weather was good and we spent the whole day with some good friends (the Nielsens) and had a blast!

I am still coming to terms with the fact tha tmy children are growing up fast and are no longer my babies. And also that it's not in the cards for us to have more children. I am missing my mommy-of-a-small-child days and though I'm thankful for friends who are willing to share their little ones for a few minutes at a time and for my job that allows me to be around little ones, I'm still struggling with the increasing awareness I have of my children's shortening childhood. So I try to comfort myself by looking for joy in the smallest of places, trying to embrace the positive things about having older kids. Like the fact that I didn't have to push that stroller around all those hills at Six Flags (sorry, Donna!) I didn't have to worry about changing diapers or running to the potty every five minutes (except for myself!) and having kids who are big enough to ride the big rides! Well, sort of...

Brooke is still a big weinie! We weren't able to get her on any coasters that went upside down (maybe next year) but we did get her on the Scream Machine, Wyle Coyote and the Dahlonega Mine Train. Kayti was my daredevil! She rode all those, plus the Georgia Scorcher, Goliath, the Ninja, Batman, Superman and the Mindbender! It's funny how when you think you know your kids and then they wind up being the opposite of what you expect. I would have expected Brooke to be the daredevil and Kayti to be the weinie! But whatever...

The weather was outstanding, too. It was overcast most of the morning but it never rained and there was a nice breeze, even when the sun did come out later in the day. No problem, we just hopped on the Splash Water Falls and got cooled off quickly!

We'd planned to get up early the next morning and head for Nashville (for Brooke's dance competition) and go canoeing but Nashville had so much rain the last few weeks and the water levels on the river was too high for a canoe trip. We'll have to make that up another time. So we just took our time going up there, galivanting, stopping when we saw something interesting. We had lunch at the Rainforest cafe (big mistake--$75 for hamburgers? Are you kidding me? I don't remember the one in Disney's Animal Kingdom costing that much!) and then we walked around the mall--the one they tore down Opryland to build. It still blows my mind that Opryland is no longer there. That was a HUGE part of my childhood and I miss it terribly. But even though I'm not much for shopping we still had a good time walking around the mall before going to the hotel for some rest and pool time.

The team did great at competition the next day--hi gold on everything and we had a nice ride home, even though Jeff came down with some kind of sinus infection that was making him nauseous causing me to have to drive the whole way.

So not a bad Mother's Day. I can't think of a better way to spend it unless my own mom had been with us. And like I said, I do realize that we are tremendously blessed.

Blessings,

Updated homeschool blog....

check it out!!!

quick girls

All wrapped up...

Woohoo!

We just completed another successful year of homeschooling! Kayti did end up dropping out of her English class at CORE but it was no big deal. It was turning out to be nothing but a waste of her time. She wasn't learning anything and it was really dragging her down. As soon as she dropped it, her grades in her other classes shot through the roof! They didn't stay there, unfortunately, lol, but that's okay. She finished the year a solid B and I'm very proud of that. She was challenged and still came out a winner so I can't ask for more.

Brooke also finished her studies ahead of time. It was important to her to get done around the same time Kayti did, though I don't know why. Dylan is still in school so it wouldn't have been like she was the only one...go figure. But she made huge progress in her math this year and more importantly, she became an independent worker! Very few times did I need to remind her or nag her to do her work. She simply got the planbook and got going on her own and that is more amazing than anything else!

Though this next year will present a new bunch of challenges and obstacles, it will also have its opportunities and rewards and for that we are very excited. Because next year will be so busy, we will need to be very structured and I'm not wasting anytime getting a plan hammered down. I'm already researching and looking into what components I want to put into our curriculum and how I want to organize our daily schedule given that I will also be managing a classroom of 12 4 year olds!

We already know that Kayti will be taking only three classes from CORE next year--on Tuesday afternoon. She will be enrolled in Greek & Roman History, Latin and Greek Roots, and Pre-Algebra. I am teaching her Science and English as well as Bible and possibly a foreign language (we haven't decided on one yet).

I am still looking for a good science curriculum for both girls. I have several in mind to consider. One in particular I REALLY like but it's expensive--$180 per child. However, it does come with all the lab supplies and that's a huge plus. I want it to be Bible based but (and forgive me, I know I won't word this correctly) not too over the top. In other words, I want my children to come to the conclusion of creationism on their own after research and considering other theories. I don't just want it shoved down their throats if you know what I mean.

I am writing my own English curriculum based on a separate reading list for each of them. Kayti's reading list is: The Diary of Anne Frank, Conversations with Pioneer Women, Great Expectations, Tom Sawyer and Tales from Shakespeare. I haven't decided on the order yet. Brooke's reading list is: Yankee Girl, Heidi, That Girl Lucy Moon and two more that are to be selected. But I already have spelling/vocabulary and discussion questions based on those three and I'm putting together other activities to enhance their reading/writing/grammar/punctuation. I am also planning to supplement this with some workbook work but I am not going to be strict in making them do every page of it.

Picking a math curriculum for Brooke is probably going to be my biggest challenge as that is her weakest subject. I have several things I'm reviewing and plenty of time to make a decision. But I will probably end up picking and pecking from a lot of different sources (hey, that's what makes me an "ecclectic" homeschooler, right? lol)

One thing we did fail at this year was Bible study. We attempted Community Bible study once again but it simply does not fit our lifestyle. I really liked the idea that we were all studying the same thing/concept and the corporate prayer time with other adult women is something I am going to miss. I need to look into starting my own prayer group, I guess. But for whatever reason, it just didn't work and it won't next year either because of our schedule.

One thing I want to do first is to reestablish quiet time in our home and family bible time. We used to do this and we've gotten out of the habit of it. I've been looking at some wonderful resources I learned about by reading about the Duggar family (whom I LOVE!!!!) and also some books that help parents teach children how to study the bible for themselves. I also want us to do some theme studies, particularly about modesty and girlhood, some word studies and we are going to explore other religions as well (not for us to convert to but as a missions education to learn what others believe).

Getting back to the foreign language thing, Kayti will begin Spanish in 9th grade so I don't want to do that. And I'm not sure about French or German either. I would really like to do something out of the ordinary like Hindi or Arabic. But we'll see...

And of course, like many of my "heroes", these are just goals. There are goals and then there is reality!

Blessings,

Many blogs in one...(VERY long!)

Whenever I get the inkling to blog anymore, I just write it in word and then wait awhile to see if it's something I really want to share or not. I think this strategy might serve my big mouth a little better...we'll see! LOL Of course, NO ONE but my closest friends and family see this anyway so I shan't (like that word--picked it reading children's classics and I love it! I wish people still talked that way! lol) worry about it anyway. Still...

I'll start with a nature post:

For some reason, where we live, even though I do not consider it "rural" or "wild" and no one else would either, but we've always seen the most amazing things in our neighborhood--even in our own backyard sometimes. We've seen white-tail deer, rabbits, raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks, beavers and several species of birds--thanks to my birdfeeders, including hummingbirds. They are so cute the way they hover!

Well, I guess the birds have spread the word that my backyard is a sanctuary or something because this year we have had even more excitement! A few years ago, Camp fire made bluebird houses. Kayti put hers up at Clearview with the rest of her group but Brooke brought hers home and we put it in the backyard. We knew it would be a few years, at least, before some bluebirds decided to "rent" the place. Well, this is the year. Jeff saw them first but this past weekend, I got a glimpse of the female.

A robin has also decided to make her home in our yard building a nest in the cove of one or our drainpipes. There were three small blue eggs in the nest but not anymore--this weekend, they hatched! Jeff climbed the latter carefully and snapped a picture--careful not to get anywhere near it. We didn't want the mama to abandon her precious babies. But they are so cute--so pitiful, so helpless. With all the rain yesterday, we could even peek out the kitchen window and watch her passing the time away in her nest with her babies.

In my classroom at work, I had about 30+ chrysalises that hatched into beautiful painted lady butterflies! The preschoolers have really enjoyed observing them, learning about their life cycle and feeding them "nectar" (we squirt sugar water into carnations inside their pavilion). They don't live very long though, unfortunately so if they are still alive when I get to work this Wednesday--we'll have a big "setting free" ceremony, complete with a special butterfly theme snack! I just love preschool!

In my front yard, my azaleas bloomed and are gorgeous. They won't stay long either but I'm still amazed that they come back every year. Who would have ever thought that *I*, Michelle with the black thumb Quick could grow azaleas!

Living things are amazing to watch, learn about and care for! It amazes me how detailed God is--how he cares for even the smallest things and everything is so planned and ordered!

Please share with me what nature you have near you!

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Good and wholesome movies (for the most part, anyway!)

Since we've been doing with cable/dish, I've been on the prowl lately for quality shows. Movies with good content, a good moral context and with good acting. They are regrettably few and far between.

I'm not a prude and I don't min a curse word now and then. As a recovering potty mouth, to me it's actually more realistic. But to have every other word in the script be vulgar? No, that's just evidence of a lack of intelligence.

Here are some viewing treasures I've recently discovered:

The Last Sin Eater---AWESOME!!

I was a little leery of it at first. The cover of it looked like some kind of ghost/horror/sci-fi thing. but then I saw it advertised in the Lifeway salespaper and knew I needed to take a second look. I'm glad I did. It's about a group of people living in Appalachia in the early 1800's (where some of my roots begin, I'm proud to say) who are still holding onto their Celtic traditions, most importantly the sin eater. They believe that when a person dies, the sin eater must come and eat their sins so they may rest in peace. The sin eater is a person chosen by the clan elders and destined to live a life alone and outcast, even though much needed by his peers. peter Wingfield, one of my favorite actors who played Methos in Highlander the Series, stars as the sin eater. When a missionary, played by Henry Thomas (ET, Legends of the Fall), comes to tell them that there has already been a "sin eater"--Jesus Christ, they feel their traditions being threatened.

The Freedom Writers

Also excellent, though there is some cursing and violence. But it's based on a true story of a Los Angeles inner city high school English teacher, played by Hillary Swank, at the height of the Rodney King racial tensions. As a teacher myself, I identified with the character and having also had the experience of working with inner city youth, I am in awe of this real life hero's effort to save a group of kids everyone else has written off.

Luther

Joseph Fiennes stars as Martin Luther, the brilliant man of God whose defiant actions changed the world, in this film that traces Luther's quest for the people's liberation. I'm not a big fan of Fiennes. But this movie is great. it makes me very much appreciative of the freedom we have today to practice our faith and serves as a reminder that all cultures and all faiths, because we human beings, are capable of corruption and when that corruption is met with the truth, it's never a pretty picture. No one likes being shown their sins. Even though sometimes, it is necessary. It also served as a teachable moment for my ten year old daughter to learn that very concept.

Flyboys

Inspired by the true story of the legendary Lafayette Escradrille, this movie tells the tale of America's first fighter pilots. These courageous young men distinguish themselves in a manner that none before them had dared becoming true heroes who experience triumph, tragedy, love and loss amid the chaos of the first World War. What a challenge it must have been to attempt to use a plane as a weapon when it had only been in existence for a few years! I can't tell you more than that without spoiling it for you!

In Love and War

Another war film (anyone sensing a them here? I LOVE historically based stories!), this time based on WWII and the fall of Italy's fascist government and the love between and Italian woman and an English officer on the run. I'm not normally a fan of love stories either. But this one is pretty good.

A few others that I highly recommend are The Wager, starring Randy Travis, Believe in Me, true story about girls basketball in the 60's, Into the Wild, also a true story, and Chasing Freedom (which I will share more about in another blog).

So what movies have you enjoyed lately?