Girl Time!

Alana Joy made a decision this past week. She wanted, OH SO BADLY, to have her ears pierced. But here is the funny part....Matthew and I went to Rapid last week with Logan and Alana for several items, specifically wedding shoes for the ring bearer and flower girl of Helaine's upcoming wedding. While we were there we walked past a jewelry store with an add for "Free Ear Piercing". I asked Alana if she'd want to do that someday and her answer was "No way! I am never getting my ears pierced!" Well....just a few short days later (during the time 6-year old Akayla Berg with pierced ears was here visiting) she woke up from a nap announcing she was desperate to have it done! So, hey, she's a girl - she can change her mind, right?!?!

Well, lucky for her, I was already planning a girl's trip to Rapid so this Saturday Alana got her ears pierced. Jenna came along with us and added to the fun of the day - as you'll see in the pictures that follow she, too, became inspired=)

I'll tell you the truth....I was almost certain that once Alana arrived in the store she'd change her mind, and if that didn't happen - well, she'd certainly chicken out when the lady pulled out the gun-like needles used to do the piercing, and if that didn't happen - well, then we'd have a loudly crying little girl that we had to make sit still for ear #2 once the first one was in and she understood what it was really going to feel like.....BUT I WAS WRONG!!! This is Alana about 2 seconds after both ears were done and this is what she looked like throughout the entire process! What a cute little trooper! I underestimated my growing up little girl=)And then there was Jenna....well, you can see the face SHE made during the ordeal=)Here are the two daring souls smiling together, I didn't get a good picture of the actual earrings for either one of them. (Not to mention my camera has had a mind of its own lately as you can tell by the sub-par quality of the picture below - I'm not doing anything different - it just decides to go blurry as opposed to clear whenever it feels like it!)We had a fun day hanging out just us girls! Having Jenna along made if even more fun for me to just be able to chat and hang out with a friend while enjoying my girls, too. Thanks Monica, Alana, and Jenna=)

One week down....

Only 31 weeks left to go in our home school year=) This week was the first one and it went relatively well. There are the usual hiccups, of course, that come mostly due to the lack of schooling or scheduling over the last 3 months. There's also a lot of review and few assignments so the first week is often one of the more pleasant ones....the harder work is still around the corner. But for Alana in kindergarten, Logan in 3rd grade, Zachery in 9th grade, and Monica finishing 11th grade we are back in the saddle again. Now that weekends have once again become more anticipated and highly treasured we are beginning to schedule and prioritize our precious days off.

Our weekend will start with a home school picnic this evening, then there is a girls trip to Rapid City tomorrow am, our young couples class later that same day, and church on Sunday where each of the three youngest children will attend, for the last week, their current Sunday School classes. So many changes come each and every day in a full house like ours, kids grow up faster than I can keep track of their shoe sizes! But it seems to hit me more in the fall when new school years begin and I take into account the weeks ahead with a mixture of trepidation, excitement, and a little bit of sorrow as I realize the years of my children's lives that have gone by. Baby days are done in our household - I will probably only have to buy one or two more packages of diapers....EVER!!!

So what is this post about? Basically it's me rambling again - venting to any and all that will listen to the scrambled thoughts running through this mother's head as she once again faces each and every morning FULL of pencils, workbooks, quizzes, crayons, endless questions, rulers, glue, and her 5 wonderful (and also home schooled) children. I'm just sharing my week and counting my blessings!

Our Emaciated Neighbor

I'd like to introduce you to our neighbor....he lives right across the road and most of the day we can see him just by looking out our kitchen window. He's a scrawny kind of a fellow, probably because he lives alone with no one that seems to take much interest in looking after him. From what we've seen he gets 4 buckets of water a day and that's about it.....But despite the lack of ideal circumstances he is a good tempered guy. The kids and I both enjoy hanging out with him and have always been met with his happy face and a kind welcome.

But we aren't the only ones who are trying to do something to cheer up our skinny friend....just this morning one of our other neighbors (this one is NOT skinny) drove up the the edge of our friends field and passed him some corn husks and beets. Fresh food from the garden for our hungry pal! Maybe he'd enjoy one of our sugar cubes for dessert=)

He seems to enjoy us almost as much as we enjoy him! He often comes over to visit with us before we even call out to him. And sometimes he walks along with us at the edge of his field.

Anyway, I thought I'd just take a minute to introduce you to this friend of ours and show you some pictures of what a sweet guy he is.

Come over anytime, we'd love to introduce you!

Berg Visit #37

OK, so I actually have no idea how many times Jared and Sarah Berg have visited our house, but it's got to be a number that is only matched by the amount of times we've been up to their house. We love each moment of every time we are able to spend with them as our two families seem to 'click' in such a fun way. Pastor Berg is teaching at CBI this year (!) and has to come down from WY to SD each Monday so our families are apt to see each other often throughout this fall semester. One of the only times I took pictures these past few days of their visit was our trip to the park, so here are some cute kids enjoying themselves.

Our little Buffalo Gap park is probably older than I am! The playground is beside a building that used to be the one room schoolhouse who knows how long ago. The sidewalk in front of it has the date of 1947 stamped in several of the squares=0

*Maternal Disclaimer: Please be advised that Alana dressed herself.

Some rascals....

And some cuties...!


And now for a couple extra of Alana who was looking particularly cute that day in her spots and stripes=)

Here's one with what is called the "fish bowl" effect=)

During their stay, yesterday to be exact, Jared celebrated his 30th birthday. Sweet little Akayla hand picked her Daddy's present and gave him a big hug after he opened it (two packs of gum=)

Another thing that was celebrated yesterday was Matthew's and my 9th anniversary. Please don't think ill of me for not having written something sweet for my husband on the blog, as I have in the past. Just chalk it up to a day full of potty training accidents, long chats with my friend, trips to town to get cards (see, I did remember to do that), mediating in multiple small people arguments, and preparing for a night on the town! Yes, we did indeed leave 9 children home alone with Monica and Zach in charge of the seven under 7. The guys worked most of the day and came home in time for us to go on a double date=) It was a very RARE treat! I thought I'd include a couple pictures of what went into the preparations for us women:compared to the guys:Need I say more=) We had a blast and the kids survived as best as could be expected!

Now for a couple random things to conclude this post. Logan just found 2 black widow spiders in two completely separate locations (this makes about 6 we've found since moving here) and, to close with, one of my favorite pictures from this past week. Two little buddies, Zach and Jesse~

Trip to Holyoke #2 (continued)

Not only did the kids enjoy the Vacation Bible School while we were visiting Chad in CO - we also enjoyed lots of other things in the small, yet fun, little town. The highlight was getting to be there at the same time as Grammy and Grampy so that we could all enjoy some time together.The had a rental van that they used to bring up the rest of Chad's things from their house in GA so we piled in there a couple times to drive back and forth from the park or church. Everything was so centrally located. It was a treat to be able to go to the park, pool, VBS field, church, and grocery store all in one trip in half the time it takes our family right now to drive into town.A picture Grammy took of her little cuties~One of the main reasons for our trip down was to take Chad the queen size log bed that Matthew just finished building for him. For weeks he slept on the floor and then upgraded to an air mattress but now he has a real bed that, I might add, is VERY nice! What can I say, my husband is the coolest=)During the week we were there we made several trips to the park that was just a few blocks away. The kids enjoyed having a different set of playground things to discover and play around on.

And now check out these moves! ~

And the whole crew together....what a bunch! ~

Monica took a picture with each of her brothers....pretty special! ~

I love this one!
And with me~ Another thing we were able to enjoy in this little town of just over 2,000 is the community swimming pool open from 1-5pm throughout the summer and fully staffed with lifeguards. The kids had a blast, especially Zachery since they had a 10 foot swim area with a diving board that he dove off of nonstop both times we were there. Wish we could have done a better job in capturing this cool dudes moves but you'll just have to use your imagination=) He did front flips and back flips and twists and dives and spins and flops....it was fun to watch.

All my kids really love the water (heredity ? =) so we all had a great time!

Jesse is next to impossible to hold onto in the big pool because he LOVES to be underwater so he is constantly throwing his body and face down into the water. So that was just one of the reasons I was really appreciative of their little kids swim area where he could go underwater all he wanted without drowning=) It's pretty cute to see how long he can stay under (around 10 seconds) and come up as if it was nothing.

So all these last few post to say that we are glad Uncle Chad is settling into Holyoke and that it isn't too far away that we won't be able to visit again sometime soon....right, Chad?! =)