When life gives you lemons, make lemonade...

the rain was letting up a bit over the weekend, 

so naturally, the kiddos took advantage and jumped in the pool.

 It decided to start raining again and the kids were Loving it!

It changed our plans a bit over the weekend, but we made the best of it.

 The chickens got a new home and are loving it.

 We had a break from school and decided to take advantage of the sunshine!

 Before school started on Thursday, 

we set our alarms and headed out to get some excercise in before school.

We finally got a chance to put our weekend plans in action.

 The kids didn't want to stop, but we had school and work to do.

It was a nice start to our day.  

We got a chance to see some wildlife on the trail

 and listen to the birds along the way.

My life is filled with blessings.

Make it a great day!

Field Trip to F.A.S.T.Corporation

We got the chance to visit F.A.S.T. corporation in Sparta, WI. 

Fiberglass Animals Shapes Trademarks

Darren Schauf gave a great presentation about how everything was made

and a history lesson of the corporation.

 We got a chance to walk around the yard where they keep the molds for a bunch of the designs.

 We walked around for almost an hour and tried to figure out what mold 

belonged to what shape/object in the catalog.

We had a wonderful time and an educational experience. 

Living Waters

We had a wonderful field trip with a homeschooling group this past Thursday!

We attended a great camp close to our house called Living Waters Bible Camp.

 The first part of the day was set aside for our sensory hike.

Due to the rain, we had it indoors, 

but they still did a great job teaching all the lessons 

and included hands on projects!

 Ms. Ruth was a wonderful teacher and the kiddos loved the taste portion!

 After lunch, the kids got ready for the bread of life portion, 

and made their own chef hats.

We were so impressed with all the instructors there. 

Ms. Joy was a great teacher and very patient.

 Then mixed out all the ingredients for the bread and 

rolled out bread sticks that they got to taste test.

 Oscar's favorite thing was the grinder...

I'm pretty sure he offered to grind all our flour if we would make/buy a hand grinder:)

 Then we had some free time in the recreation room.

 They had ping-pong and Foosball tables.

We met some great families.

 It reminded me of the camp I went to as a kid, but with a bit different scenery.

 Evie loved the playground!

 There is Joey climbing like a monkey. 

We had a great day and can't wait to go back!

Sugar Snow

It's that time of year again...

Maple Syrup Time!

 And we roll in style fancy tractors and ATVs:)

 Children and God children a like we having a blast 

on the warm day with melting snow.

We got it done in record time and 

the kids had fun getting soaking wet. 

 Only one tree was running when we tapped.

Years prior, we've had almost all of them run when tapped. 

 I always turn into "squirrel mode" when I have all my preserved 

items in my cellar come Fall and don't want to use it all right away.  

About Spring time, I start to re-evaluate and 'splurge' by using it less sparingly.

I know it's a little crazy, but I am what I am.

One the way back from tapping,

Zach and Ashley took all the kiddos in the mule! 

That's one pile of kids.

As always, we had a blast!

Reflection and Examination...

Let us examine our path, let us ponder it and return to Yahweh. 

~Lamentations 3:40

Homeschooling seems to be a great fit for our family. 

The above picture is of the crown of thorns that the kids

and I baked a couple of weeks ago at the beginning of Lent.  

Each time they do a good dead(above and beyond their normal responsibilities),

they get to pull out a thorn.  

This has been a good incentive so far.  

 I have been enjoying my personal Lenten journey so far this year, 

I've done some real soul searching,

and continue to repent for things that I still struggle with.  

Having the strength to not be discouraged can be a difficult one for me.

My sins are washed away in the Sacrament of Reconciliation,

but the scars of the sins can still remain to serve as reminders.

Comprehending God's forgiveness as well as His love for us is pretty amazing.

Taking on the responsibility of homeschooling has helped me grow in my faith.  

Being able to see faith through the eyes of children is unbelievable. 

Questions that I thought would be asked, aren't as frequent 

as the ones that makes me stop and think.

Go for a walk in the fresh air and enjoy God's beauty!

I can smell it...

Then again, it might just be wishful thinking.

I really do think it smelled like Spring today!

 I completed Evie's sweater.

Well, it was suppose to Joey's and I ran out of yarn.

It happens:)

 We have been crafting it up.

The kids LOVE ShrinkyDinks!

 Our walk included sunshine,

 snow angels,

 clouds,

and a last ditch effort to save the snow fort!

I had a blast with the kids this afternoon 

and helped them raise the walls a couple of feet.

Toothless and busy...

Evelyn lost her first tooth.  

 She is happy to be in the club.

Joey and Oscar were giving advice on how to pull it out 

the whole 

two days leading up to her getting it out. 

The kids and I are LOVING home schooling...

"Everyone put down your work and let's look at the deer in the yard"

I love it. 

 The kids have been having a great time at recess.

 They started building and adding onto Oscar's fort.  

 I will have to put an updated picture on here. 

There are now three rooms, one for each one of the kids.

Two room are only accessible by tunnel.  

 We have been enjoying walks up the road,

 making snow angels,

 sledding,

 and Lego competitions.

 This last Lego competition needed to have a shark, a castle, and a horse.

 Can you guess which one Oscar and Joey did?

 I thought they both turned out great.

Here is our protective guard-puppy!

She saw a deer across the road and started to growl.

A months worth...

Here is a picture of the beautiful Christmas morning view we had.

 We got to celebrate with the Brown family for Christmas.

 We are so lucky to have cousins so close!

These two babies were so cute...I wanted to eat them up.  

 Jack and his Jo-Jo:)

 Becky, Allison, and I.  

I just noticed that we didn't get a group picture...:(

 I was able to go visit my sis and brother-in-law Devon in Texas. 

The plan was to help with the baby after he came, 

but he had another plan for us. 

 We had a great time visiting and eating.

Devon is a wonderful chef...I didn't do ANY cooking while I was there.

They spoiled me.

Although I was bummed to miss not holding my nephew,

we had a wonderful time together and was meant to be.

 We got back to 'normal' after Christmas vacation.

We had Evelyn's appointment and it went great.

There will need to be a surgery eventually, but not right now.  

Then we headed to Nana and Papa's house in Green Bay to meet our other cousins. 

 Since we had two of the cousins birthdays in January,

we decided to celebrate Joey and Matilda's birthdays that weekend. 

 The Floridians lucked out with the weather.

There was snow and 'warm' weather:)

We got bundled up to have all kinds of snow fun.

 We built an igloo thanks to the help of my Native Alaskan:)

We got a chance to play on snow hills,

'skate' on the ice rink,

 speed skating,

 and sledding!

 Nora took a couple of big wipe outs, but insisted on skating the whole time.

 Everyone had a blast sledding, even Nana!

I think the Floridians had great winter fun.

 We found a partly built snowman at the park...

added a few items and had a snowman that only took 15 minutes to build.

 The cousins had a blast.

 We started to loose them fast 

so we didn't get a chance to get a picture with all of them.

 This little girl cracks me up!

 She couldn't get enough of her Oscar.

 We had a Star Wars themed birthday for the two princesses.

 Everyone had fun and

 good and sugared up.  

 It was great seeing everyone!

 Then we got home to celebrate the real birthday for Josephine.

As per her request, she wanted a Jessie cake:)

Sooooo mama did her best.

 Joey was happy with it so that's good enough for me.

 I can't believe what a big girl she is growing into.  

 Josephine received a sewing machine from her Aunt Mae Mae and Uncle Brian.

She has been sewing up a storm! 

I guess I didn't realize how much we hd on our plate since the last time I posted.

When I look at the pictures though, it seems like a whirlwind! 

We made a big family decision to homeschool. 

It was something that I felt like I was being called to do.

I must say that we are in our first week and it seems too good to be true!

The kids are enjoying it.

When my sister asked Oscar what he thought of home schooling, he replied,

"It's great.  It's a lot harder than regular school, but we get done faster!"

I'm praying this continues and 

thanking God everyday for this new adventure!