Photofest....

It is doing this at our house tonight. It's kind of exciting. We haven't seen rain in way too long.
So the kids had to break out the games. We rented a movie too.

Hannah became a sidewalk preacher last month. All that time I didn't post because I didn't think I had any pictures. I forgot about these on my card still in the camera. It made me smile. If I remember right this was a memory verse she was working on. If that's the case these may actually be from May.


6The tongue is like a spark. It is an evil power that dirties the rest of the body and sets a person's entire life on fire with flames that come from hell itself. 7All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and sea creatures can be tamed and have been tamed. 8But our tongues get out of control. They are restless and evil, and always spreading deadly poison. James 3:6-8
Ouch! I just got an email similar to this. This God is trying to tell me something. Man he likes to reinforce his message!
Remember when I said I would take my camera and take pictures of the kids swimming? Well I actually did!

Well I'm off to watch a movie with the family.
Later

I've been playing...

I have been trying to organize myself for the next semester. I saw this idea for the plastic folder in an idea book. The one I saw was an album. But I made mine into a menu, shopping list, coupon holder. I have been working on compiling a list of over 30 meals that I know my family will eat. I'll put that list in one of the pages. I'll then have extra paper for grocery list. So if I am just setting around waiting on kids (which happens a lot) I can come up with a menu for the next week. From that menu I'll make my grocery list. I've also been working on a standard grocery list of things I buy each week. I've been comparing prices with Wal-Mart, Sam's, and Dollar General. I've been making a standard list for each store. My hope is that one week I can go to Wal-Mart and the next Sam's. Then Dollar General every other week. I've just found that my cleaning supplies and beauty supplies are cheaper there. I also don't shop around at Dollar General like I do at Wal-Mart or Target. The budget needs to stretch a little farther every week. These list will go in the other pocket pages:)
Then there is a pocket for my coupons. I've been trying to use them more. I also plan on using the sale ads in Wednesday's paper to plan my meals with the sale items for that week.
We are trying to not eat out. To make that happen I'm going to have to get better about meal planning. We have done a really good job this week about eating at home!
While I was at it I made myself a matching key ring.
And I made sure my new planner matched everything too:)

Words that made us genius....

Here are some words from our blog that made us a genius. I am as surprised by this as I'm sure most of you are! Want to make one of these for your own blog? Check this out. Now here's the disclaimer. I have not the foggiest idea about html code. It should have been a copy and paste job. But I ended up making a pdf file. Saving it to my computer. Opening it with photoshop. Cropping it and rotating it. I have no idea why this was so hard, but its pretty fun anyway! And you do get a feel for what I ramble on about most of the time:)

Got a joke for ya...

Hahaha tell me that this must be a joke!

TV Reviews

Productive day...

Scholarship papers turned in... check
loan papers turned in... check
got a job... check (It's only 10 hours a week, but the pay isn't bad and they will work around my schedule. I'll be tutoring kids at school)
project done (well my part anyway)... check
paper written (need to make some corrections but done)... check
homework assignment complete... check
weekly test.... give me a couple of hours....
I only have one more week left. I really was not sure I was going to make it through summer school... but I'm gonna make it... I've sure whined about it though!
So I have some reading for lit, present our group project in my education class, a couple of finals, and then I can breath again.
I'll leave you with some pictures from team camp. I'm taking my camera to mom's house right now. The kids are in the pool and I need some new pictures.
Later!
Only a group of 15 years old could find a way to make a closet fun!

Ran across some interesting thoughts...

That sum up the last year and a half of our lives, maybe even longer. It was in the last year or so that I became acutely aware of how unsure life is. Oh sure, the end in not a mystery. I know where I'll be going. But the rest of the ride is not what I was expecting. But that's OK. I'm learning to just try and enjoy the ride. Now for those of you who know that I am a red. Know how hard that is! (If you want to find out what color you are check out this site!)

"Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans." John Lennon


"I never had any plans and even those changed." Unknown


I have a busy week ahead. I should have studied more last week!

I have been playing a little bit...

I've had a little bit of time to play. My biggest problem is getting the creative juices flowing!

This is an 8.5in x 8.5in. album that I made of our trip to Destin last September. I feel pretty good about getting it done before September roles around again.










Have a great weekend. I'll post again soon!

Hello... tap... tap... tap... anyone still there?

You would think if I haven't posted in almost a month I would have a ton of pictures. But nope that's not the case. I've just been surviving life. Nothing big... just a ton of little things. Just like everyone else and their lives. All the kids have been to church camp. Jordan has decided to be baptized. So that is on the schedule ASAP. But we have not had a week since he has been back that we are all home! Jordan also had a week of Boy scout camp. We had a weekend at the lake for Fuller Family Fun. My cousin and her family came for a week. I had a birthday, my grandpa had a birthday, we had the forth, my dad had a birthday, Makayla was gone for a week of team camp for volleyball, and today is Leland's birthday. Did I get a single picture of any of this? No not really. Oh and I've completed 6 of the 8 weeks of summer school. So it's not like I've done nothing. But I just really have been doing more living life than trying to remember it. Maybe I don't really want to remember this summer. It's just kind of been blah. Here's one of the cute pictures that I did catch. This is my cousin Natalie. Her birthday was July 2nd. We celebrated while they were here for a visit.
And Hannah has been a real sweety to walk to dogs lately. I wonder what she is up to on these walks.
I have made some pages lately. I get some pictures and post again soon. We did get mom's house finished up. I'll get some pictures of that too.
I hope you are all enjoying your summer. School started here in 4 weeks. We have several things to finish up in the next couple of weeks. The kids have a couple of summer reading books to finish. I have 2 more weeks of school. And all the flurry of activities that involve getting ready for school.
I will be back soon!

I'll just let you know...

I am boring.
I have nothing exciting to share. And heaven forbid I actually take a picture with my camera. So I don't even having anything to show you!
I have been working hard to get my 16 observation hours done. Should finish up tomorrow.
British Lit is a butt kicker. I read Frankenstein this weekend. Took my test. I have to write 1600 a week on a discussion board. And have a 1000 word paper over a poem due on Friday. Have I started that yet. Oh no!
Leland and Jordan left for church camp this week. They come home Wednesday. Thursday we leave for Fuller Family Fun. I'm not feeling very fun this year. I'm not sure I'm going. I know there's always got to be a pooper in the party. I'm not really a camping lake girl. So the thought of heading the the lake to camp for 4 days is not really something I'm looking forward to. We'll see how much of that paper I get done.
Well I have some poems calling my name. Who knew British lit meant hours of reading poetry. Didn't anyone write books back then?
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that I'm gonna take a picture tomorrow and actually post it! Don't everyone get too excited about this now:)

Where have I been? Because I guess I really like that title:)

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

Here's some places I have visited. Not recently unfortunately. I wish I could load the family up in a camper and just spend the summer driving from place to place. No plan... just drive... stop and check out the sights.. and drive some more. Wouldn't that be fun? Well that's not whats happening here!
Last week Makayla was at camp and Hannah and Jordan had me running then to different day camps.
This week Hannah was at camp and I started school. Jordan went to VBS every morning. So it was another week of running. $4 a gallon gas is killing me! If I could ever get some time I plan on checking into a different car. But I can't get mine parked long enough to figure out what I want.
It has rained buckets lately. It's been kind of weird. I'm trying to enjoy it because when its the middle of August I'll be gripping about not having any rain!
I did some observing in a classroom today. It makes me excited to someday have my own room. It's almost like a tease though. Here let me dangle this in front of your face for a semester... then*rip* it's gone and I still have 3 more semester to go. But I'm enjoying it while I can!
Ok that's what up here.... British lit... running kids... buying gas... fixing dinner... cleaning house... doing homework.... setting at ball games.... watching some volleyball.... you know just life.

Where have you been??????

Oh I mean where have I been. Well we finished up the school year. And remember the flooded basement? Well it's now painted and looks something like this now. This picture is to shame my parents into cleaning up the last of the mess:)
The movie room.... we have already broken this in. There is a screen that comes down and a projector on the ceiling. It is fun to watch the movies on the "big screen".

And we moved the craft room downstairs. And dad's office is now upstairs.
So maybe it doesn't look like much.... but it was a lot of moving around. I painted a basements, an office, and the living room. I'll take pictures of the living room when we get it done. There are some TALL ceilings in that room!

Hannah is now in 7th grade. Can you believe it? I can't were does time go?
Jordan is now a 5th grader. Here he is with his 2 teachers. One taught the morning and one taught the afternoon. It was a great set-up for both teachers. They both got to stay home half the day with their babies.

And then there is my Sophomore. Oh how this breaks my heart and is totally exciting at the same time!

Jordan was pitcher for an inning last night. He had 2 strike outs and and got a runner out at home. Makes my heart happy to see him playing this game. You know I'm a sucker for a kid in a baseball uniform. He also hit his first home run last night. I guess having a baseball game or practice every night will make you a better player. Makayla is a church camp this week. I'm hoping that she will come home ready to make a commitment for God. This has been a prayer for so many years.

Hannah has volleyball camp this week. And Jordan has baseball camp. So I have spent my afternoons in the car. I stopped by the library and picked up a good book to read while I'm waiting.

I start school on Monday:( I did not have a long enough break!!!!! Oh well... I'll be that much closer right?

Later!

Just a little Jordan love.....

This post is an ode to Jordan. Jordan had several games this weekend and Cougar Olympics at school on Friday. So I loaded up on pictures of Jordan. Of course Makayla nabbed my camera a couple of times. I can not believe the pictures she takes. I'm not sure what is so fascinating about tongues to her. I added a picture of the girls too. They were scaring me this weekend. They actually got along. It was really throwing me off. It was nice but it made me wonder what they were up to.

Tell me this is not a cute kid. Man he makes me smile:)
They make me smile too. Especially when I'm not wondering what they are up to!

When it rains is pours...

or on the brighter side...

the sun will come out tomorrow:) Well it has rained and rained for days...there have even been a couple of tornadoes. So maybe a little flooding was inevitable. But after living in a house for 11 years years and never having the basement flood you would think that is something you could count on right? No, Thursday morning mom woke up to a flooded basement. Not just a little water either. We are talking gallons and gallons and gallons and gallons and gallons.. well you get the idea. So we spent Thursday and Friday cleaning that up. This will be a work in progress. I will never again tell my mom the day before a huge rain storm that I would have time pretty some to paint the basement. I was not picturing emptying the stupid thing first.

After all that fun I had finals to study for. I turned this huge stack of books back in today:) One more final tomorrow at 9am and then this semester will be over! Remember to listen for the scream!

Everyone is still trying to wrap our minds around the changes in our lives. I am looking forward to some time to really sort things out without deadlines hanging over my head. I'm sure I'll get some thinking done while I'm painting that basement this week.

Well off to baseball practice. Somethings in life have not changed. Thanks goodness! ps the sun is really pretty today!

Change...

Oh how I struggle against change. I'm not really sure there are many people who like things to change. Sure I like painting rooms, moving things around, buying new furniture. But I can hardly bear the thought of selling this little house that we out grew 5 years ago.
So when I woke up this morning and got ready for church I never expected life to change. But isn't that how life works. It is just full of surprises.
Mom asked me today if I wanted to know the future. I told her no I liked the feeling of being hit by a Mack truck on a regular basis. Makes me feel alive.
I'm not sure what God has in store. I'm not sure where He wants us. I'm not sure I'm ready to be a grown up.
As of June 8th my dad is without a job and we are without a church. My dad says we will keep moving forward. And I have no doubt we will. We don't know how to do anything else.
I have never gone to church without my parents. Sure we have visited churches before. But my dad has been my minister since I was 10. And maybe he will be again. I just don't have a clue what God has in store for him. I have been so surprised by the last couple of year I would not even begin to pretend that I can figure out what His plan is.
So we will move forward....I'm not sure where we are going or what we will find there but we will keep moving forward.

Where the heck have I been?

Jumping through hoops!
Here's the list of projects that I have been working on this week:
A music program for my music class. Actions, speaking part, the whole bit. Plus a test!
A movement box for PE- making up games... blah, blah, blah, blah, blah
Children's lit: I had 6 books to read and write papers on. DONE!!!!! That makes a total of 45 books for the semester. And a performance for child lit. Ok I won't lie (there's Makayla's line again) I'm not done with this yet. But I'm REALLY close:)
Teach a physics lesson- again I won't lie. My group did a really good job... like 99% good job:)
A poster and activities for 8 young authors for the Young Author Conference. Which is where I'll be spending my day tomorrow:(
This was on top of the normal work. So when I typed it out it really didn't seem like that much. But as I've been working on it... well it seemed like I would never get done.
So I have one more physics test, turn all these projects in, and then finals.
On Tues the 13th at about 10am listen close because you will hear me screaming for joy! I made it... they didn't kill me!!!!!
Ok I know I'm posting with no pictures again. And really that is the biggest reason I haven't posted in a while. I'm a slacker and I haven't even had my camera out. But there is this really cute 10 year old boy who lives at my house and he plays baseball now. Like everyday apparently. So I'll be sure to get some picture of this cute kid this weekend.
Later!