Family

The story of this collage is somewhat evident from the pictures. My camera was on a multiple shot timer mode and we ended up with this great sequence of Tanner tipping over in his chair. He is most upset because he spilled his drink all over him. His face in the last photo says it all.

     My parents are in for a brief, but oh so sweet, visit. It's been five months since we've last seen them and it will be until after Christmas when we are all together again. To say that I miss them is an understatement.
     Not that long ago, when I was in rebellion to everything, I didn't think I could ever have a good relationship with my parents. Thankfully they never stopped praying for me and trying to bridge the gap between us. Today, I am so thankful for the example they have set for me, for their wisdom and advice, for their listening ear and their love.

      This lady and I struggled the most to find common ground. Amazing how now I see her in me in so many varied and seemingly random ways. She is gracious, self-less & compassionate. Things I struggle with and desire to emulate. I miss her when she is away and I am so very aware of how precious our time together is. Love you mom!

     My sister-in-law has been learning to hula-hoop and contrary to the picture I wasn't doing half bad either! I had so much fun trying to learn to move with her!

     We opted for a completely casual and less posed family picture this time and we had a great time trying out some new ideas!

      Nee Nee being the excellent grandma she is made salt dough ornaments with the kids. They just eat up their time with her! The kids all painted their ornaments and once they are dry will be sealing them with shellac.

     My parents made a humorous little video of commercial clips featuring them for their kids and grandkids to enjoy. The Good N Plenty commercial charmed the grandkids so much that they practiced it with my parents and performed it for the rest of the family. So cute and fun!

And Somehow We're Back...

I have no idea why or how but I can upload photos to the blog for the time being. I do so hate to be computer illiterate!

 

Biggest change since all my posts is that I have two new nieces! My most recent being this little cutie who belongs to my baby brother (I feel so old when I think about it!).

 

She is adorable and I am completely smitten by her cuteness!

 

Any ideas?

Does anybody have any ideas to help me with this blog? A few months ago I uninstalled Java because it was driving me crazy and then I realized I could no longer upload pictures to Blogger. I've since re-installed Java to see if that was the issue but it still will not upload my photos! I've had so much I want to share and I can't add pictures so it makes for an unexciting blog. Do I need to do something more with Java? Is it even that? I go to upload photos and get the message "Upload failed: Server responded invalid response". I've tried searching the message on help pages and can't figure out what is wrong! Grrr! Thanks for any tips or help anyone can offer!

Moms

Can I just be candid for a moment?

I am an imperfect mom.

I've snapped at my kids more times than I should. I've rushed them because I just had to be somewhere 5 minutes ago. I've spoken words carelessly and hurt their tender hearts. I ache at times for the chance to redo days, hours or even moments with them.

Instead, I've asked for their forgiveness, prayed for forgiveness and been completely humbled at how far I still have to go. My kids are a constant mirror of me and so often I don't like the reminders of who they see.

I needed this encouragement yesterday. Maybe you do to. Print out the list and keep it somewhere it can catch your eye and remind you of what really matters.

By the way, today was a GREAT day! :)

Just for Fun

Howard and I often take time around our anniversary to check in with each other on where we are goal wise, where we hope to be in 10 years, and what some of our dreams are.

We love our home but both of us feel the itch to find a single home (we are currently in a twin) with land. We want room for our kids to run and space from our neighbors (although we are very fortunate to have wonderful neighbors around us!).

We have no idea when we can even begin looking. The market put a bit of a damper on that for a while! It got me thinking about how different everyone sees the world.

Howard and I like some similar home designs and couldn't be more different on others. For example, I LOVE log cabins (Howard's version of a log cabin is from the 1700s and he does not like the modern cabin design I favor!). We both adore cape cods.  If we ever build our own home I already have the floor plan for the house I want! Howard also likes more traditional colonial style houses (which I don't care for so much) and we both strongly dislike bi-level homes (nothing against anyone who has one, that's why there is chocolate, vanilla and strawberry! :) )

Anyway, my dream house is a log cabin, cape cod style home with a big front porch and all the rustic/modern charm I can cram into it. When we get old and feeble I would love to own an American Craftsman style home. I am definitely a fan of certain arts and crafts styling and the rich woodwork and design of those homes fascinate me.

I LOVE floor plans and it's a guilty pleasure of mine to take out floor plan books from the library (as well as books on different styles of homes) to examine and enjoy.

So what style(s) of home do you like? I'm curious how varied the answers would be and what/how that home(s) fits with your personality! Happy dreaming!

We are getting ready for...

                                         ...Homeschool!

                                         
     That's right! Our kindergartner is going to start his first year at home! We've talked about this, prayed about this and planned for this. I am so excited and nervous and starting to get a head full of ideas to teach this year! I'm sure there will be more posts to come about the wonderful information I'm finding. For now I'm assembling all the materials I will need to teach and making list after list of available resources! School starts in a few short weeks!

Bike Racing!

Pre-Olympics we took our kids to a local bicycle racing venue. We met up with friends of ours on a very hot night to watch the races and spend time together.

There was a very tall hill behind where we set up along the wall so the kids spent most of the night running/rolling down the hill and climbing the fence.

We saw one of the Amercian Olympic cyclists, Bobby Lea, win all three of the races he ran. We also saw two German Olympian teamates win their heats. We were front and center for the show!

 Despite the heat (and humidity!) we had a great time.