Very February Indeed

Winter decided to show up, which is too bad as I was really enjoying the mild weather.  This week we have had snow, the wind, and cold to deal with.   As for our health, well, I am still fighting the sinus drainage cough.  Jeff has it now, too.  Grace got over it quickly.  The boys are well, thankfully.  But enough of the dreary part of winter.

I have slowed our pace way down to cope with our sniffles.  We are only doing the essentials. Thankfully this week was not essential heavy.  Next week, we have to be ready to go, go, go. I am praying that we are able.

We have been kept very busy with band contests, pep band engagements, keeping house, cooking, baking, creating, reading, watching BBC mini-series, and regular school projects.  Life is coming at us full speed.  I am thankful that I have learned to say no when needed.

Happy February!!

Another Grace- Filled Week

I am always thankful when another grace-filled week passes.  Nothing major transpired this week.  I recovered from my cold without a trip to the doctor, my prayers answered.  Jeff brought me roses, just because.  We had lunch with his mom, whom we will not see again until April, unfortunately.  The kids have been receiving excellent grades and are thriving in their schools.  Our oldest received two awards for outstanding musicianship at a college jazz festival.  The world is as it should be, at least for now, and I am content and giving praises to the One whom they are due.  This week has been another gift from Him.  Thank you, LORD.

Late September Already

September will be just a memory pretty soon.  In years past, I have been too eager for the coolness of fall, so I would almost wish September away, as it is still a very warm month.  Not this year!  I love September's warm days and cool nights.  Fall can wait. Well, not really, because it is now officially fall, but it still feels like summer.

Fall means band competitions every Saturday, all day long.  Home football games sprinkled here and there on Friday evenings.  Jeff and I are helping with preparing and serving the band kids lunch before their competitions. It is a good way to meet parents, too.  And only "mildly annoying" to our teen who likes not having us around all the time.  Haha.

Bike tours are big in the fall, too.  Jeff took the younger two kids on our favorite tour, but it was canceled after a delayed start because of rain.  Hopefully, the next one will be a go.  I have to skip the next one.  I fell and cannot ride for awhile.

Our garden boxes won't quit, despite being ignored.  Grace went out to pick a few cherry tomatoes and brought in a gigantic cucumber.  I promptly made refrigerator pickles, which my menfolk love.  It will probably be the last.  I said that a couple weeks ago, too.

We took Grace to Beef and Boards, a local dinner theater, for her belated 16th birthday present.  They serve a buffet dinner, which was lovely.  Then we saw the show, South Pacific.  Grandparents joined us, making the party extra special.

All too soon, we will have sweater weather.  The outdoor season will come to an end.  I like to think I will endure winter cheerfully, but it is always a struggle.


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A Quiet Week

We have had a little quieter week, since June band camp was completed.  Jeff's new job seems to be going well.  Grace is crafting away, making cards with quilled flowers.  I have decided it is OK to have a quieter week.  Perhaps we needed one.  The only problem is that I can find it hard to keep track of the days!

Last Saturday, we took a nice 8 mile bike ride in town.  We are getting good at using our bike rack.  It took a few tries to get it adjusted.  I am very thankful to have one.  It is so nice to be able to take all five bikes and all five of us in one van.

Saturday afternoon, we celebrated the graduation of our cousin.  He lives 1.5 hours away, so it was an enjoyable country drive. I loved seeing many cousins, some I see only once in awhile.

Sunday, we had church, and then not a whole lot planned.  We did end up going to get potting soil, so that I could re-pot my African violets.  I am not an expert at this, and my poor violets are not the happiest looking plants.  I read up on what to do.  I hope they perk up.

Monday was super quiet.  I am trying to use Mondays to get the house back in order, and get laundry caught up.  It rained a whole inch.  That was exciting.  Thankfully, we were still able to take a bike ride after dinner.

Today, Tuesday, we took the cats to the vet for their wellness checks.  That was enough drama for the day. The poor dears did not enjoy their field trip.  And Giles has a wheeze that needs looked in to.  He gets to go back.

The rest of this week is pretty unscheduled.  There is a block party to attend, groceries to buy, and some chores to do.  We will ride our bikes when the weather allows.  How can it be in the 90's again? Summer. Ah summer.

Lamb's Ear

It's So Final

Boy, another week has flown by!  This past week was finals week for my oldest.  He also had a cold, and a big marching band rehearsal one evening during finals.  He managed to do very well, thankfully.  He got a perfect score on his Chemistry final, amazing!  I have to say, he really had a great year, and we are very thankful.  He also received notice of a very good SAT score.  What a week for him.

Enjoying the pretty sky as we wait for oldest at band. 

The rest of us, well, we had a nice first week of summer vacation.  Jeff was off for Memorial Day and Friday as well.  Memorial Day was memorable as we purchased new appliances, which were installed on Friday.  I feel so spoiled, yet the learning curve is steep with fancy systems to master.  

Blessed!

Tuesday through Thursday, besides running Ryan back and forth to school, we rode our bikes, worked on the house by putting away camping things, and just enjoyed some down time.  We rode our bikes 26.4 miles this week.  Awesome.

First fruits!  Almond pound cake. 

Saturday we finally got to our local farm market.  We found some soap, salad dressing, and enjoyed all the sights.  We also had to do our weekly stock up trip to the grocery store since we had to empty our old fridge for the new one, and wait for the new one to be cold enough.  Best part of the day for me was getting new athletic shoes.  My feet were hurting from wearing the old ones.

My silly boy. 

Mom and Dad's bikes ready to go. 

Sunday was our biggest bike ride of the season so far.  We packed up our bikes, and after church, and a fine lunch at my parents, we all headed to a bike trail for an 8 mile ride.  We are still learning to ride together,so there were a few bumps, but the trip was proof of concept.  We are hoping to do another longer ride soon.

Hope you are having a good start to your summer, as well!

Another Glorious Week

Hello friends.  Another week is behind us.  This time we celebrated my youngest's 13th birthday.  I am not going to linger trying to figure out how he is already 13 years old.  Time is going crazy fast.

Monday was back to school and work for all five of us.  It is always hard to send my oldest off to school, but he really loves it, so I am adjusting.  That afternoon he needed me to pick him up because he was bringing a guitar to school that he could not take home on the bus very easily.  He also wanted me to take him to Target to get a new CD.

Nothing much went on Tuesday except for school and laundry.  By Wednesday, we decided to take the day off from school to celebrate our birthday boy.

We could not have a full birthday celebration with church that night, but we did manage to spoil him pretty rotten.  Grace and I blindfolded him and took him to lunch at his favorite restaurant, Panda Express.  Then we got him a DQ ice cream cake for after church.  In the afternoon, I let them rent a movie, Muppets Most Wanted.

Our week otherwise was pretty uneventful.  Ryan also took the PSAT on Wednesday.  He and I went to dinner on Thursday before his karate class on Thursday.  Friday we stayed home and enjoyed a nice quiet Halloween.  The weather turned out to be the most frightful part of the day.  It was a snowy, rainy, windy night.  Jeff set up my bike trainer, and we are all making good use of it.

Happy November!

Busy is the Word

Right now, it seems we are most busy away from home. We call life"aerobic" at the moment. We came home from camping two weeks ago, and haven't slowed down. This weekend, we had a jazz band concert, a 6 hour round trip to celebrate a birthday, and small group after church today. Here are some pictures from our fun weekend.

After the Jazz performance. 

Visiting Grandma.

Quick look at the beach. 

Three mile hike.  

Jazz concert. 

Earned his purple belt! 

Beautiful sunset on the way home one evening. 

It's a Wrap

It's been a really nice week.  Last week Grace and I were trying to kick a cold, so it is wonderful to be well again.

Some of the highlights of this week include:

• Surviving the 27 tornadoes that swept through Sunday afternoon.  Thankfully, they were only destructive to property and no lives were lost here, but we weep with those in IL and MI who were not as fortunate.  
• We had two quiet days at home, Monday and Tuesday.  I love quiet days!  We got the laundry caught up.  We worked hard on our lessons.  We hung pictures on the walls.  I started working on a pile of stuff in our room that doesn't seem to have a place yet.  If only it would just disappear! 
• Wednesday, the kids and I went to AWANA.  The older two and I went with the teen group to a nursing home near our church.  We sang hymns, gave the Gospel message, and mingled.  I was very proud of the teens.  They interacted with the residents for half an hour.  We have some good kids there.  I enjoyed talking to the residents, too.  Made me miss Grandpa talking to other WWII vets.  
• Thursday was a normal school day with a trip to church in the evening for karate.  Karate starts later, so the kids and I are joined by Dad.  He and I have a little time to chat over an iced tea while the kids do their thing.  It's nice.  
• Friday, that's today, I will drive Trevor an hour each way to a friend's house for a birthday sleepover, then the rest of us will enjoy a quiet evening.  

All in all, I am enjoying our new routine.  I am not one who likes to drive, so I am having to overcome that one minor issue.  I thank the Lord we have a good van, enough money for gas, good roads, and a wonderful church/friends to go to.  

This weekend we hope to get the pop-up to its new home.  We found an affordable RV parking lot near here.  That is the final piece of this moving puzzle.  Getting it to its spot might be a challenge with the weather, so it might be another week.  Thankfully, it is in a friend's driveway at the moment and they are not in a hurry for us to get it moved.  

Here are some pictures I took this week:  

I think the office is finished.

Pictures hung, new coffee table. 

Grace's artwork in the kitchen. 

Powder Room collage. 

Picture hung in the Sitting Room with "new" ottoman. 

Have an excellent week!

~Jenn 

A Week in Pictures 9/22-9/29

I am making an another attempt to keep thing going over here.  The biggest reason it is an effort is because my brain is busy, not really a time issue.  My brain has one track right now, which doesn't seem to include blogging.  So, I thought I would just post pictures from our previous week, until we move.  After all, I am able to take cell phone pictures.

From Sunday to Sunday last week we kept busy with family!  

Family reunion 

Caught my avid reader in action. 

Birthday brunch with Grandpa here at home. 

Birthday with Grandma at the Lake. 

Spent a little time here. 

Gave a birthday concert.  

I also managed to keep the house going, pack 11 boxes, make 2 trips to Good Will, and kept the kids busy with their weekly activities and lessons.

We hope to get a firm closing date on the house this week.  Right now it is set for the 21st of October with movers coming on the 25th.

Have a great week!
~Jenn

This Week At Home, 2013, No. 34

Note, I wrote this earlier and did not get it published in order.  Sorry!

Just going to bullet point this one!

Ryan, teaching himself piano. 

• On Monday, Jeff and I looked at 13 homes, eliminated 9.  
• I am thankful for our realtor. You must need to be very patient to be one.  
• Our house was shown 4 times this week. I freaked out the first few times trying to keep things show ready. 
• We learn that an applicant wants this home in early September.  
• We panic.
• We look at more homes.  

This Week At Home, 2013, No. 35

I know I am off track on my numbering and posting, but I figured I'd better just jump in when I get a moment and today was that day!

Summer is trying its best to make its mark.  Lately, we have had record heat in the upper 90's!  That is just too hot for September.  This too shall pass.  I want to go to apple orchards, play disc golf, and once again ride in my un-airconditioned van without passing out!

We continue to wait on the home buying.  We do have reassurance that the people who want this house still want this house and are just waiting like us to get released from their current home.  It is a great opportunity to build up my patience muscles.  We continue to show the house, just in case, so keeping the house tidy is top priority.

Lessons are going well.  We have managed to do work each day.  We are even excelling, I would say.  I was proud of the youngest two, who have been doing a good job with their individual studies.  I am working on training them to be more independent, like their big brother.

The cats have been working on a peace treaty.  Dorothy has not granted Giles a full pardon for invading her space, but he can at least be in her presence for short periods of time if supervised.  She forgets her manners unless reminded.  I am very happy to have reached this stage.  I see progress!

Jeff loves his new job.  The hour and twenty minute commute in the hot van is worth it, says he.   I am very thankful for this, as I personally would have a problem with such a commute!

That about wraps up the status of my life, lessons, cleaning, keeping cool, and waiting.

Here are some pictures I took on my phone this week:

My big baby loves his momma time!  

Happy birthday, Mom!