Happy 15th Birthday, Ryan!

Today is Ryan's 15th birthday.  15 is hard to wrap one's mind around.  In comparison, I have not changed much in 15 years, but he has gone from a little baby to a young man.  That is amazing.

Yesterday, he got to spend the night with his Nana and today we all went out to lunch to celebrate.  Tonight, I will make his favorite dinner, chocolate chip pancakes.  He had a cake on Sunday, so today's treat is homemade cupcakes.  His main gift was a tablet.  He also got us to switch to cable internet as part of his birthday gift.  Here are some pictures from his birthday.

Homemade from scratch!  

Something fun.  

A new shirt.  

Ryan and Nana.

Lunch at his favorite spot.  

My three darlings.  

Happy birthday, dear Ryan!  You are and will always be one amazing man.  We love you!!!

This Week At Home, 2013, No. 9

Little notes written to remember each precious day!  

"Mee wantz a bruther." 

Monday the 25th...

So nice to have a day at home!  But, it's easy to let a day at home slip away, so I always try to be diligent when one comes our way.  Lessons were done, the weather nice enough (40's and sunny) for outside play too.  And the big news of the day is that we've decided to apply for a Siamese rescue cat, something I've wanted to do for a long time.  It's time for Dorothy to have a sibling.

Tuesday the 26th...

Our last quiet day at home this week.  The weather is back to cold and rainy, not just rainy, but pouring down rain all day.  Now I am glad the kids were outside yesterday.  The day was spent working on lessons, chores, and personal projects.  Ryan is cleaning his room again to make room for new kitty.  We won't get new kitty for quite some time, but in his room's case, he's going to need extra time!

Just little details to add she says... 

Wednesday the 27th...

The sky is gray all day.  We did get some snow,but mostly melted as it came down.  Art class and the usual today.  I am too distracted with this cat thing.  I can't seem to do my Fly Lady cleaning.  I am purging in the living areas though.  I need to rescue them, not a cat!  lol.

Thursday the 28th...

Another gray day!  We finish up our lessons for the week.  I love that today is the last day of February.  I really don't enjoy February.  Bring on spring, please!  Tonight was the usual, karate and getting groceries.

Silly boy.

Friday the 1st...

This morning I took sweet Dorothy to the vet.  Boy was I surprised!  She did so well.  I was worried she'd be a total nut case or worse.  I guess she showed me that she is truly a good girl.  Even when she was stressed out, she kept it together.  And, the vet gave me a good reference!  Yippee.  The ball is rolling.

Tonight is a conference at church. Tomorrow more conference and I need to get ready for Ryan's party Sunday afternoon.  Lots to do!

Have a great weekend.
Jenn

This Week At Home, 2013,No. 8

Little notes written in order to remember each precious day.  

The cake I made for my valentines. 

The weekends go quickly when the weekend is a little shorter due to tax season hours, but, we joyfully accept those hours and make the most of the hours we do have together as a family.

Monday the 18th...
Happy Monday!  Grace gets to go to Nana's to spend the night and much of two days.  So, we don't get much done in the way of lessons.  Trevor feels unwell, as he did all weekend.  He is content to spend today on the couch.  Ryan is good to go and does all his work independently as usual.  This frees me up!  So, I head upstairs to the master bedroom and attack a huge list.  I also made a big batch of our favorite soup, white chicken chili and some cornbread.  

Learning how to sew

Tuesday the 19th...
It was so windy last night that it was hard to sleep.  Sigh.  Grace spends much of the day with Nan working on an apron.  The boys and I spend a quiet day at home.

Grace's hard work in progress

Wednesday the 20th...
I can't believe that it is Wednesday again!  We get our lessons done, have a quick lunch, and I take Grace to art.  She's working on a painting for me.  While she was working, I chatted with my friend.  The afternoon was spent working on projects around here.  The sunshine today really made the day seem so lovely!  And, another nice part of my day was driving the van with new brakes that we got last Friday.  Money well spent.

Waffles

Thursday the 21st...
Big storm coming tonight, they say.  I feel a little stressed as the contractor is coming today to install trim work, we need to get food before the ice storm, and I feel so behind in our lessons.  After I take a deep breath, I realize it will all get done.  Thankfully the trim work doesn't take long, so we were free to leave here right after lunch.  We get our food, put it away and have plenty of time to catch up our lessons.  I made whole wheat blueberry waffles for dinner.  I took Ryan to karate, as he was the only one who wanted to go. Jeff got home before the freezing rain, too.  I was thankful that the bad weather was late in arriving.

Master bedroom in progress.

Friday the 22nd...
Jeff delayed his commute to hopefully avoid icy roads, as the temperatures were supposed to rise.   Lessons in the morning were enjoyable.  I made a big pot of chicken with brown rice soup for our lunch and the kids' dinner tonight.  The boys and I did some furniture moving upstairs in the master bedroom.  Tonight is a thank you dinner at church.  I'm excited to have a nice dinner and some fun with my church family.

Jeff works a full day tomorrow, so Saturday will be a normal work day for us.  Sunday is church, choir, youth group and a little downtime, I hope!  Although, if it is in the 40's we may go play a round of disc golf.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Jenn

Ryan Says

Ryan says my blog peaked in 2010.  He thinks I need to post more often.  I've been blogging so many years, perhaps I am all blogged out, except for my desire to record my weekly happenings.Other family members ask why I have 3 blogs.  Why do I? My best answer is that I can.  Not that the other 2 are fairing any better than this one!  Getting a tablet hasn't helped either.  I'm writing this with one finger flying.  I'm too lazy to boot up the desktop these days.  Now I'm starting to wonder why I'm writing this post. You might be as well! So, how about a picture?
But that would require me taking one and I'm not doing so great in that area either.   Keeping my camera in a desk drawer isn't working out.  (Mental note, need to move it.) And my kids don't like to be put on the blog as much these days.  That leaves Dorothy, and I already post too many of her adorable self here.  Time to wrap this exciting post up.  I think I'll stick to my weekly wrap ups. 

This Week At Home, 2013, No. 7

Little notes written in order to remember each precious one!  

Grace spent the weekend painting at the new house. 

Monday the 11th...

Today was a busy day for our family.  The kids and I got up early to get a head start on our lessons, as we were not going to neglect them.  The kids packed up their independent work and I dropped them off at the grandparent's new place.  Meanwhile, I met my mom at their old condo to wait while the movers moved the big stuff.  I cleaned their refrigerator.  It was a long day.  Jeff joined us at the new house after work.  I made pizza there for us all.  Ryan worked on their computer network. 

Tuesday the 12th...

Morning lessons as usual.  Then, Grace and Trevor mentioned having a little spending money and wanting to go to Panda Express for lunch. I said OK and we asked Nana to join us.  Yum!  We went to the library and got bread, then we went to Nana's to unpack and await the arrival of a new couch and some other furniture.  Back home, I threw together a huge pot of chili, got laundry done, and the kids helped with dishes. 

Wednesday the 13th...

Pretty day!  The contractor was back to our house today to finish the work started before Christmas.  The entryway was painted. The guest bathroom ceiling was redone, which led to the wallpaper border being destroyed.  That's an improvement, but will have to be stripped.  The laundry room is ready to be painted, I think.  He'll be back next week. As for our day, lessons, art, and chores were all completed before AWANA and youth group.  AWANA went OK. I had a headache and a girl at my table was sneezing, coughing and not covering her mouth.  Ugh.  I took vitamin C when I got home.  And that's when Jeff gave Grace and I our Valentine presents!  We each received a lovely necklace.  Thank you, Honey! 

Thursday the 14th...

We worked on our lessons.  Seems I am always doing laundry and dishes.  We decided to put off our family Valentine celebration until Saturday when we have more time.  We're going to grill out steaks!  Tonight was shopping and karate as usual.

Friday the 15th...

Had to get the van to the shop for brakes at 7AM this morning. Jeff worked from home while waiting for the cable guy to arrive. We're getting cable internet. Kids worked on science, spelling, and history. This afternoon is our "Home Blessing Hour" and we have a dinner party to attend tonight. 

Next project in progress. 

This Week At Home, 2013, No. 6

Little notes written in order to remember each precious day...

The only picture I took this week!  Oh my.  I will try to do better next week. 

Monday the 4th...

Today was our 100th day of school!  Yippee!  We did the barest essentials of school work and then headed to Nana's.  The kids have not seen her new home, so this was a very exciting day.  But first, we ate lunch at Nana's and watched Downton Abbey on her giant TV.  The new house is marvelous, but was left pretty dirty, so there is much to be done there this week.  The kids had fun playing hide and seek in the empty house. This week Jeff starts working late. Taxing season is game on! 

Tuesday the 5th...

It's another sunny day with a high of 37, which now feels like a pretty warm day!  We worked hard getting lessons back on track,and laundry caught up,too.  I made a wonderful dish called Chili and Cornbread Dumplings for dinner.  Oh my!  I also worked on Flylady's detailed cleaning list for the kitchen today.  My kitchen needs a deep clean! 


Wednesday the 6th...

This is always the hardest, longest day for me, but it's filled with good things.  We did lessons in the morning.  Ate our quick lunch, and then I took Grace to art.  I was able to spend an hour with my dear friend while Grace was at art.  Then, we went home and got back to work on chores. AWANA was fun, but my girls got the giggles during counsel time and wouldn't pay attention.  :( 


Thursday the 7th...

This was another crazy day!  In the morning, Grace and I went to Costco and Trader Joe's.  We got home, put things away and had lunch.  Then we worked on lessons.  Things seemed to go well until I forgot Trevor had technical rehearsal tonight.  And Ryan was going to karate.  Thankfully they are both at church, just different times.  But I couldn't find what time rehearsal was and so we ended up going not knowing.  I felt out of sorts, but it all worked out.  We were on time for Ryan and early for Trevor, the best senario.  Jeff got home, ate his dinner and then went to get the boys.  I am so glad I don't have many days like this! 


Friday the 8th...

Today's mission was to finish the long kitchen list and get us ready for small group tonight.  We also had to finish our lessons, but there was not a lot to do on that end, thankfully.  The house got finished.  I have two chickens roasting in the oven.  I am about to go make brownies for tonight. 

Have a great weekend! Tomorrow and Sunday I'm going to help Mom. They move on Monday.  It's all very exciting! 

~Jenn

This Week At Home, 2013, No. 5

Little notes written to remember each precious day!

My wonderful breakfast date. 

Monday the 28th...

It's always a challenge to get us moving in a good direction on a Monday.  A cloudy Monday is even harder.  It would be my preference to hibernate with a good book under a blanket in front of a fire all day.  So, things like getting up EARLY, making breakfast, cleaning up breakfast, and exercising did not seem fun this morning.  And that long list of chores I wrote for my afternoon, well, they didn't get done either.  I was tired by the afternoon from just keeping us on schedule.  All in all, it was a good day.  Lessons got done.  We decided to buckle down and do the work.  Yay, us!

Dorothy by Grace 

Tuesday the 29th...

Another cloudy, rainy day.  Normal things getting done may have to be enough this week.  I am thankful for an interesting curriculum (Sonlight).  We are going to finish a couple books this week.  Today was a quiet day at home and there is nothing better!

My coffee buddy.  

Wednesday the 30th...

Lessons, art, a date with my boy, and AWANA all equal a busy day.  The weather is cooler, but still cloudy.  I took Grace to art, then Trevor and I used a gift card at Starbucks.  Delightful!  Grace finished her portrait of Dorothy.  I love how it turned out.  AWANA went pretty well.  I had two visitors and two girls absent, so everyone got some attention.


Thursday the 31st...

Woke up to a dusting of snow and lots of wind, which has been blowing all week.  Today I got to go have lunch with my grandmother and then enjoyed some nice conversation back at their apartment.  Jeff ended up coming home early to finish his work day, which was nice.  Then we went shopping while the boys were at karate.

Found in the couch!  Yikes.  

Friday the 1st...

Brr.  It's 5 degrees with a subzero windchill.  Public schools are on a 2 hour delay.  Man, I want a 2 hour delay today, too, but, that's not the way of the diligent.  Today is our 99th day of school. We finished Great Expectations!  Trevor finished his grammar book.  Celebrate!  And after our lessons, we tackled that long list I wrote.  We earned a little rest this afternoon, too.  A great week at home.

This weekend we're going to help with some packing and watch the big game. Hope you have a great weekend.
~Jenn