Feb.

Well, it is now the middle of February! Where is the time going???? We are heavy into school, coop, basketball, school, coop, basketball etc. We are enjoying watching Rachel play this year. It has been an adjustment. I have to take pics soon, it is almost over for the year! I always wait until the end for video. Much more likely to get good action after lots of practice!
We are still alive, just nothing exciting going on. I spend way too much time on Facebook, the big reason I"m never on here!!!

9 & 2 days

Birthday boys

Birthday girls

We had party number 2 today.Four kids in our 'swim club' have bdays real close, so we partied together. Unfortunately we didn't get to go to the Jones Center and skate and swim. The fact that Springdale has no electricity put a damper on things! We ended up at the dreaded Chuck E Cheese's. It wasn't near as bad as I make it out to be. The kids played, moms visited , cake was eaten and presents opened. Then it was time to go home. It was a little crowded due to public school being out, but not too bad. We managed to aviod meal time so no pizza!!! We were able to get out with a little money left in our pockets!

After all the ice and bad weather, Thursday it is back to normal for school. Thankfully, we only lost power for a few hours Tues morning. So many people we know have been w/out for days and it will be days more. I don't know how they make it if they don't have some type of fireplace. I decided that I will never live w/out a wood burning or pellet insert. It would be a lifesaver if you didn't have heat!

9

The kids turned nine years old today! I can't believe they are that old. I guess nobody can ever believe how old their kids are getting. It really does go by too fast. I'm in no hurry whatsoever for them to grow up and leave. They were too hard to get here and I remember what it was like to have an empty house. That is why I try to enjoy every minute I can with them. Of course, there are some 'minutes' I would rather forget, but not too many :)

We ended up having a Razorback themed party. That is so easy. Razorback stuff is everywhere. We even had Razorback Ice Cream!! The cakes were so cute and delicious. We used the church and just let the kids play. It was a great way to go-cheap and easy!

Now we are on to party number 2. We will be heading to the Jones Center this week to party w/ our swim club friends :) Ice skating and swimming with a party in between. Four of the kids in our group are having bdays soon, so we are having one big party. Just hope it doesn't ice--gotta love bdays in the dead of winter. It is either icy or someone is sick. I just want to keep everyone well for a few more days.

Presidential Potatoes

We are inaugurated out. We watched all day long. We made and tried the sweet potatoes they were having at the luncheon. They had cumin in them and to me, cumin says chili, not sweet potatoes. Trent actually like them! You never know!! I will try them again sometime, but w/out the cumin. As you can see, we didn't use the fancy dishes they used!!!

Catching Up

We have been studying Indians the last couple weeks. We decided to make False Face Masks like the Iroquois Indians. They are supposed to be a little scary. They were used to heal people when they were sick. Needless to say, Rich doesn't like the masks! Don't know why. Anyway, the kids enjoyed the process.

I also threw in a pic of a cardinal at our feeder. I have enjoyed watching the birds but they sure do eat an awful lot!!

I'm going to sacrifice in the name of education and watch the Inauguration tomorrow! I"m not happy, but you have to take the opportunity to teach your kids about the whole process. It really is interesting when you start reading about it. We are even going to make one of the dishes they will be eating for the Inaugural Luncheon. The only thing that looked remotely easy to make was the Molasses Sweet Potatoes. We found a website that gave the whole menu and the recipes to go with it!

The kids birthday is coming up this weekend. We are partying twice! Once with some family and friends and next week with our group of homeschool friends that party together. Four of the kids have bdays very close so we are having one big party and ice skating and swimming at the Jones Center.

Snow!

Snowfall 1-15-09

I haven't been on here in so long I almost forgot how to post!

Well, it snowed a little this morning and that just means you might as well forget school! I let the kids go out and play. Then we tried to collect snowflakes and look at them under the new microscope we got for Christmas.It is really cool. It is Digital Blue and is completely a computer scope. Everything shows up on the computer screen and you can take pictures and movies,plus some other fun things. If you could have seen us! I had the kids pass me the plate of snowflakes thru the window next to the computer. Then we looked fast-before it melted. We got a couple good pics but mostly we watched it melt. That was pretty interesting itself! We were already studying snow this week w/ Snowflake Bentley. Now we have had some hands on experience. Gotta love homeschooling!

We survived Christmas. All went well and the kids enjoyed all their gifts. I got pics w/ Richard's parents and a 4 generations pic w/ my mom and gma. It wasn't the best pic ever, but I've been trying to get one for months, and this was the best I could do. I also put a bunch on Flikr.
I got the house all put back together today. I finally, after all these years, got all my decorations organized and in real plastic containers. They are even all red & green so I will know what they are w/out having to read the top. All my poor ornaments have been wrapped in paper towels and in different cardboard boxes. I actually lost one big box for 3 years. It had our good stockings in it. Well it mysteriously appeared in the attic right in front of where you go down the stairs! That is just pitiful. No more! I'm organized and color coordinated!
We are trying to head to Branson this weekend. We have to wait for Rich to get off work, so it will be late(oh the joy of being back at the funeral home).
I bought a new marker board for the schoolroom at A-Z this week. I also found the Desk Apprentice fromStaples for $20. I just love to snoop around A-Z. We also stocked up on big blankets for .99 each. They are great for the dog, covering furniture, anything you might need.
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