Sickies...

Well I ALMOST got my wish!  LOL  I told the family that we weren't allowed to get sick until after the new year.  We almost made it!  Doug came down with the nasty cold with a fever on Saturday and now the girls are following in his path.  Marissa doesn't seem too bad yet anyhow.  She is running a low grade fever but nothing to bad.  Doug was running a pretty good one around 3 am this morning.  Madalyn was running 104.1 at 8am this morning.  When she runs one, she runs a high one!  She is sleeping now.  Hopefully we can get it to break or we will be heading in to the ER.  I've been downing Zing lozenges like crazy and so far its working!  Hopefully I can sneak out of this one!  I promise I'll get the pictures uploaded and edited so that I can start posting our Christmas updates soon!

(We did have an awesome Christmas with friends and family though and I can't wait to share!)

Crazy Busy!

I didn't want to just jump off the face of the earth without warning, so here is your warning! :)
I have a ton to do this week in preparation for the coming weekend and the week to follow.  Doug took the week of Christmas off, so I'm going to be spending my time with family and friends and away from the computer.  In light of that, I'll be taking a break from blogging until after the new year!  Don't worry, I'll have TONS of pictures (do you expect any less from me?) and lots of information to share when I get back! :)
I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Special Music

I LOVE teaching Junior Church :)  For the past month, we have been working on Luke 2:11 and Away in a Manger, along with a Teeny Tiny Baby.  I decided that it would be fun to include a couple of the nursery kiddos in with the bigger kids.  Both of the younger kids knew the motions but I think they got stage fright :)  It was adorable and they were all so proud!  

Here is a picture of most of my group.... 

Samuel, pictured in front of his sister here, actually enjoyed his first day in Junior church on Sunday.  I think its safe to say that it was successful and we all enjoyed having him!

And here is their performance :)  I'm so proud of them!

Conversations

I had to take Madalyn to the doctors today.  On the way there, the three older were talking up a storm.  Lucas announces from the back that he does NOT want to be a doctor when he grows up because he "doesn't want to deal with people's blood".  LOL  "I want to be a fighter-fighter instead", he says.  The car gets quiet for a while before Madalyn speaks up..."You might not want to be a fighter-fighter either Lucas, they have to deal with blood too!"  Lucas quickly responds that they deal with fire, not blood.  "No, sometimes the fighter-fighter's get to the fires and someone stayed inside the fire to long and then they are nasty bloody, right Mom?"  Sure Madalyn!  Lucas wasn't really happy with that answer so she quickly added, "Don't worry, you could still be one, because it doesn't happen ALL the time Lucas!"  LOL  The conversations these kids have cracks me up!  They are so blunt and honest and see things as black and white.  It really made me stop and think about all the kids that are watching my every move on a daily basis, listening to every word I say and how I react to every circumstance.   Am I being a good example to them?  How about you, have you stopped to think about what kids are watching you? If you don't think ANY kids are watching you, maybe you should reconsider.  Teaching Junior church and babysitting has really taught me that kids watch EVERYONE and they share their findings with ANYONE!  Don't worry, I promise not to believe or take to heart any of the dirt I hear on you if you don't believe the dirt you hear on me :)  LOL

Just for Cor :)

Since I'm not as active on Facebook anymore, I wanted to share these with you :)  

They are such good buddies!!!

Puzzles...

Saturday, Doug's boss showed up with a huge pile of supplies for Doug to take with him on the road this week.  I SHOULD have taken a picture of the pile BEFORE we got it all packed in.  I had my doubts, but as Doug puts it, the CRV just seems to swallow stuff!  We spent a good bit of time on Sunday afternoon, working to get this all to fit.  It was a good challenge...I know I enjoyed myself!

Here is Doug's work vehicle...

No leg room, but the seat is empty at least for the moment.  We had to make sure that stayed empty so he would have room for his work bag and his suitcase.  

There is still a little bit a room in there ... LOL

Fridays!

I don't think there is anyone who doesn't enjoy Fridays!  I guarantee I'm not alone in my love for them.  The girls and I are blessed with an amazing husband and daddy.  I couldn't ask for a better man to be standing next to me, than the one God has given me.  Funny how He knows whats best huh?!  

I can't wait to spend the weekend as a family!

I love these two pictures taken of Doug and the girls at my twin brother's wedding.  

I love him!

Math

I love homeschooling!  I feel so blessed to be able to be the one teaching my children.......most days :)  

This year is my first year with two in school.  I was honestly dreading it.  Not knowing how I was going to juggle two kids in school and two extra's hanging out every day.  But its been amazing!  I think its actually easier to have two in school than just one.  We have had a lot of little hurdles but each one is overcome in time.  Math has been Marissa's big hurdle.  She has grown leaps and bounds and has gotten quite the handle on it this year.  I'm so proud of her.  A couple months ago my parents were in town and we were bragging to Grandpa and Grandma how well she was doing.  She added two hundredth place problems together in her head just sitting there waiting for our food like it was nothing!  It was awesome.  Then my dad showed her how she was going to learn to carry numbers before to long and showed her how to do it.  Well today, she learned how to carry numbers when adding.  The first thing she said was "I already know how to do this, Grandpa taught me the other day!"  I'm so proud of my kids and its so much fun to watch them grow and learn!

"Updated" Inspiration

I watched the video I posted again this morning.  I love it!  At the end of the video I noticed there was a website.  So I looked it up.  The rider's name is Stacy Westfall.  She is now a professional trainer, married with 3 boys.  This ride was 100% accurate in the fact that she rode this ride dedicated to her Dad who had passed not long before.  I did however learn that the claim to her being deaf and mute is false.  From what I have gathered from my reading, the horse she is riding is actually hers as well.  Although I'm not certain of this.  This ride took place in 2006, however this video went "viral" in 2011 with this sudden claim.  It was nothing she ever claimed and my guess in that in the beginning of the video, you can see her talking with her hands and someone probably thought it would make a better story.  You can find all the facts on her here or at her website.  I wanted to make sure I wasn't sending out anything false on my blog so I wanted to make sure I cleared that up.  That all being said....this doesn't really take away from the awesomeness (is that a word?) of this ride.  If you have spent any time with horses and especially if you have done any training, you know that this is a pretty remarkable performance!  So watch and enjoy!!!    Make sure you mute my radio before hitting play.

Time to Play!!!

I knew when we woke up to all white and no grass that the kids would be begging all day to go out!   So after the extra kiddos left, I dressed the kids and turned them outside to play!  Case and Chloe went out with them.  Case doesn't last long, but Chloe will stay out there shivering and shaking and looking like a snowball herself and still have to be told to come in.  

Madalyn was all about making snow angels this year :)

Marissa and Madalyn were determined that they needed to shovel off the trailer.

Marissa's turn at snow angels

Playing chase...

Attempting snowballs ;)  Watch out Madalyn!