June 12-18

Well, this week we mainly did one thing.  Paint.  This is Corah & Mary & Leah's wall before.  We had never painted in the 11 years since our home was built.  I am not much of a DIY (do-it-yourself) but I actually did most of this.  It went a lot better, however, because Dallas was on vacation so he was home to help!  Corah helped with painting the furniture.

 Grafitti: "Joseph ZADER" ;-)

This was our growth chart.  I  copied it onto a long piece of rolled paper.

Monday we moved furniture and stuffed a lot of things in the closet.  The girls slept on their mattresses in the living room for 3 nights.

We painted the walls, the bed, and a bookshelf.

the  bookshelf

TA-DA!!!  The finished product!  Isn't it cute?!  I NEVER would have picked these colors, but the girls love it!  Notice, Leah is in the bottom bunk.  {That means Mom & Dad get their own room for the first time since.... I don't know, its been a while!;-)}  Oh, and I might add that it really looks like this, too.  I didn't have to shove stuff out of the view of the camera or anything! {And if you believe that, I have some ocean front property for sale down in Arizona...}  Ha-ha!

Let's see, what else did we do this week?  Dallas & the boys fished... a lot! {While the paint was drying, of course!}  We went to the drive-in movie Friday night, "The Green Lantern" and "Kung Fu Panda 2".  The kids had their last homeschool softball game with a picnic on Saturday.

{Ain't he cute!}

June 5-11

First thing Sunday morning Peter lost his first tooth!  By the time his Tuesday softball game, he had lost its neighbor!

Speaking of teeth...

Corah got her braces on her top teeth on Tuesday!  This is phase one of a two-year process. {Isn't she so cute!

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I love "no school" times.  There are just soooo many things I'd rather do than school!  But taking sick kids to the doctor and changing 300 diarrhea  diapers isn't on that list!  But, being the mommy, that is what I did Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  Mary had all the symptoms of strep throat, but with a test and a culture, neither showed up.  She is on antibiotic and is better, but was not comfortable to eat for 4 days!  Leah, on the other hand, had diarrhea for two days for no apparent reason.  Her poor little back-side was so sore, I had to spray her off each time with the shower hose. {I love that thing}

Thursday was a very special day for Leah {despite the diarrhea}.  It was her second birthday!  We went to Grandma & Grandpa Dale's house {Pa-ka & Ma-ka as Leah would say, sort-of backwards *cute*}  They would be here by breakfast time on the kids' birthdays if they could drive!  So we take the party to them!

Leah & her cake

Leah & Mommy... Love the expression on her face!

Good cake!

Grandma and Grandpa are soooo kid crazy!  They enjoy our visits so much.  Being older, they thought they might never meet my little ones, so every visit is extra special.  I am very thankful they have lived to their ripe old ages!  Dad will be 91 this week, Mom is 85!

 Mary, Grandma Mary, Leah

Me & my Momma

Friday was the first day of the NICHE Conference. {Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators}  I LOVE going to NICHE and now that Corah is getting older, she can go with me!  We have such a good time together, one-on-one, can't beat that!  I so appreciate the encouragement and education I get there.

When we got home, I got to find out everything that Daddy did while I was gone.  I heard about how the kids drove him nuts {hmmm, welcome to my world!}, but he also moved the boys into their new room! {Jordyn moved out and they inherited her room}  Exciting!  And then "the news"....  "Dad painted our room... CAMMO!" {hide freaked out feelings}  "Oh, really?  SHOW ME!"

OK, well that wall is 90% doors.  They LOVE it!  And then Mary said, "Now wait 'til you see your bathroom!" {Oh, no!......  OK, its not cammo.  just some dots like that only tan.  ONLY tan.  Not sure what he was thinking, but the whole room needs paint, anyway, so... oh, well!

Saturday night EVERYONE was home!  Tyler {and his girlyfriend} and Jordyn, plus all of us.  I was beat from NICHE and all the guys {+girlyfriend} went fishing.  I collapsed on my bed and put in a "Love Comes Softly" video.  *Sigh* Chick time.

Week of May 29-June4

I am just not very good at keeping up with this blog thing.  Things happen and I think, "I am going to blog this!"  Then I realize I forgot to take pictures, so it just won't be as fun.  Well, we're {ah-hem} "done" with school for the summer, so I can try harder to get into the blog thing... with pictures! 

Some weeks its seems so ho-hum.  Get up, feed the kids, wash laundry, clean the house, break up fights, dry laundry, correct bad behaviors, fix lunch, hope the girls take naps, fold laundry, have a coffee, wish I could get more done.... boring!

This week we had something almost every day...

Monday (Memorial Day) we cleaned for company in the evening, had a dog funeral in the afternoon (the puppy was hit by a minivan!) then we had LOTS of fun with our friends from church.  We had invited 4 families but only 2 could come.  It turned out to be just the thing.  Not too crowded, a good opportunity to get to know these people we sit in church with at a more personal level.

Tuesday was the ACTS Academy concert.  The director asked that each child wear a different color of polo shirt.  It looked really cool!

Then Ethan {Jordyn's boyfriend} preached... this is the first time an alumnus (sp?) was chosen (by the seniors) to preach the graduation sermon!  He preached at his church today, today... hmmm... wonder where this is going?????

Thursday was the last day of ACTS.  The kids were supposed to bring treats.  Well, since we are 25 miles from an affordable grocery store, Corah made cookies! But she Leah refused to be left out!

Friday was a park day with local homeschoolers at the Prairie City park.  It was the first of the season.  I was busy getting the picnic lunch ready, the grocery list for afterward, and my newly "remodled" roller skates and I forgot the camera.  The skates are working GREAT!  But it was soooooo windy, skating into the wind is quite a workout!

Saturday while Daddy & the kids went fishing, I planted a few rows of the garden, hauled a couple loads of grass clippings from the back forty {of our 5 acre yard} and hauled countless 5-gallon buckets of water.  Whew!  I took breaks because I am such a whimp.  Corah learned how to make iced coffee... what a refreshing break!!


Saturday night the "guys" {Dallas, Joseph & Peter} went to a demolition derby so we had a princess party!  We all got dressed up in our "princess attire" and had a "tea" {chololate milk}party and watched "Beauty and the Beast"!

The princesses with the "Queen"

The tea set

 Princess Leah {She'll be 2 on Thursday!}

 Princess Mary Elisabeth

Princess Corah

Don't forget Princess Jordyn! {comedian!}