What have we been doing?

This month has flown by. I did not anticipate it being such a busy month, and so

I'm playing "catch up" in so many areas right now.

Here are a few highlights.

Isabelle is very into Harry Potter right now.

There she is with her nose in a book!

She says, on occasion, that it's unfair to have to do

school work because she really is dying to read the next plot in

Harry Potter!

Here are Sarah and Mavis trying to get in the screen porch.

Believe me, if we did not lock the door they could certainly

get in. Sarah pushes the handle down and then quickly inserts her paw

in the opening and voila she's in!

One day, while I was gone of coure, Daddy took the kids

to Wendy's! They received a "spy" pack in the

kids meal and this is Joseph "mug" shot!

Here is Isabelle's "mug" shot!

They are some scary looking spies!

The kids felt St. Francis needed to understand how important

sun protection is! Or? I'm not sure what the deal is, but this is what

I found in the backyard!

I have made great progress on keeping my downstairs in great ordermost days, but this week I'm beat. I did actually DO the laundry, but here it is waiting for me to take it upstairs and put it away!

(Do you see that Harrpy Potter book on the chair?)

This month I ran the Atlanta Womens 5K and got a PR!

It's not fast by most runners standards, but I'm happy!

I ran 29:53!

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Now, I'm trainig for my first triathlon. It's going to be tough, for me, but

it's fun. I think swimming is the hardest. I, also, actually, need a

road bike. I have a mountain bike and that will do, unless I stumble

across a great deal. I found one on Craigs list, but I need to win the lottery

or something! (Does anyone have a 48 cm or 19inch bike? Ha!)

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Isabelle and Joseph just finished up their basketball season, and are

going to be doing flag football this spring.

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Brendon is still working our garden. He planted some cucumbers, squash and

watermelon last night. The lettuces are looking awesome. I think we will be

eating lots of lettuce! Do you want some?

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Well, that's all folks!

My Backyard

All the lovely little seeds on our kitchen table!

The three beds that are planted thus far!

The lettuces and greens.

We moved the garden to the other side of the yard this year. There was just not enough sunshine on the otherside. We also started alot of seeds indoor this year, so alot of the seedlings are still on my kitchen table.

Snow Day!

It started snowing in the middle of church this morning!

I leaned over and whispered to Joseph, "Look it's snowing!"

He leaned across somebody to "whisper" to Isabelle, "LOOK

SIS IT'S SNOWING"!!!!

We hurried home.....

...to play in the snow and make a Georgia snowman!

Brendon made a delicious soup/stew! I thought it looked pretty,

so I snapped a quick picture!

It was delicious and warming!

Symphony

We have been listening to Haydn at home while we do our lessons.

We found out that the Atlanta Symphony Ochestra and Chorus were

performing The Creation by Haydn, and decided it would be a

fun first symphony visit for the kids. We happened to have a cd recording of

this piece and so we started listening to it exclusivly at home.

This is just before we left home to go out. We took the camera with us, but

accidentally left it in the car! It was really a nice performance.

We did listen to it at home in English, but it was performed in German, however

there were screens with the words in English.

Joseph really liked the bass soloist, and Isabelle thought the

dress the soprano wore was really pretty!

My sick little girl

She got an earache last night, and still today.

Valentine Boxes

We started with this:

Isabelle's Valentine Box

Joseph's Valentine Box

I don't know about you, but I sure used to love to create my

Valentine Card box!

A picture you've never seen!

Do y'all have a picture we've never seen?

This is Isabelle in the middle.

Her good friend Madison on the left, and Jake is an Aussie kid that lives in Atlanta.

How are you doing?

Hello! It's been awhile!

We enjoyed our holidays with our family!

Christmas Eve

Brendon, Isabelle and Joseph always make a gingerbread house together!

After the New Year, we started to homeschool! We are studying with a homeschool program, called Veritas Classical Schools. Each Wednesday the kids go to class for 5 hours, and we follow along with the humanities curriculum the rest of the week at home. On Tuesdays they are taking an art class, which they are really loving! We do our own math program. It is called Right Start Math, and it's actually alot of fun! I researched alot of math programs and decided on this one because I really liked the manipulatives plus so many people love it. When I got the big box, we were all excited! The first few days for me, were sort of frustrating, because I was trying to figure it out, but now we are sailing along!

How are you? Especially the one's I don't see that often! Aunt Jan? Kristen? (I keep updated by reading your blog!) Alison? Shelley? Anyone else? Please drop a line and let me know how you are doing!

A Day with Nanny

Thanksgiving Day

Family Planning

I went to the grocery store today with Isabelle and Joseph. Joseph is in 1st grade and just loves to read! He especially loves to read signs as we go down the road. (By the way, I am so glad those signs on 85 N on the way to Hartwell are gone!) Today he was reading all the signs in the grocery store, and as we passed the pharmacy he read "pain relievers, hair products and family planning". He liked the way the words family planning sounded so he started repeating it and then singing it over and over! I just let him keep saying it because I figured if I said something that he would then want to know what it was. I'm not sure he quite graps the concept of conception yet, so I felt it was better to carry on as we were. We received a couple of humorous looks from other people!

On Friday the kids could dress up as a favorite book character. Isabelle dressed as Laura Ingalls and Joseph went as Flat Stanley! I can tell you that after school I was wiping down kitchen counters and there was orange hairspray everywhere! I couldn't see it, but it definetly came up on the cloth. Let's don't talk about what happened when I blew my nose!!!

Those are my old boots! It's a little secret, but I used to go line dancing

WAY WAY back when! Like before I ever went traveling and met Brendon!

Cotton eyed Joe anyone!!!??

Oh yeah, Joseph!

Our Joseph lost his first tooth. He woke up in the middle of the night, and it was very loose and fell out. He then woke up Isabelle and she told him to put it under his pillow (no one bothered to wake up the parents). However, the tooth fairy had already come so we put it back under the pillow the next night!

Halloween

Isabelle and Joseph woke up, jumped out of bed and ran downstairs Friday morning. This NEVER happens, but they were so excited about trick or treating this year! Isabelle was a cheeta and Joseph was a skeleton ninja. They also wanted Mom and Dad to carve out interesting pumpkins this year. It took quite some time and I like my regular old jack o lantern better. Next year! Olivia and Edison came over and went trick or treating with us and got lots of goodies! Everyone had a good time! Ok, so the parents were all a little exhausted this year, but we made it!

Mommabelle is

actually really sick today!
Drinking my nice coffee and looking at a million blogs!
Blogs are fun!

Guess who...

has a loose tooth????

Last night at bedtime Joseph said, "When I brush my teeth if feels like one of my teeth are loose."

So, I said "Which one"? and he showed me and I examined it and sure enough IT WAS LOOSE!

The four of us were excited and joyful for Joseph's 1st loose tooth!

Be sure to ask him about it!

You Are a Cinnamon Latte

Deep down, you are a sensitive soul. You just want to be loved and appreciated. You may have a spicy attitude, but you're all sweetness on the inside. You are dependable and loyal. You have you life together, and you're able to be there for other people. You like nothing more than a warm, cozy house filled with friends and loved ones.

What Flavor Latte Are You?

How Sweet!

I would love to skip work tomorrow. I get 10 days off, and I plan to not be sick! Therefore,
I need to use them or lose them. I mentioned to the kids that I would like to skip work tomorrow, and they were so sad at the thought of not seeing me for the 5 minuets that they usually do, that I'll probably go in!

What do you think about

when you don't have anything to think about?

I have ample opportunity these days to just let my mind wander where it will at my current job. It doesn't take too much thinking ability! As long as I take care about getting burned or cut I'm fine.

I think I could start writing novels or short dramas. I sometimes come home and write down my ideas and put them away for the future when life is not so hectic. Maybe the summer time!

Sometimes I pray while I'm working. Yes, occasionally I say LORD, please help me clean this floor! Mostly I just pray for direction, or purpose or whatever is needed, and for all the people I love and others who need prayers.

Morning Routine

I'm interested in the morning routines of people and families who are not morning people.
It's definetly no secret that I'm so seriously in that category of people! It simply doesn't matter what time I fall asleep, be it 8PM or 11PM, I am still barely able to function come wake up time.

I would just love to bounce out of bed, but what I really need is an IV line with coffee directly poured through my veins! I will say that once I've had coffee things take a slight turn in a better direction. Naturally, I always sound cheerful and wide awake when I tell the kids it's time to get up and come down for breakfast. They will soon be on to the fact that my chirpy attitude is somewhat of an effort and maybe not ..umm totally genuine for that hour of the day!

Here's my current "routine". I get up and stumble bleary eyed to the bathroom. Hoping on the way that I don't fall and hit my head on the bathtub. I usually stumble into the wall on the way. After that I go into the closet to find some clothes. Lately I've been so tired that I lay on the closet floor (similar to childs pose position in yoga) for awhile and stare at the clothes! It really doesn't matter too much what I wear to work, so I just find something clean and hope for the best. Then I go snuggle the kids a few minutes, and act cheerful and get them out of bed and down the stairs. (By the way they do not pretend.. andDO NOT act cheerful!) Finally, I get coffee and have 5 minuets just sitting and drinking it while the kids eat. (All the while Brendon has been dressed and cooking...he's a morning person!) Thankfully, I do make lunches and lay out kids clothes the night before so it's all easy after we are downstairs. We leave at 7:15. Should I just head straight to the coffee after I get up? I'm sure y'all would love to see pictures of this whole scenario!

Tell me your stories!

Fall Soccer

This is our second season of fall soccer.

It's such a fun and nice group of kids.

The coaches are great too.

They both have practice on the same night, which is good, but

Mom get's to sit through 2 hours of fun!

Joseph at practice

Joseph at practice
Isabelle at practice
Isabelle at practice

Old and New

This was Isabelle's nursery when she was a baby.

She never slept in here!

See the painted chest of drawers?

We found it at an antique or second hand shop and

Mimi painted it for her!

Isabelle is now 8 years old and needed a new look for her room.

So, Brendon, her sweet and loving father, sanded and stripped it

back to it's original look. Isabelle picked out new

knobs and voila! A brand new look!

We made the difficult decision to place our home for sale.We never sold our previous home and then renters have made no comments about wanting to purchase it. Their lease is up in February andwe don't want to face having two houses again. We thought we had found THE house for our family when we bought this one.However, it seems other plans are in store for us, but we don't yet know them!

These two sweet children of ours are understandably upset that

we will be selling this home. Please keep them (and our whole family) in your thoughts

and prayers. Especially that they will have peace and assurance in these

unstable and troubling times.

Nothing New!

Opening a package from the cousins in Perth! It was Flat Stanley!!!!

Thank you!!!

I feel like there is nothing new to share, but I needed to post something on here! We are sort of in one of those Nothing New phases as it is. You know, where you feel like there is nothing new ever and it's the same old same old?

The kids are enjoying school!
I'm working at the school and you would think I would know what is going on, but I'm so busy there that I actually have to make a special effort to keep up with everything.

Isabelle and Joseph are both taking a tap class, and a tumble class, and are playing fall soccer.

Right now I think they really enjoy the tumble class the best of all!

I think the wind from the hurricane is blowing up here today, and I'm totally enjoying it!

Hopefully it will blow in some cool air, because yesterday was extremly muggy.

Hopefully, I may soon find more time and life will begin with a new feeling and that same old feeling will blow away!

I've been tagged!

Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird. *Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.* Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

I'm afraid this could be very funny! I might have a hard time tagging 7 people, but I"ll try!

1. I have to sleep with the covers over my head with only my nose/face showing.

2. I love to workout!

3. I'm still scared of the dark and say a prayer after I turn out all the downstairs lights and walk upstairs at night!

4. I love to sit and talk with my friends on weekend evenings. I could talk all night!

5. I really love people and would love to have a people oriented job.

6. I have to make lists and sticky notes to remind me about everything.

7. Faith and Family are number 1 for me and everything else pales in comparison.

I tag MimiSusan, Aunt Becky, Lauren, Alison.

First Day of School 2008-09!

We had a fabulous first day of school. The children have really awesome teachers and we are all very pleased!

We had a very early start, but everyone handled in stride.

In all it was a very good first day!

New Things!

I started to work at the school this past Monday. The first day I had to be there very early. It was a strange experience for my alarm to go off before Brendon's! Another wierd feeling was leaving the house before him while the kids were still sleeping! Another morning this week my alarm went off and I started punching Brendon and telling him to turn off his alarm. He said "it's yours!" Oh yeah, sorry forgot about that! HA!

The kids are going back to the school that Isabelle was in for Kindergarten. One of my cousins children will be there too, so that is fun! Isabelle has two really good friends from Kindergarten in her class too and we are so happy about that!

Sports and dance are starting up too. Actually, soccer began this past Tuesday. It was so hot and I really dreaded the practice. We were so fortunate that a cloud came by and stayed put for both of their practices that day!

I've been running regularly and was convinced by two running friends to sign up for a half-marathon on Thanksgiving day! I have to keep going now! Somedays I do honestly wonder how it's going to happen, but I'm sticking to the plan and trying to have large amounts of running faith that it is possible! LOL It's fun to have something to do and look forward too, especially right now with being back at work and all the new stress!

We finally found a solution to keeping the dogs in the fence. We put an electric wire around the bottom of the fence like they use on farms. It gives a little jolt. I'm sure most of you have run into one as a child and felt it! The dogs have been out in the yard for a week and have not escaped once! It's great to not worry about crazy neighbors calling the police, or fear that my dogs will get run over.

I will post some pictures next week!

Backyard camping

Isabelle, Joseph and little bit of me

Brendon

The tent

I found this hosta growing in my backyard near some weeds!

I will be transplanting that somewhere!

On Friday night Brendon set up our tent in the backyard for a night of camping!
We had hot dogs and then we made a camp fire and roasted marshmellows (which no one really likes, but it is fun to do)!
We then settled down on those nice comfy air mattresses! Joseph wasn't too comfortable so we found the crib mattress that is in storage in the basement and he slept on that. Around 10:30 I decided to head to my real bed. We need another solution for sleeping beside air mattresses. Brendon is way taller and weighs about 60lbs more than I do so sharing an air mattress is not a great idea!
The three of them all ended up in bed together in the middle of the night, because they got a little cold. I think it was 64F out there, so it was a perfect night for being outside.
We watched the lightenin bugs. It reminded of when Brendon first moved here and saw his first firefly. He yelled out, because he thought he was seeing things. It was hilarious!
That reminds me of another story I have to share. When Joseph was around two he would wash his hands in the toilet and I could not for the life of me figure out why he was doing it. One day I heard Brendon tell him "go wash your hands in the toilet" and I had an a-ha moment! For Aussies the "toilet" is the "bathroom" and here it is just the "throne". So, anyway, that was why Joseph was totally confused! He was just doing what was asked! It was pretty funny! Or, maybe you had to be there?! LOL

Babies with Daddies

Just looking through my photos. The first one is of Brendon and Isabelle, and the second of Brendon and Joseph. Just putting them out there for fun! Have nothing else to blog about!

Hi!

I just have not been in a blogging frame of mind lately.

Brendon just spent a week in Tasmania visiting his family and attending a suprise birthday party for his parents who both turn 60 this month! He had a great time, but we are all exhausted now because he can't sleep and so neither can I.

My dogs are now confined to the screen porch unless I sit out in the yard and watch them. I just couldn't risk them escaping anymore.

The kids and I have been biking on a local greenway a few times a week here lately. It is really a very pretty place and we totally enjoy it.

This weekend we are resting up and staying close to home with no big plans. What about y'all?



River in Launceston





Brendon with his Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister and niece Liana