Longing for Routine....

Ahhhh....I miss my routine.  I miss the fall weather, the smell of cinnamon potpourri, and the sounds of pencils to paper and keys tapping a keyboard. I need routine!  I need school to start back!

I never thought I would see or hear the day when I longed for our summer break to be over or longed for a schedule to follow.  But here I am.....longing and yearning for a regular routine.  The busyness of summer has finally come to a close.  We were blessed to entertain all summer and I do mean all summer.  7 weekends out of the past 8 weekends we had family or friends staying with us.  It was such a Great summer!  A true summer to remember, but I'm ready for routine, ready for school.......ready for a schedule!

I had huge plans this week to get my lesson plans all drawn out, organize the new curriculum, ready the computers and school desks, but a migraine was in store for me instead.  After 2 full days in bed I've had to put off all lesson planning.  Motrin wasn't a help, but my dearest husband called my Dr and got my regular migraine medicine and I'm feeling human again with a bit of after pain in my eye.  So it looks like another day partially in bed, but at least today I can look at the computer screen with sunglasses on.

My oldest arrows have been a HUGE blessing to me these past few days.  Always taking care of me, bringing me anything I needed, and taking care of the little ones.  I am so blessed.  I'm so glad that they had family and friends over recently to just play and be kids.  We've played so many games together this summer and enjoyed each other, like families should, it was a wonderful summer.

But I'm longing for routine.........................

More Catchin up....

We had BackYard Bible Clubs July 5-9th!  It was awesome!  The kids had a blast!  The pictures say it all! Yes it was hot, yes we were sweaty and YES spreading the "Good News" is FUN!!!  Just ask the kids in these pictures!

We also enjoyed a little downtime the weekend before BYBC.  The kids really seem to enjoy their slip and slide.  We bought one years ago, but I think the kids were too young to know what to do, this year they went alllll out!  Running, Jumping and Sliding Off the end!  Even the littlest ones got in on the action.

A Little Catching Up....

WOW.....I can't begin to tell you how busy we have been the past few weeks.  And I can't begin to tell you how Good GOD is and how He worked out every detail of those weeks.  I was under a bit of stress, but I couldn't blog about it, since my adoring husband reads my blog.  You see, I was planning a surprise 40th Birthday for him.  Tomorrow is is real birthday, but we had a surprise party for him on 7-10!  It was wonderful, he was truly surprised and I even surprised him with a visit from our dear friends that just moved to Indiana.  Over the next few days I will be posting collages of some of the things we have been up to the past few weeks to catch you up!

I don't have pictures of this, but I do have a bit of news as far as our church goes.  We have been looking for a new pastor since our pastor of 14 years left to go into the mission field December of 09.  He and his family have since moved to Ecuador and we stay in touch via Skype!  After 6 long months, our Pulpit Search Committee has found someone!  I have had the privelege of meeting him and his family and they are wonderful!  We are looking forward to seeing what the Lord has in store for our church.  Needless to say, this is one of the things I've been busy with these past few weeks.  We had lots of meetings taking place, we had the family over for dinner a couple times, and enjoyed lunch with them after worship one Sunday.  They are a true delight and I look forward to getting to know them much better.

My husbands youngest sister and her family came to town a few weeks ago.  We always enjoy being with them, but this time I felt so preoccupied.  SORRY YOU GUYS!  We had our new Pastor and his family in town, BackYard Bible Clubs going on every morning and regular church events keeping us so busy.  The time we did have together was alot of fun.  I truly enjoy spending our summers with my niece and nephew!  They were alot of help with BYBC and to me!  We did enjoy some pool days, dinners at our home and game nights!  I think that "Mad Gab" was our game of choice that week.  Love that game!  The adults played against the kids and we stomped them!!!  : )  But it was all in fun.

Well, I hope this gets you caught up just a little bit.  Until next time!

It's Official....School's Out for Summer!!

Yes, SCHOOLS OUT for summer!!!!!!!!!!!!  Yay.....I don't know who's more excited, me or the kids!  Yesterday was our last day of school for the 2009-2010 year.  Yes we went a bit later than most schools.  We took awhile off to help some dear friends move out of state, took an early summer vacation and all because we can!  Its hard to believe we just finished our 6th year of homeschooling.  I wouldn't change a thing...I mean I love having my kids at home.  Sure I would do a better job teaching them more and improve upon myself, but I wouldn't change having my kids at home with me for anything.  They are my life and I love them!

Now that schools out we will be spending our days sleeping in, watching lots of "Little House" and going to the pool.  I do love the summer break, but it doesn't take long to yearn for the schedules again.  What do you do during your summer months off?  How do you pass the time?  I would love some ideas on fun things to do during the summer that are easy on the budget.  Thanks for sharing!

Pool Happenings...

Today we went to Grandma's pool.  It was HOT and the perfect thing to do on a Hot day, did I mention it was hot?  The kids hadn't played in the pool this year, so it was fun to see what they remembered from last year.  Little Man remember he could jump in the pool and he did it over a hundred times!!  The oldest arrow did what teenagers do best, spent most of her time above water, tanning more than anything.  The youngest girl arrow spent alot of her day trying out her flippers.  This was her first year in the pool with no swimming gear to help her.  I thought it best to see how she handled herself.  She did pretty well considering.  Now the middle arrow was alllll about under water!  It is so hard to keep an eye on her because I never know where she is...she's all over the pool and under water.  She is like me when I was a child, a FISH!  Last, but not least the 2nd to oldest arrow was busy helping her little brother, swimming him around the pool and helping this sweet little girl that took to her like glue.  She was very helpful and the little girl wanted to go home with us.  : ) 

I love to watch my kids interact with other children at the pool.  The kids at the pool today were very polite, asking if they could use toys, etc.  I was really impressed!  Most of the time a community pool everyone assumes the toys are community too.  LOL  Anyway, all in all it was a wonderful day with the kids.  Hope you all are having a blessed and wonderful day too!

It's been a while.....

Hello Bloggy Friends!
It's been almost a month since my last post! WOW! As you can probably figure, we have finished up our school year and summer has officially started for us! We have been enjoying strawberry picking, days by grandma's pool, boat rides with Mammaw n Pappaw and picnics with friends. It's been busy busy.

Here are some pictures to update you on our recent happenings. I promise to try and keep up better, but honestly, it's been nice having the computer break. I didn't realize how much time I waste on the computer!

We're HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are home after 16 fabulous days at the beach!! I feel very spoiled, relaxed and I don't want to get back into the swing of things. :) We had so much fun at the beach. Our first week was with family and it was a very special time. We got lots of great pictures too. The girls enjoyed being with Mammaw and Pappaw and Great Mammaw too. I think we wore them out though. They were pretty busy always thinking of something for the kids to do. We told them it wasn't necessary to do something every night....our girls are just as happy spending time with family as they are playing putt putt and water rides. But I think deep down, they were trying to hide their inner child wanting to do the things they did as kids on vacation too. It was a great week there in Garden City.

Then we went to Pawley's Island with some friends. It was sooooooooooooo AWESOME! I told them last night., this is the kind of trip that can either Make a friendship or Break it. Well, were and are truly BLESSED! We had 12 kids and 6 adults in a house for 10 days. There was little fighting amongst the children, they all got along so well, everyone was well behaved (most of the time....the adults had a harder time with this one), the golf carts were the BEST, we have lots of pictures and stories to tell. I wish I could blog about it all right now, but I don't know where to begin. I have kids that need a nap right now and I think I may take a nap too, just because I still feel like I'm on vacation! :)

Sleep Deprived.....and CRABBY

No pun intended...since we are still at the beach. :) Apparently my 10 month old son doesn't like sleeping at night. He is currently sleeping in my bedroom at the beach house and it is NOT working for me. He has been up all night for a few weeks now. My whole demeanor is going down hill and fast. Part of me wants to be back home simply because I would let him cry and not worry about waking up a whole house full of people. I am so concious of everyone else in the house, I hate to think I kept someone else awake at night because of one of my kids crying. I think everyone heard my son last night though....he was not cooperating with me at all and I couldn't run away. He would stand up on the side of the bed and look at me while crying.

I think maybe I wouldn't be so tired if I could go to bed a decent hour. You know how it is...on vacation with friends, put the kids to bed, adults downstairs, it's quiet, junk food comes out, ice cream and a game of Qwirkle. There are so many giggles and serious belly laughing, clean ups on aisle 4 (from the moms peeing in their pants) and cheeks hurting that I can't go to bed and miss all the fun, no matter how tired I am.

Anyway, time to get off the puter as my husband says and get a tan!! Happy Blogging!

At the Beach....

I am sitting here at the beach with some dear friends. I am having a BLAST, although I wish my husband was still here. He will be returning in a few days, but I still miss him. This is my second week at the beach. The kids and I had a wonderful time with Mammaw, Poppaw and Great Mammaw last week in Garden City and this week we are in Pawley's Island with our friends.

Last night the kids all went fishing and I think everyone caught a Croaker fish! It was the cutest thing watching all 11 kids out there fishing together. There are 3 families here with us and it's so GREAT. I love all the kids running around.....makes me wonder though? Could I handle 11 kids? Is that my calling? Somedays I think I could and other days I'm so overwhelmed I don't know which way to turn. Oh well, that's not for me to decide anyway, that's the Lord's plan.

Happy Vacationing All!!