So what happens when Mom is away?

Sonja is in Rochester at a woman's conference and hopefully is having a very good time and is learning lots. It all of kind of came together rapidly though as she only started thinking of going to the conference in the afternoon on Wednesday. (Long story made short, a friend had access to tickets that couldn't be used by the purchasers and wanted someone to go with her.) So I told Sonja to go. I thought I only had one class at 11:00 am that I HAD to be at on Friday so not a huge deal for Sonja to go. I could find someone to watch the kids for a little over 2 hours right? Yes, I could. Then I looked at my schedule and realized that there was another class at 8 am that I HAD to be at also. Now things were starting to look a little more difficult but... Anyways when I told one of my classmates my dilemma she volunteered her husband to watch the kids for me today. It worked out really well and I am so thankful to both Catherine (for volunteering him) and Ryan being willing to be volunteered to watch the kids. The kids had a blast with him and he said as he was leaving that next time he came he was going to bring something (don't remember what) I was just happy that he was willing to come again :-). The rest of the day has gone well also and I have gotten some studying done and the kids really haven't had that much "screen time". So this evening I really wanted to take some picture of the kids and was playing around with taking pictures and trying some different lighting techniques and wanted to post them here for family and friends to see.

The picture below is a step back shot so if you care to you can see how I took the above pictures. Those are plastic cups over the light bulbs to give the colored background.

Out on the Town

I think that the boringness of January will probably make up for how exciting this week has been.

Today we escaped from the house to let Glenn study (after listening to Adventures in Odyssey of course). Our first stop was Syracuse University's Archbold Gymnasium. SU's Rec department has a program called the Neighborhood Youth Recreation Program. It offers gymnastics, basketball and cheerleading for free 6 Saturdays in the fall. Today was registration day so we went to sign up Caleb for basketball and the girls for gymnastics. They are all pretty excited about it.

After signing up we headed over to Syracuse Stage for their Open House. We got to eat snacks, watch a three performer show - Annabelle Drudge, and take a backstage tour to see where the costumes, sets and props are all made. The play was really fun and we learned a lot on our tour. We even got a free lunch of pizza which I was not expecting!

We went home and grabbed Glenn and walked quickly over to the Westcott Community Center for their bulb giveaway. We stopped and played in the leaves and took pictures of the kids throwing leaves up and having them fall all over them. After that we went home and then decided to go to the used winter sports equipment sale at Ed Smith Elementary. Lydia and I walked while Glenn drove the other 3. Lydia and I took the scenic route and walked up a flight of stairs we had always wanted to go up but never had. In reading Red Sails to Capri we were interested in the stairs up to Anacapri, there were 748 of them. We wanted to walk up the flight of stairs to Westminster Park to count them. We think that there were 189 steps. We will have to walk them again to recount to know for sure. When we finally got to the sale we visited with neighbors and picked up a pair of cross country ski poles for the kids. After that we headed to our garden plot. It is on it's last leg. I really should have watered it before that 90 degree day we had recently, many of our plants withered with the heat and lack of water. We did pick a few cherry tomatoes though and a green zebra or two.

On the way home we went to Tops. We needed milk and there was also a deal where they were doubling $1 coupons and I wanted to see what I could get for cheap with coupons I had printed of the internet. I picked up a can of whipped topping, a bag of Pillsbury Sweet Moments Brownies, and a big thing of yogurt for under a dollar a piece with the doubled coupons. We also stopped by the clearance section. Tops just recently acquired the store from P&C and they were getting rid of a bunch of old stock. We got: 64 AAA batteries, 12 9volt batteries, 17 sticker/ activity/ coloring books, 2 hand sanitizing mists, 4 turkey timers, a package of 4 night light bulbs, 1 set of 8 corn cob holders, a waterproof disposable camera, an egg decorating kit, 4 packs of 4 refills for a Soleil razor, a squeeze frosting, 4 cans of apple pie filling, 3 cans of peaches. The picture isn't the greatest but we got a bunch of stuff for about $50. (I didn't bother to photograph the 4 gallons of milk that we also purchased with that $50.)

 Hannah was most excited about the cow webkins that was on clearance for $1.12 that she bought with her own money that she had randomly brought.


I am thankful for cheap batteries, especially since the time change is soon and we need to change the batteries on all of the smoke detectors. I am also thankful for the nice character coloring and activity books to stick in our gift box for future presents. None of it was really necessities right now but we would have bought them sometime in the future so now we have them in stock for pennies on the dollar.

It was a fun Saturday out and about. I love spending time with my family. Looking forward to church tomorrow and going to a concert of the flute ensemble that I am joining tomorrow afternoon (I am not playing at it though!).

This Week's Adventures

It has been an interesting week. I have a friend who sends out emails once a week of the adventures her family has on the other side of the world. As I read them and pray for her family I am thankful that we don't have as many adventures as her family does. This week reminded me a bit of one of her emails so I thought I would do a blog re-cap of our week.

On Monday night we went to community group for the second week. There were several new people and several of the people from last week were not there. We wanted to go to this community group because it is only about .4 mile from our house so we can walk. The two littler girls and I arrived home first but without keys so I went to get our trash can to put it by the street and when I got back to the front of the house everyone was on the porch. Somehow a burner had been left on on our stovetop (I hadn't used the stovetop for dinner) without being lit and the smell of natural gas completely filled our apartment. Glenn called National Grid to have them come out and make sure everything was OK and we had to wait a half hour for them to arrive. We did our "thank yous" and our devotions (we are one question 6 this week Q:"How many persons are in the one God?" A: "There are three persons in the one God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are one God, the same in substance and equal in power and glory." - a difficult concept for all of us to comprehend.) After prayers the man still had not arrived so I decided to read "The Innkeeper" which is available as a pdf on the Desiring God website. I think that I maybe should have read it to myself before reading it to the kids. Not exactly sure what they thought, especially so late in the evening. We may break it out again around Christmas (even though it isn't a Christmas story). The National Grid guy finally came and cleared us for re-entry so we could go to bed. I am so grateful that a fire didn't start!

On Tuesday I had the chance to go and practice with the Central New York Flute Choir. I haven't played my flute in a group since the 1998-1999 school year when I played with Tapestry at TTU. I have gotten my flute out about once a year since then to goof around. My friend Kara, another homeschooling mom, found out that I played and asked me if I wanted to come and play with them. There is a wide variety of skill levels in the group and I think that it will be a fun way to get out of the house once a week and be someone other than "mom." I was afraid my mouth would hurt really bad after not having played in years but it really wasn't that bad. My fingers definitely need some practice on several of the songs though.

On Thursday we took a trip out to Waterloo. Our homeschool group had a field trip in the afternoon in Seneca Falls but we decided to make a day of it. We stopped by my grandparents' house and had a cup of hot chocolate with them first thing then we took Grandma up to the house that I grew up in. It is on the market and I had been told that there were some things that belonged to me in the attic and I also knew that pictures needed to be taken of it to post online so that there would be inside shots as well. I took some pictures to email the realtor and then went up to the attic. I knew that the cradle that my dad had made for me was up there but I didn't know what other treasures I might find. I found the high chair and swing that I had used for Caleb and Hannah and the toddler bed we had used for Caleb. I am not sure how they got to the attic there but I put them in the van to take them to Salvation Army on the way to our field trip. Other treasures that were left there for me were 3 kids microscopes, a box of kids books, a box of neat shells and a basket of interesting rocks. The kids were thrilled with their new treasures and the girls are excited to have my cradle in their room for their dolls. Another thing that we found at the house that had been left behind by a previous tenant were big cargo straps that I am assuming he had used on his truck. We had been wanting to buy some straps of some sort for a furniture idea that we have and God provided them.

Anyway, after taking pictures and clearing out the attic of my stuff we went back to eat lunch with Grandma and Grandpa and my Aunt Joy stopped by too. We had Feed Bag Soup. I hadn't had it in years and it was so delicious! I am thinking that I need to make it for my family for a Wednesday night "soup night" soon! I helped Grandma with a computer problem she was having then we ran off for our field trip. We went to the Women's Rights National Park in Seneca Falls. We got to watch a video about the history of women's rights and were introduced to the women in the bronze statues. We then wandered around upstairs for a bit before driving to Elizabeth Cady Stanton's house for a tour. It was interesting to learn about what people went through to get women the right to vote.

After our field trip we went back to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa some more before heading home. Last winter I decided to visit my grandparents once a month. They only live an hour away but that is 2 hours of driving but it is important that my kids make memories with their great grandparents. I actually made it to visit them twice in September so that was a real treat.

Today we worked on school work most of the morning then in the afternoon we went with Glenn over to school where a Upstate grad had come back to give a presentation to the Alumni during Alumni weekend on Space Medicine. He is a physician with NASA and I learned so much. Our kids were by far the youngest people in attendance but they did pretty good. It was all fascinating but I think that the thing that struck me most was at the end of his presentation when he was showing how small the earth is in regard to the other planets and then to the sun, then our sun to other stars and to the galaxy. I sat there in awe of our God who had created all of that and in wonder that He cares about and longs to have a relationship with me. Hannah was sitting next to me and she was telling me about how God is even bigger than the universe. I think that her view of God increased today as well.

I am so thankful for the neat opportunities that we had this week. God is so gracious to us. I am so thankful for the opportunity to serve Him and get to know Him more.

Sunday Funday

Yesterday I locked myself in the house (for the most part) getting some paperwork done that I have put off for far too long. There were a couple of fun events that I wanted to go to but I knew that I needed to get our checkbook balanced and papers filed and such that I had been putting off for far too long.

Last night we did go over to a neighbor's house for dinner. That was fun. They have a little girl who is about 18 months old and our girls loved playing mommy to her. It was nice to get to know our neighbors a little better too. We have never been good at that because we move too often :(

Anyway, today after church we came home and had leftovers, cleaned up a little and I took the kids and escaped to let Glenn focus on his schoolwork. There was a Jewish Music and Cultural Festival at the Jewish Community Center. Caleb really didn't want to go but I made him and it was a lot of fun. I learned a lot about Jewish customs and traditions. We got to make little sukkots out of graham crackers, pretzels, fluff and frosting. We also got to make a couple of other crafts and play some games at the kids tent. We also got to visit a mobil sukkot and see a Lulav and Etrog. One neat thing that I picked up while I was there was a magazine for Jewish children talking about the Jewish holidays that take place in the fall. I learned a lot just looking through it. Next month I am co- "in charge" of leading our book club on Rebecca, the Russian Jewish immigrant American Girl. I got some fun ideas for things to do with the kids on those days.

After leaving the JCC we hurried home, took down the laundry, made some food and headed back out for a potluck with some friends from church. It is always good to sit down and eat with people because you get to know them on a different level than just surface and we were able to meet a few new people as well. (Well, I guess we are the new people not them but they were people that we hadn't met yet.)

Tomorrow starts another week of school - week 6 already! At the end of this week we'll be 1/6 of our way through our school year. We have really been enjoying school this year. I am so thankful that we have decided to use Sonlight this year. It has been a great experience so far.

Go to the Chart

I've been really struggling over a conflict with a friend recently. The kids know that there is a problem because they have overheard Glenn and I discuss it. The other day when we were out and about I decided to try to share about and explain the reasons for conflict with the kids and tell them about how I have been struggling to be godly and seeking to glorify God in the situation and not knowing exactly what that looks like. On the way home I asked them what they thought and Caleb piped up with "You should go to 'The Brother Offended Chart.'" I don't know how many times I have told the kids to do that very thing over the last couple of months that we have had it. It's funny that I had never thought to do that myself in my situation. The next day as we were sitting down to work on math I wad struggling again and I asked Caleb if he would go through the chart with me. I didn't get very far before seeing some major sin on my part and Caleb listened as I prayed asking for forgiveness and for help in honoring God in my responses. I am so thankful for the wisdom God is growing in my 10 year old's heart. I am also so thankful for "The Brother Offended Chart" that we bought from www.doorposts.net. It has been a huge blessing in our family and a help to teach our kids how to handle conflict in a godly way.

Pictures Prompting Prayer

The house I grew up in is on the market. I'm hoping it sells quickly because I am tired of paying taxes on it. The house has been listed for a long time but last night was the first time I actually ever looked at the listing online. It really needs pictures so I'm hoping to be going to Waterloo soon to take some. I also noticed a few errors so I emailed the realtor about them. I then saw the link for google street view so I clicked on it so I could look at it from up the street. As I looked at the pictures on street view I realized that those pictures were taken before dad died and I just started sobbing. I miss both of my parents so much. I would love to talk to my dad about what God is doing in our lives but that is not possible. So, on nights like that, I pray to my Heavenly Father who is the Father to the fatherless and Who looks after orphans and I pray for friends who God brings to mind that have lost their dads: Kari, Missy, Jacque, Grace, Dixie, Julia, Nikki, Kim, Lisa. Praying for others helps me take my mind off of my loss in the realization that I am not the only one who has lost my dad. They may not be struggling with the overwhelmingness of loss right now but someday soon they will and I pray that God will comfort them as He comforts me.

Regional Market and a Surprise Field Trip

Yesterday we went to the Regional Market because we were out of potatoes and onions and I like to buy them in bulk from local farmers there. I also knew that it was pepper season and since our plants didn't really produce that well I wanted to stock our freezer with some of them as well. There is a store at the market called Buda's that sells overstock and out of date foodstuffs. I buy #10 cans of stuff because they usually only cost $3-4 and with 6 good eaters in our house the food goes. I had prayed the night before that God would allow there to be refried beans there because there hadn't been in the last few times I had been there and I really like refried beans because they stretch our tacos. Here is a picture of what we got:

50# of potatoes, 25# of onions, a bushel + 8qts of bell peppers, 8qts of peaches, 100 - 1oz containers of sour cream, 2 - #10 cans of spaghetti sauce, 6 - #10 cans of refried beans, 8#10oz of salsa and a bottle of soy sauce

On the way home Glenn looked down a side street and saw this:

We had actually brought our cameras with us so we turned around and came back to check it out and take a couple of pictures. After checking it out we looked across the street at the old Station 4 and there were 3 more retired fire trucks inside. We grabbed the kids and went to check them out. The volunteers there had just gotten back from an event and were letting the trucks cool down before they left so we had a tour and history of these neat old fire trucks. They gave the kids helmets to try on to pretend to be fire fighters. It was funny because I was just thinking that morning that I should arrange a field trip to a fire station since we hadn't done that in a couple of years and that I should talk to the kids about fire safety. God provided again. Here are pictures of each of the kids from my iphone. We have real pictures that I will upload someday but here is a few pictures just in case I don't :)