Everyone is feeling so much better

So everyone has been sick since Christmas time. So finally they are all feeling better still some coughing but that seems to linger after they have colds. Tomorrow Marissa Alter serves so I am glad everyone is feeling better. I will still have them take it easy. The month of January is our month to finish up anything in their school books before there new ones arrive in February. The girls always get so excited for their new books and they will be starting Latin lessons this year. Which they cant wait. We also will be doing needlepoint with some of our homeschooling/ AHG friends. Which is exciting.
     So as the new year will begin so will so many new adventures for us.
Just some random pics from December.

I was bored one night and decided to dress mr Kitty lol.

Some of Marissas friends from her 11th birthday party.

This is her awesome draculaura cake Lisa made for her sister.

                         Many Blessings to our readers for the new year.

3 more days till a new year

As we get ready to end this year time to reflect so I have asked the kids to sit and reflect back over this year and on New Years eve this year We will tell our memorable moments wether good or bad. This will be a new tradition I hope. Then on to our new years resolutions. Also we need to pick a new Saint for the year.
  I am really hoping this year they pick a Saint they dont know much about so we can learn as we go along.

Also as the new year approaches I have to reflect and decide about a new vehicle for us. My mini van is on its way out. We really haven't had to put any real money into it. So really I cant complain.
  

                    Ciao

2 days after Christmas

Hope everyone had a good Christmas. Ours was nice besides the girls being sick. But even though they were sick they still manage to open their gifts:) Marissa loved her kindle, carissa discovered her new American girl doll looked like her and all she could think of was the goosebump show where the doll stoled the girls bodylol, Larissa received her horse and has spent lots of time sitting on it wether she is watching tv or anything and Tarissa jean with her 3 foot high cinderella doll and her innotab have been playing together.
   Christmas eve we spent with Lisa and had a wonderful evening. I made an awesome crab and artichoke warm dip for the first time and everyone loved it! Christmas day we spent with Timmy and he enjoyed all his gifts. Mikey played Santa this year and the girls just kinda layed around and relaxed.


Now it is 5:17 in the morning and usually I am not up but I have alot on my mind. As a new year Approaches I quiver at the thought. So much to think about as I get older. Maybe I just need to get out of this funk I seem to be in since Christmas night. Maybe I just need to figuer out where I am heading. Not sure just know I haven't felt this way in a long time:(  I try not to let anyone see me feel this way (even though I know most wont notice). Well I didnt mean to make this post about me so I will move on.


  I have decided to pass on some recipes to my DIL. So maybe today while the kiddos finish recouperating I will get them all together for her. I was thinking of making a book out of them and putting pics of Tommy in there when he was younger. Her birthday is Feb. 14 and I think it would makae a nice gift for her.

   Well I am off to make some tea and sit back and relax before people start getting up.
                                By for now

Fast Approaching

Hi all
   Christmas is so close now but I feel ready. At the beginning of the month I didnt even think I would complete it when items that were asked for were out of stock and Santa had already emailed the girls saying he was done with their gifts. But phew it all came together and they will be happy little ones on Christmas Morn.
   We made cute little mangers with baby jesus in them for His Birthday party. I will post pics later. I want them to make a few more so if anyone extra stops by there is one for them.
    We had such a quiet evening last night dh was working and the Boys went to Seattle to past out gifts to the needy. So the girls and I went to bowling pratcice then over to Blazin Pizza they r the best. Then we came home started a fire watched Christmas classics and just relaxed.
   Today I am waiting for a lady to come pick up a dress she won from me on an auction site. then I am off to take Timmy for a few things he needs. I really dont want to go out shopping but he needs too so I guess no choice it is awful windy out our Santa is blowing everywhere.lol. 
   Before Mikey left yesterday he set up our outside manger with a spotlight on it and everything. So cool.
Well by for now.

December 2012

     December is quickly coming to a close. Christmas cards have been mailed, presents wrapped, goodies r being finished up. So now I sit back and think of the past year and what challenges and blessings we have had.
    So I guess consider this my Christmas letter so to speak.
  We have come along way I feel this year. We finalized the house and it is now ours and the bank of course lol. We bought an RV and made a cross country trip that was great we seen family and friends. We traveled to many sites and made a very educational trip out of it as well.
   We have celebrated Lisas 24th birthday ,Marissas 11th and Katlins 8th. Marissa had her first birthday party for kids and she had a blast.  Lisa made her a beautiful cake.

   So everyone have Very Merry Christmas.

the past week

We started with Black friday shooping after a wonderful Thanksgiving. Lisa and I went to several stores but not as many as in years past. We found a fe items that we were looking for and then home by 9. So not to bad took a small nap and then decided our rv was going to become our wrapping central so to speak as the girls are getting older and are nosy with our closet. this works perfect they dont have any clue that is where we put the things.lol.
     We usually get our tree on  this day but since the Catholic High School is having a fundraiser on Sunday at Shumaker tree farm we will wait. So we go Sunday after Mass the whole family to pick out our tree the funny thing is it has of course to be the perfect tree. All I pick out my husband always says to tall wont fit and I havent sold him on the idea of cutting a whole in the ceiling. So any he picks I say are to small. So tree hunting takes forever and sometimes I just think the kids agree with me because they are tired of walking around the tree farm lol. So after quite a long long while I find one I like I insist it will fit so he agrees and the kids love it. Mikey cuts it down and then Lisa picks hers took maybe 5 minutes whatever. We get home and cut the bottom and put in a bucket of water for the night.
    Next day it is time to bring it in the house. We then discover it is too tall. Hmmm I recall someone telling me that but as usual I win and here we are with a tree that will need to be trimmed down. Have I mention that I hate to trim the tree once it is in the house. So here we sit with our trimmed tree in the playroom waited to be decorated I always wait a couple days to make sure that all the branches have dropped where they are going once warmed up.
    All decorations are down and hopeing to all be up by this weekend. We also have to do the walk n knock on saturday morning. So should be fun if it dont rain.
    Well as soon as the tree is decorated I will post a pic.
                            Merry Christmas everyone

Blade the movie

   So today I treated the kids to a movie. We had the theater to ourselves at first (by the end there was maybe 4 others.). The girls enjoyed the movie it was cute so I think we will go buy this movie. Blaze was cute 1 determined young lady who had learned a valuable lesson by the end.  give this movie 3 thumbs up which by the way the girls say is the highest it can get:)

  

Pizza day

The girls turned in their book reports today and did extra school work today. So I decided we would go get their book it Pizzas. I have always loved pizza hut and my oldest was on the book it program, it has been around for many years. This program is awesome if you homeschool and havent register you should. They give the kiddos a free personal pizza and a prize each time. They have to read so much a month which comes easy for mine. But tonight was busy at Pizza hut and they had to wait so long for the pizzas to be done they had snacked and by the time they got their pizzas they were full so I guess pizza for lunch tomorrow.
     Other than that today was a chilly day so it was a curl up by the fireplace kind of day. which is where I am sitting now with my  cup of tea.  Thinking about what i have to bake tomorrow as the pumpkin bread I made yesterday is already gone:).


                                              good night blogging land

first full week of November

We started off doing the normal school work added in some fun extras like art and baking. by the weekend the girls did league and then went to their first JBL tour it was five games over 10 lanes. they were the youngest there and it was very challenging for them. I chalked it up to also good experience. They did fine but 5 games at once and carring their balls back and forth across the bowling alley is not something they had ever done. So they were very tired but Carissa bowled her highest game ever and was excited but exhausted by the end. Most of the kids bowling this were 15-16 up to 21. So the girls did a good job holding their own. Then had an hour to get something to eat and rest a bit before they needed to go to their adult/junior league and bowl again. So they spent 7 hours bowling at the alley on Sunday.
   So we have decided to relax today. They are playing board games together and I will cook down the pumpkin with anyone who wants to help:)
                     Have a good week all

Fall news

As we enter November so much is going on. October ended with a bang the girls had a blast trick or treating they were all so cute in the costumes. There smiles said it all.


      Bowling for the girls is going awesome. they are selling candy bars so I think our family is going to be on a sugar high for a bit.

       Marissa started altar serving at church she is the first girl in the family to do this. I look at her and see a young lady opening up and not being so shy.



   Carissa has been reading more and doing much better at spelling. For AHG she started her journal with lots of prayers in it. She is interested in joining our children's choir. So we are waiting for an opening.

   Larissa just started bowling on league this fall and boy is she doing well with getting the ball down the center of the lane she has already earned herself 2 patches in just a little over a month.

   Tarissa jean is such a sweetie. She is counting money and adding and telling me how many different coins the dollar is worth. We are working on spelling and sounds of the alphabet. She is making things in scouts like dolls and has had fun doing that.

     As a family we went to make a difference day in the pouring rain planting trees we have been doing this project for the past 5 years. The girls love to go around and see how big "there trees" have gotten. As November moves along we have finished a discussion and unit on voting and the process at AHG they even made posters that were hung at the local library. They learned alot from the mayor who came to speak to their troop.
     Now we are moving on to Learning unit on the first Thanksgiving. The girls are going to get to make their first pumpkin pie from scratch and will help with cooking down the pumpkin we use. We need to decorate for Thanksgiving this week.
    The chicks are getting so big I now need to move them soon into the extra dog pen we have so they have more room.

                

Homeschoolin' for the week

This weeks schedule has been planned. The children will be doing regular subjects as usual. As are schedule year goes from February to December we have just a bit more left in our books. We have also started on next years books in some subjects.This week contains lessons on pumpkins, also the girls are doing a bit in horticulture and the fall growing season. besides their school books we will also be doing math in canning as we can the rest of the grapes into juice.
    I love this time of the year there is so many ways to stray from the books and still learn:)
Marissa also is taking her first training class for altar servers. We will be doing a unit on Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha.
   Carissa will be doing a unit on engineering. So she needs to make a bridge out of gumdrops and toothpicks.
    Larissa is still working on learning to read. I know she can do it. As I continue to fight with the insurance company for them to pay for speech.
   Tarissa jean is learning about the rain forest. What things I am learning as well lol.

Its the Little things in life

Hard to admit but it didnt use to be the little things in life. But now it is..... When I was younger everything needed to be new and I wouldn't wait for things, very impatient I was. When we bought our house it didnt have a screen door onit. Which bothered me and I looked at ones at Home Depot and such stores. My I thought they were pricey at least for our budget. So I found a use one on craigslist I knew how much I could afford but I also knew that this had been on there a long time. So after some emails I convinced him to drop the price to $20.00 I thought woohoo. But I knew it would take for ever for it to be put on as my husband is always working.
      Went shopping after the girls league bowling and to my surprise My husband had a cancellation at a property and when I got home I had a new to us screen door and a new porch light that works. This just made my day!
                            Have a good rest of your weekend everyone.

October and fun

Hi All,
    So, this week has been a busy one. We had  an AHG meeting and then we had Daddys birthday party. We also did some service time. Had practice on Wednesday for bowling.
    Today was the big day for our new girl chicks to be put in their pen outside. We also needed to get the rest of our fall chores done before the rain sets in. I only have 1 left to do the wood onto the patio.
     The girls got some extra pages done in their workbooks today so tomorrow they can practice measuring while baking. Always a fun math class:) We also are finishing up our lapbooks for voting. We have a busy weekend coming up we have league twice and a tournament. 


                        Well ciao for now.
                           Michelle

fall

We have entered Fall season at frist with warm weather. Then it started to get chillier as the days have gone on. I love this season with the crunch of the leaves, the colors of Fall for those who live near that.(We mainly have evergreens here). We have bought the Halloween costumes, we will be going to the pumpkin patch next weekend. It will be time soon for the apple press at the grist mill.
  We got our last pears off the tree today. Then as I was walking out of the garden I looked down at what I thought was just strawberry vines getting ready to go dormant and seen 3 bright red strawberries on it. So for snack tonight the kids had pears and grapes and strawberries all from our garden. We still have lots of grapes on the vines I hope they all ripen soon. Want to make some grape juice yum.
    Now it is also time to change the seasonal clothes in the girls dressers and see what they need new.
I find there are just as many tasks in the fall as the spring that need to be done.
                                      Ciao for now
                                           Michelle

August and September

Well, August went by so quickly. We had a small break from league and we still went every other day for practice. The girls had a great time at Camp Currie which is how we ended our month.

Then it was on to September. We began our school year with Not Back to School days at Oaks Park We is always a fav of the whole family. Then league started up for Fall. then School started back full time on Monday. We school year round just a easier schedule in the summer. American Heritage Girls have also started back up We have 2 explorers this year and 2 tenderhearts.

Now as Fall weather is setting in we have also started getting ready for winter. We have added 6 baby chicks to our family. We have lots of grapes this year too which are all ripening at once Hope they all do.

Well there is still much to do so I should sign off now and do it lol.

July

July has been filled with traveling, visiting family, and seeing many beautiful sites that our country has to offer.We have traveled cross country and back which if you are curious can read about in our vacation 2012 blog:).  But  when we returned home our trip was also for the purpose of bringing home all Aunt Bev and Uncle Louies stuff. We filled a uhaul and the rv with everything. I guess I hadnt really thought about the fact i would need to fit it all into our house. So I divided stuff up I was having a hard time parting with things till I realized she wouldn't wanted me to hang onto everything. So I have decided to start with medical lift chairs. I discovered it made it a little easier if I attached an item I would like to get for the house with the money from the chairs. So I will be listing them this week.   Well ciao for now.

Night before we leave

Well it is Tuesday and all those things I wanted done before we left are mostly done. I am heading over to pick up Timmy so he can come over and have farewell pizza with us. 3 weeks will be a long time for him. I still need to run to the bank, the feed store and apparently to get miss marissa a bathing suit since she cant find hers. This trip will be exciting for them we will be learning as we travel. so signing off till tomorrow when I start are rving adventure:)   ciao for now
                                              Michelle

Summer nights

  Even though we are not officially in summer yet. We spent the evening before bedtime outside in the backyard. The girls had their baths and I had cut some grass. The girls ask if they could come out and jump on the trampoline. So out they all came and sat in the evening of the end of this warm day jumping and laughing . It was so pleasant. I sat in one of the lawn chairs relaxing and thinking I can remember summer evenings as a child.
     We would sit out in the yard and play while the adults would talk about the days events or what needed to be done the next day. I remember running through the grass looking for lightning bugs or blowing dandelions all over. Those were simple days, most of those family members are gone now. The few that are left dont live any where near us. So the children dont get the family gatherings like I did as a child or like the older ones did.
    If I sit quiet enough and close my eyes I can hear the horses whinnying in the distance and the frogs croaking or crickets chirping. I miss those things. But they still live in my memory along with all those special people who shared those moments with me.
                                                           Ciao

     Where to begin. We have been busy finishing up our full time year to transfer into our part time summer:) Since my last post the girls have started their summer reading program for Barnes and Noble. Larissa has Sprinkled the Holy water twice at Church. She seems to be opening up a bit and not quite as shy. Carissa is reading better and enjoys writing letters to her penpals. Marissa is doing wonderful in bowling. Between Making it to the finals of Washington state which she came in 32nd in the whole state. Which is awesome. She is moving up to a 10 lb ball. Tarissa Jean moved up to a Tenderheart in her AHG group. She is just loving having the red vest.
   Now onto my bad news We lost a dear friend last week She was always so sweet. She left behind 3 children and a husband plus a sister and her mother. I feel so sorry for them.
  We still haven't heard from the laywer yet it just seems like it is taking forever for the inheritence to be realeased to me. Hope I hear soon. well ciao for now all.
  

Larissas birthday

So finally on Sunday we were able to gether for a fun filled afternoon for a bowling party. We gathered together for Larissas birthday and fisrt communion party combined. She was so funny as she insisted on wearing her dress bowling but really she spent much of the time twirling around.
  Earlier in the day she had got to do the sprinkling rite of the holy water. I wan't sure if she would do it but she did get up in front of everyone and then even went up to bring the gifts to Father Mike.
  i think she love the fact she got a real bowling pin from the alley.

Thunderstorms

2 nights in a row. Thunderstorms,we dont get them that often. But for the past 2 nights we have had some really good ones;) The girls have mixed feelings about them. I personally like them and have missed them. It is always nice to walk in a a warm spring rain. I remember as a child waiting and watching for the storms to come in and then as soon as the thunder and lightning was over walking in the rain or riding my horse thru the rain. Times like these have past but the memories live on.

No consideration

Today I went outside to an area on the back side of our shed which we only use for a compost area. So I dont go out that often to this area. Only to find that the people who clean up the vacant house behind us dump their garbage their. This is so fustrating as the sheriff said I cant prove it so I have to pay to have it dumped. I say I know it was them because it is in an area only they could reach so obviously they felt we didnt go back there and wouldn't notice until it was to late. I really think this stinks but I guess I cant do anything about it but vent and figuer out a way so they cant dump anything else over our fence in that area.

A Sad Day

   Today my oldest son called to tell me a young man who growing up had spent alot of time at our house who was like part of the family and had hung around with my oldest son had been hit and killed. At first I thought so young he really hadn't even got a chance to live then my thoughts went to who would do something like this as it was a hit and run. Who hits someone and doesnt even take the time to call for help. You dont leave someone on the side of the road to pass away in pain and agony. Then my thoughts went to his parents my friend Donna (his mother) and the 2 little girls he left behind only 10 and 6. 
   But those children now have to live without their Daddy and Donna without her son. Stephen wasn't the only victim here so was his family parents, grandparents, children , the mothers to his children and all his extended family. My thoughts and prayers go out to them all and May Stephen rest in Peace. You only had 30 years here but you did make a impact on many lives.

   To the man who did this I dont know how you can live with yourself. Shame on you. We are not suppose to judge but what you did was unspeakable.

Hi All,
    Another wrench thrown into the buying of the house. Today we were told that the house didn't appraise at what the seller wants. so now we have to see wait and see what happens we signed some more papers saying we would bring more to the table but I don't know if we should have. So Frustrating but I know God has a plan so it will all work out.
                                             ciao
 

April 18, 2012
       As April is passing by us I just feel so giddy to have April 30,2012 come so we can sign and own this house. This month has been filled with many joys as we have celebrated Easter, 2 birthdays and then to find out all things are starting to fall into place for the house.
    April also holds a bit of sadness as we think of losing our Aunt last year. It will be a year on the 30th and all I can think is How much I miss her. But we have decided to make that day a celebration of her and all the things she meant to us over the years. We know she is watching over us.
   Marissa and Carissa have started summer league. The youngers are signed up for kids bowl free for summer. Larissa has 1 class left before her first Communion next month. The girls are getting excited over the thought of our trip back to New York this summer.