Happy 2015

 From my blog to yours, happy new year! 

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May your 2015 be filled with mercy and grace.  Thank you for being my friend. 

~Jenn 

Christmas Memories

Christmas has come and gone.  I personally felt kind of sad and numb, but tried to make an effort so that my family would still have a good Christmas.

Christmas Eve was spent with my parents.  We sang carols with the kids leading us with their guitars.  We had appetizers and desserts galore.  We were all spoiled with lots of presents, too.  Best of all, the weather cooperated.  It was supposed to snow, but never did.

Christmas day, we had to wake the kids up to open presents,which is a change from when they were younger!  If we were not in a hurry to get to Grandma three hours away, we would have let them sleep as long as they wanted!  We opened presents, and then got ready to go north.

We had an uneventful trip up to Grandma's, another praise.  She served us a big ham dinner.  It was a lovely afternoon with extended family.  We made a side trip to see Jeff's dad and his side of the family, too, which was really nice.  And then, we went back to Grandma's for more food and conversation.

That night, we had reserved a hotel room, so that we did not have to make the long drive back home.  The hotel was near our favorite park, too.  In the morning, we took a short hike and visited the beach, too.  Then it was another uneventful trip home, for which we were very grateful.

Monday is the memorial service for my grandma.  I am hoping that will help with closure.  It still doesn't seem real.  It all happened too fast.

Twas a Few Days Before Christmas

We are officially on Christmas break, but I must confess that I do not have the Christmas spirit.  You see, my paternal grandmother lies in her bed waiting for her eternal rest with her Savior.  It won't be much longer we are told.  

I spent the last several days at her bedside at my dad's house off and on.  It is wonderful to see family and friends and visit with them. It has been a comfort being with my family.  We are all in a state of disbelief.  If you knew my grandma, you would be too.  She is only 82, and quite a busy lady with many volunteer jobs around her town at the senior citizens center, church, and even has a trained comfort dog to take to schools for kids to read to.  She is a force of nature herself!  

It was last May that she was given the diagnosis of cancer.  There was nothing they could do.  And so, she moved home a few months ago so that her family could care for her.  The doctors here were going to try a few things to maybe slow the beast down.  Well, the chemo was too much for her, and the cancer just spread faster.  

I am heartbroken.  I am going to miss her so much.  She was my cheerleader, coach, and prayer warrior.  I am only sad for myself.  I am glad for her.  She will be finally at home with Jesus, no more cares, no more pain.  And I will see her again, just not soon enough.  

The Middle of December

Another great weekend came and went. Friday our oldest was in a jazz band competition in a college town an hour south. The college jazz department furnished judges. We really enjoyed the evening.  He won an award for musicianship for one of his solos. He was also picked to play in a combo group.

Saturday morning we ran some errands, then we made the trip up to church to see the Christmas musical. Afterwards we had dinner with my parents and grandmother.  It was a special evening.

Sunday we were back to church with no special afternoon plans, so we watched an old movie starring Bing Crosby, Going My Way. I made a big lasagna, and we worked on Christmas cards, finally.

This week we have 2 parties and a karate competition.  Life is full!

Enjoying the Season

Just seems like Thanksgiving came and went, and now it is full steam ahead for Christmas!  I am constantly amazed at how fast time is flying by.  Really.  Do we not have the same 24 hours a day that we have always had?  How can it be nearing the end of 2014?

She doesn't like the train under the tree. 

This past weekend we had Jeff's company Christmas party at a fancy hotel to attend.  I even got to purchase a new dress!  I have not been all dressed up in a very long time.  We had a great time.  Jeff has nice coworkers, plus there was a pretty decent live band.  Oh, and the food was endless.  Each employee was given a hotel room, but we had to decline since we have church and children to attend to.

We also attended our annual Christmas brunch with dear family who live in a retirement home that goes all out for this event, another delicious buffet and wonderful live piano music.  I ate too much, again!  And we love spending time with family.

This week is super busy, too with a couple jazz band events for our oldest, a mom gathering for me to attend, and the usual activities. I am also excited that we have reached week 17 in our Sonlight. Just 19 more to go. We sure are enjoying all the great books, having just finished The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom.

I think I forgot to mention that I received an early Christmas gift from my mom.  She got me a Keurig!  I had wanted one for a long time, when she got one.  Then I had just about decided that I really didn't want one after all, when she brought me one at Thanksgiving!  We have been having lots of fun trying new flavors.  They are expensive, so we are trying to pace ourselves.

A Happy Thanksgiving

We hosted Thanksgiving this year. Typically I stress out about hosting. Thankfully this year was different.  I started praying for a peaceful heart several days in advance. I prayed over my menu. I prayed over my housekeeping plan. I hired my kids at $5 an hour to help with little projects that were out of the ordinary,  like vacuuming the stairs, washing cabinets,  and dusting baseboards. It ended up that I only needed one man hour.  I had a great plan, and started the Monday before Thanksgiving,  each day after lessons. By Thursday, only a few things had to be done.  And the day went pretty well, too!

First Snow

The exciting first snow has arrived, bringing an increased holiday spirit, just a tad early.  With my Christmas loving husband, we hung lights above our cabinets in the kitchen, got out his grandma's ceramic tree, listened to Christmas CDs, and watched 3 Christmas movies this past weekend!  We even found Christmas cookie icecream. Today we are baking gingerbread to take to my grandma, recently relocated nearby to fight her cancer battle closer to family. I usually like to celebrate one holiday at a time, but this early winter wonderland is crying out for celebrating!

Another Glorious Week

Hello friends.  Another week is behind us.  This time we celebrated my youngest's 13th birthday.  I am not going to linger trying to figure out how he is already 13 years old.  Time is going crazy fast.

Monday was back to school and work for all five of us.  It is always hard to send my oldest off to school, but he really loves it, so I am adjusting.  That afternoon he needed me to pick him up because he was bringing a guitar to school that he could not take home on the bus very easily.  He also wanted me to take him to Target to get a new CD.

Nothing much went on Tuesday except for school and laundry.  By Wednesday, we decided to take the day off from school to celebrate our birthday boy.

We could not have a full birthday celebration with church that night, but we did manage to spoil him pretty rotten.  Grace and I blindfolded him and took him to lunch at his favorite restaurant, Panda Express.  Then we got him a DQ ice cream cake for after church.  In the afternoon, I let them rent a movie, Muppets Most Wanted.

Our week otherwise was pretty uneventful.  Ryan also took the PSAT on Wednesday.  He and I went to dinner on Thursday before his karate class on Thursday.  Friday we stayed home and enjoyed a nice quiet Halloween.  The weather turned out to be the most frightful part of the day.  It was a snowy, rainy, windy night.  Jeff set up my bike trainer, and we are all making good use of it.

Happy November!

Two Great Weeks

I didn't realize how much we'd enjoy having these last two weeks off. Having Ryan home has been wonderful, too. I miss him so much when he is at school. And then to top it off, Jeff was on vacation this week.

Last week, we got to do a variety of things. I visited with my paternal grandmother, who is moving back to the area. We still had our weekly evening activities, which kept us busy, too. We rode our bikes every day. We got ready for our camping trip. We celebrated my birthday.  Grace went on a special trip with grandparents to see family in North Carolina.  The boys and I enjoyed some bonding time at the guitar store.

This week, we spent a few days at our favorite state park,  Indiana Dunes. Being able to go during the week is always special,  as the park is less crowded. We also spent a whole day with family who live in the area. We have never camped in such cold temperatures,  but we survived.

We are so blessed to have had a wonderful fall break. I'm totally loving this "balanced calendar" of the local public school.

Growing by Leaps and Bounds

Comparing our feet! Mine are women's 12. 

I got a bit of a shock yesterday.  The night before at AWANA, Trevor came home and said his toe was really hurting again.  Immediately if was soaked in Epsom salt, hoping and praying it would not get infected again.  But then it occurred to me that he actually might need new shoes, as his old ones were a year old.  I had asked him a couple months ago about his shoes.  He said they were fine.  But, he has been doing a lot of growing lately, so I knew it was time to do something.  And no wonder his toe was sore!  He played kick ball with shoes that were 2 sizes too small.  He needed a men's size 14!!

Now, I am in shock.  I do not know anyone with that size of foot.  And he is not yet 13.  Not to mention that recently I had to buy him 36 inseam pants.  All his clothes in fact are too small.  I am praying his winter coat is OK.  Boots?  Ha!  Who can afford those?  He is 6 feet tall with size 14 shoes.  I am in shock.  I am in shock.

Happy Fall

Last week, Jeff and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary.  We spent the weekend at a beautiful park. We rented a cabin with indoor plumbing!  It also had heat. We were living in luxury for sure. And, the kids were having a great road trip of their own with grandparents. 

This week begins our 2 week fall break with Jeff off all next week. It's sure to go quickly. 

Busy is the Word

Right now, it seems we are most busy away from home. We call life"aerobic" at the moment. We came home from camping two weeks ago, and haven't slowed down. This weekend, we had a jazz band concert, a 6 hour round trip to celebrate a birthday, and small group after church today. Here are some pictures from our fun weekend.

After the Jazz performance. 

Visiting Grandma.

Quick look at the beach. 

Three mile hike.  

Jazz concert. 

Earned his purple belt! 

Beautiful sunset on the way home one evening. 

Catching Up

Hello Friends!  My sadly neglected blog is, well, sadly neglected.  I have this hang up about pictures.  I want to post pictures to go with my blog, but then I have to jump through hoops to get them from my phone to a computer.  So, I don't post anything.

My problem is that my phone is an old, old Apple, and it won't automatically upload to my Google photo storage anymore.  It's like I live in between two worlds!  At one point things were working, though.  And now the uploading has stopped.

(These are taken with my tablet. It's Android, so it works with Google.  But I don't take my tablet with me, so I don't have many pictures on it.) 

I realize this is all gibberish and not worth anyone's time reading, but it is what is holding up my blogging, that and I don't use a desktop computer anymore.  I have a tablet, a netbook, and a phone that doesn't like either, certainly a first world problem!

Otherwise, all is well here, mostly.  School is going well for my oldest.  He is getting all A's at this point.  The everyday aspects of public school wears on me.  Also the rigid, inflexible attitudes.  Yet, there are things they do that are better than my own offerings, namely math and science, so we adapt and move along.

Our homeschool is moving along nicely.  We are able to keep up with our reading, which is an accomplishment with Sonlight in high school.  Grace loves reading, so I think I have finally found her happy place.  She really enjoyed "Romeo and Juliet."  Right now she is reading "Jane Eyre."  She is also requesting more C.S. Lewis books.

Trevor, doesn't share Grace's love of reading, but is flying through high school geometry at age 12, so I am happy.  He has been working on reading "Huckleberry Finn."  We read "Tom Sawyer" last year.

Last weekend we stayed in a quaint little cabin at a state recreation area located in a state forest.  We had a great time riding our bikes, walking in the woods, and just hanging out together.  We had to cancel our Labor Day camping trip due to Ryan having strep throat.  That was a first, canceling due to illness.

This weekend we have a bike tour and family reunion.  I am bringing a big pumpkin cake, pasta salad, and fruit.  We will also get some fried chicken.  I am looking forward to seeing my family.  I hope I can ride my bike the required 10 miles.

We are busy with AWANA as Trek (Jr. High) leaders.  My oldest still does karate.  Life is full.  I need to find a way to upload some pictures from my phone, but decided not to keep me from writing.
~Jenn