New Year...well almost

Its the end of January and I'm finally getting back to attempting to keep up with posting again.  My life has simply been so incredibly busy over the last few months.  I've gotten completely off track.  Now I'm sure all of you have similarly busy, crazy lives, but let me just say that I don't handle overly busy well.  I get stressed and tend to lose track and end up accomplishing none of the things I need to do.  I'm thinking I really need to look into one of those time management books!  Anyway, here's an update on what's been going on with us. 

After finishing up the play A Christmas Story at our local theater, I had to do some crash Christmas shopping and get ready for the big event.  Lots of choir activities (see previous post), a long break from Sunday school, a visit from my parents, and then things were supposed to calm down.  January has been just as busy as before.  After two months of listing stuff and working, working, working, my business finally took off again.  I'm once again getting regular orders and keeping busy with that.  Working from home is wonderful, but stressful at the same time.  Praying that I manage to find balance in my life.  I also have once again developed high blood pressure...gee, wonder how that happened?  I'm not on pills yet simply because I have to do some tests first and haven't been able to get them done.  We had a surprise 8 inch snowfall that week I was supposed to do that.  Then, the next week my hubby had to have an emergency appendectomy, followed by some type of infection due to a vicious infection at the surgical site.  He finally returned to work today. 

The kids just tried out and received parts in a new play called The Fabulous Fable Factory.  The boys are playing ants in The Grasshopper and the Ant, and Haley plays a dog named Danielle in The Tortiose and the Hare.  They are all excited.  Of course, this means that we'll be dealing with practice most nights for the next few months.

On top of all of this, we have had to step up as primary caretakers of Glen's 85 year old grandmother.  She lives alone, doesn't drive, can't leave the house by herself, etc.  We live about 45 minutes away from her so that puts a strain on us going back and forth several times a week to do grocery shopping, laundry, bring meals, etc.  I'm just so thankful that we're homeschoolers and flexible to allow us to do this.  She has been such a huge part of Glen's entire life and we all love her dearly.  My kids don't have much in the way of family close by, so its nice to have her with us.  I just wish we lived closer so we could accomplish helping her more easily! 

On the school front, Haley has been learning about Ancient Rome, monks and monasteries.  She had fun illustrating a pretend page from a book, and tried her hand at writing with a quill and ink like the monks did.

After several minutes of dipping, blotting, writing a few squiggly lines, then repeating, MANY times, she decided that it was a lot of work.  She was more than happy to go back to our modern pens.  Its hard to imagine how the monks managed to write entire books in this way!  Dedication and perseverance!

 

Seeing as this is our first week back to normal since daddy got sick, here's hoping its a good one!  What's new with you?

Week (or should I say month) in Review

Since I have been so, so bad about keeping up with posting lately, I thought that rather than doing a Week in Review, I would do a Month in Review.  Here's a few pictures to show you some highlights from January.  Can you say snow??? 

Oh, and did I mention that on top of all the snow, it was cold!  We took a few days off because the local schools were closed for the entire week and besides, how many times do we have 8 inches of snow on the ground and perfect sledding just outside your door?  We certainly made the most of it!

Even Hershey seemed to enjoy the snow!  I think he liked chasing the birds the best though.  Speaking of birds, I have never in my entire life seen as many birds as we did that week!  It was amazing to see.  Birds you don't normally get at feeders came for a visit due to the snow. 

Happy New Year!!

From our family to yours...hoping the upcoming year brings happiness and prosperity to all!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and your's a very merry Christmas. I have my parents in town for a visit, so I'll be scarce over the next week or so.

What we've been up to...

I have been so busy lately that I've gotten in the habit of not updating the blog.  I doubt that will change until the holidays are officially over.  But, I thought I would share some pictures to show you what we've been up to.

First...the play.  We had 5 performances in November.  I played the mother in A Christmas Story.  This had to be one of the most challenging things I have ever done.  Learning that many lines was very tough.  I did it though!! 

 

Then there was Thanksgiving to get though, a brief break and return to some semblance of normalcy.  During this time I re-opened my website, stocked my Etsy store and began actively selling bows again.  Then along comes December...

 Adam, Haley and Ryan sitting near Lover's Leap at Rock City.

 

 Haley's choir group singing at Rock City.

Standing in front of the snowman rock at Rock City.

 

The boys both got haircuts...finally!  Here is a picture of just how long their hair was.  I had just cut Adam's hair and was getting ready to do Ryan's.

Sewing a Christmas outfit for Haley to wear for her choir performance last week.

Haley posing with her BFF Jaiden at their choir concert.

Haley performing with the entire Hilger Higher Learning choirs. 

CHEA (our homeschool group) Christmas party at Ruby Falls!

Karaoke fun at the Christmas party.

Fun and games...

Touring Ruby Falls!

They loved the falls!!!

So, that brings us up to date...as of last Friday anyway.  Over the weekend we finally got our Christmas shopping done.  Glen was off on Friday and did some shopping while we were at the Christmas party.  Saturday he kept the kids busy while I finished up.  My parents are coming to stay this Thursday and my guest room is buried under clothes the kids have outgrown that I keep meaning to list on Ebay, and tons of ribbon and fabric from my various bow making/sewing endeavors.  Busy week for me!!!

If for some reason I don't find the time to post again, I hope all of you have a very merry Christmas!!

Top Ten Things I Must Get Done ASAP

 Okay, I know I've descended into the realm of those that never post.  But, I've been really busy.  We finally got finished with the play.  It all went well and I'll share photos as soon as we get them.  As soon as that was finished along came the added stress of the holidays.  So, with that in mind, here's my top ten list.

1. Clean my house from top to bottom!!  With us being so busy lately, my house has suffered badly.  It is seriously gross.  
2. Decorate the bare Christmas tree standing in my living room.  My hubby's idea of helping with the decorations is to get down the tree, put it together, stand it up in front of the window and say "there, I helped".  Voila...instant Christmas.  
3. Get the decorations down from the attic and decorate the house for Christmas.
4. Buy presents for Christmas.  As of today's date, I have exactly 4 presents purchased!!!  
5. Bake a mountain of yummy treats to give to family and friends.  Oh, and for us to eat and gain like 50 pounds.
6. Win the lottery...rob a bank...knock off an armored truck...something like that to fund Christmas present buying.  See number 4 above.
7. With the extra money from lottery winnings/felony activity, hire maid to clean house.  See number 1 above.
8. Since I'll probably have lots of money even after buying presents and hiring that maid, I can simply hire Martha Stewart to come to my house and do the decorating.  See numbers 2 & 3 above.
9. With leftover money from lottery winnings/theft, hire Paula Dean to do all that holiday baking for me.  See number 5 above.
10. Spend remaining money on a several week stay at a fat farm from all the cookies/fudge/pies/cakes, etc. that Paula Dean made.  Oh, and I guess I'll have to hire a nanny to watch the kids while I'm gone.

And there it is...my grand list of things I must do.  How are your holidays shaping up?  I don't know why I do this every year.  You'd think Christmas was some kind of a surprise or something?  As my mother likes to remind me, "it comes the same day every year".  Why on earth do I always wait until the absolute last minute to do things?  Yes, I'm a chronic procrastinator!!!  I admit it!  I need therapy or something to resolve this problem.  So, with that said I'm off to attempt to further educate my children, and then clean the above mentioned gross and disgusting house.  Maybe, just maybe I'll even find time to do some decorating while I'm at it.

For more great Top 10 posts, head on over to Oh Amanda's blog.  She has a great post featuring some awesome do it yourself projects.  Just what I need...more fun ideas to distract me from what I need to be doing.

Just popping in for a minute...

Okay, due to the play opening on Friday, I'm taking a break from posting to the blog this week.  I promise to check back in next week and update you.  I simply have too much on my plate at the moment and blogging will have to wait.  Good news though, I actually remembered almost all of my lines tonight!  We also got our first look at the leg lamps we'll be using.  They are hillarious.  Can't wait to see the audience's reaction. 

Hope your week is going well.  Keep saying those prayers for me!!  Two more days until showtime!!