Just a few quick updates from this busy week...and it's only Tuesday!!
This is our "testing" week in school...part of North Carolina state law for homeschooling is that each child be given an achievement test each year. I administer them myself and we do the full battery of the Iowa Achievement Tests, so there is no "real" school this week...just hours and hours of darkening little circles.
On the adoption front, we have completed all of our paperwork and are on to step two!!! Thanks to a tremendous blessing of a very generous donation from a family member (you know who you are... ;) ), we have raised all the money needed for the next step. Now we will wait to hear from the social worker and will begin our home study.
We had our first ice skating lessons today. Emily decided she did not want to play soccer this spring and take ice skating lessons instead. When I checked into lessons and discovered the cost for her to learn alone was the same price as a family class for up to 3 students, "Mrs. Frugal" sprung into action and decided that Nathan and I would take lessons, too...What, was I thinking??? I am too old to learn how to ice skate! Just kidding, we had a great first lesson! Nathan really surpised me, he did awesome, it seemed to come very naturally to him. I'll try to get some pics in the next few weeks (when we don't look so awkward and don't fall as much!)
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
Happy Birthday Emily!
We celebrated Emily's 8th Birthday today! It was a fun filled and exciting today! She started her day with strawberry pancakes for breakfast, then went to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch, a trip to the mall, and went strawberry picking. Tonight she had an "almost sleepover" party with her friends. All the girls came in the PJ's and they had pizza, we did manicures/pedicures, played games, and watched a movie, then at 9:00 they all went home to sleep in their own beds! Check out the next post for a video montage of the entire day, hope you enjoy it! :)
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Signs of Spring...
We have been outside alot in the past few weeks and I have been noticing all the beautiful changes in our yard signaling the start of spring...one of which is when the azaleas bloom. They have always been one of my favorite flowers, I guess because they are so unconditional....I have little tolerance for high maintenance plants and these bloom faithfully every year with virtually no care.
For some reason we prove to have a very hospitable environment for birds to build their nests...last year they built one right on the wreath on our front door. This year they have chosen 2 of my fern hanging baskets. Here is the first nest...we're still waiting for these little ones to hatch.
The second nest of eggs just hatched the other day...you should hear the momma bird when we sit out on the porch..she squawks and squawks at us until we go inside, making sure we are not hurting her babies.
Things are popping up in the garden like crazy, we have had alot of rain in the past 2 days which we are so thankful for as we have needed it so badly. That's Nathan helping weed in the picture. :)
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Happy Saturday....
It's been a busy week around here...our neighborhood community yard sale was yesterday and we have spent the past few weeks cleaning out closets, drawers, under-beds, bookshelves, toy baskets, and pretty much any other area in our home that could contain any unneeded "junk". It feels good to have everything cleaned out and organized at one time!
We also had Adoption Fundraiser #1 this weekend (probably the first of many efforts!!). We have been praying in our family devotions for a specific $$ amount for the next step in our adoption process to pay for our home study and other items. Dave and I have always believed in living debt-free (with the exception of our home mortgage) and are confident that the Lord will provide all the funds necessary for each step of the way. Emily had an idea that we should use the advantage of everyone coming to our yard sale to try and raise some money...so we spent Friday night baking muffins, cookies, and brownies and set them up with a sign saying everything was FREE but donations were gladly accepted for our adoption process. It was also a fun opportunity to share our story with total strangers. They were very tickled to raise $ 14.40!!! It's a start...and it $ 14.40 more than we had yesterday!! :)
Nathan also had a soccer game Saturday morning as well....poor Mom had to miss it to run the yard sale but Dave was kind of enough to take some pics for me (and coach at the same time!!). The game ended in a 3-3 tie game.
We also had Adoption Fundraiser #1 this weekend (probably the first of many efforts!!). We have been praying in our family devotions for a specific $$ amount for the next step in our adoption process to pay for our home study and other items. Dave and I have always believed in living debt-free (with the exception of our home mortgage) and are confident that the Lord will provide all the funds necessary for each step of the way. Emily had an idea that we should use the advantage of everyone coming to our yard sale to try and raise some money...so we spent Friday night baking muffins, cookies, and brownies and set them up with a sign saying everything was FREE but donations were gladly accepted for our adoption process. It was also a fun opportunity to share our story with total strangers. They were very tickled to raise $ 14.40!!! It's a start...and it $ 14.40 more than we had yesterday!! :)
Nathan also had a soccer game Saturday morning as well....poor Mom had to miss it to run the yard sale but Dave was kind of enough to take some pics for me (and coach at the same time!!). The game ended in a 3-3 tie game.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Crazy Dog!!!
Just a funny pic for this chilly, rainy Monday. Our dog Princess absolutely loves to have her teeth brushed...in fact she kind of takes over and wants to do it all by herself. Dave captured these photos the other night and they had us in stitches! Now, if only I could get my kids this excited about their teeth brushing habits?!?!
Friday, April 4, 2008
Friday Field Trip
We took a 2 for the price of 1 field trip today! Dave and I needed to go downtown to request our criminal background checks and be fingerprinted for our adoption process. Don't worry, we are officially not criminals!
Here is the CCBI building in downtown Raleigh...I thought about asking the lady doing our fingerprints if we could take pictures but she was a little scary. How often are people excited to be fingerprinted???? Nathan and Emily thought it was very cool to watch though....
After that excitement was over we went to Marbles Kids Museum, they renovated this museum last year and this was the first time we had gone. They have alot of really neat hands on, exhibits. Here are the kids with a massive Connect Four game.
Check out this enormous chess set! Wouldn't this be cool for the backyard???
Our favorite part of the museum was an exhibit called "Five Friends of Japan" where you could see exactly what life is like for 5 different children in Japan. You see their rooms, school, homes, and learn about their families. Here is Em trying on one of the little girls kimonos.
There was also a neat station to learn to write in Japanese. This is Emily trying the write the character for the word flower.
Here is the CCBI building in downtown Raleigh...I thought about asking the lady doing our fingerprints if we could take pictures but she was a little scary. How often are people excited to be fingerprinted???? Nathan and Emily thought it was very cool to watch though....
After that excitement was over we went to Marbles Kids Museum, they renovated this museum last year and this was the first time we had gone. They have alot of really neat hands on, exhibits. Here are the kids with a massive Connect Four game.
Check out this enormous chess set! Wouldn't this be cool for the backyard???
Our favorite part of the museum was an exhibit called "Five Friends of Japan" where you could see exactly what life is like for 5 different children in Japan. You see their rooms, school, homes, and learn about their families. Here is Em trying on one of the little girls kimonos.
There was also a neat station to learn to write in Japanese. This is Emily trying the write the character for the word flower.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
