This one is for you, Hannah

Just so you will remember coming home from meeting and making these comments, like pepperoni plants :), and that Zach is a rubber, you know, a rubberinner, (or however you would spell that!) Hannah said Zach was a good rubber inner, he always rubs things in to irritate you on purpose. Too funny, she had Shawn and I laughing most of the way home.

Playing catch up

I finally gave up on getting my new camera to upload to my computer, and found a different way to get my pictures :). So, here are a few pictures from the past month.This is Smurf, my blue goldfish.
(its actually a shubumpkin)
Here is our acquarium.
Another picture of Landon.
Zach, Josh, and Eddie visiting after meeting.
Penny helping the kids color.

Welcome Landon!

We have a beautiful new addition to our meeting, baby Landon made his appearance 3 weeks ago. He is small, but so pure and perfect. I love watching his new momma and daddy, looking at him with such love on their face. Must be a small picture of how our Father sees us. So good to know Logan's parents are concerned for his soul, and are bringing him before the Almighty One. I can see how quickly my little Noah is growing up, in fact he is rapidly approaching his 3rd birthday already!
Wow.

Remembering Logan

My heart is heavy and thinking of our friends, Darren and Rebecca, during this time of sorrow. They have been an amazing help to me, seeing so clearly how close they are to our Father, and witnessing their willingness for God's will in their lives. I didn't have the privelage to meet baby Logan, but I know he touched many lives during his short little while here on earth, mine included.

VER:Y COLD and snow too!

At 1A.M. on Saturday, January 21, we had -3*. At 8:30 A.M. it was even colder, we had -9*! Talk about freezing your nose hairs together! Our horses had ice over their noses, at the corner of their eyes, and hanging off their mouths! We also have 5 or 6" snow. That arrived on Thursday, and then the winds moved in late Thursday night. I guess that is where this cold front came from. Dad and Tad dropped off hay for us this morning, and after Shawn and I stacked that, I had a productive day of sorting through the boys closet. I also got all my laundry caught up, I've probably washed about 20 or 30 loads of laundry in 3 days. Our dryer broke, and we were fortunate to have a spare that Shawn and Dad hooked up. We're in the washing business now! I still am having problems downloading the pictures from my new camera, so soon I hope to post pictures again. I know its boring just reading and not seeing any actions shots! Good night.

Josh is reading!

After only 106 days of homeschooling, my little one in kindergarten read his first book The Tin Bus with only a handful of words he didn't know. Not that I'm bragging, but I think this is amazing because he only knew a few of his letters when we started. Now he is learning their letter sounds and putting them together to read. Here is the words of the book he read.
The Tin Bus
Sam has a bus. It is a tin bus.
Sam can run his bus on the rug.
Sam can hum and run his bus.
The sun is on the rug. Sam will sit in the sun.
Sam can run his bus in the son. It is fun to run the bus in the sun.
"Can I have my bus in the tub?" Sam says. "Yes," Mom says.
Sam can run his bus in the tub! Sam can have fun in the tub with the bus!
That may be a boring post, but I thought Josh might like to see that when he is older, Lord willing. I don't even know the first books Hannah and Zachariah read in kindergarten, I am sorry I didn't know of K12 when they were wee ones. Every time we bring out the books, I want to remember how blessed I am to be able t o teach my children, both knowledge and most important about our Heavenly Father and His Son.

Back to school

Today we hit the books,(and computers!) after a 2 week vacation. They day went fairly well, we even finished earlier than I anticipated. Shawn also has the day off for the holiday, he has been busy cleaning the fish tank, and washing our vehicles. He also played Mr. Mom for us, and fixed lunch(pizza) while the kids and I did school work. Thanks, Honey. Oh, and thanks for doing the dishes too! I love you!
We did buy a blue goldfish, and a black bug-eyed fish. We named them Smurf and Pug. :)
Mr. Mom came down and said instead of blogging, I could be doing laundry. Sigh, a woman's work is never done. I guess laundry isn't his specialty today! Well, back to the grindstone.

Happy New Year!

Last night we enjoyed ringing in the new year with some of our dear friends, Troy and Jody, their children, and Uncle Harold and Aunt Marvis. Jody fixed a wonderful dinner for us, baked steak and mashed potatoes, salad, and rolls, and hot fudge brownie sunday. We enjoyed listening to Uncle Harold playing his guitar and singing. Thanks so much for such a great evening, and starting the new year in fellowship with friends!
Today we had a productive day of cleaning out the barn and paddock area. We also hauled hay from Dad's for the horses and goats. We were just finishing and enjoying the breezy, high 50's day, when a big gale came through, knocked the temperature to the 40's in a hurry, and brought some blowing rain with it. Shawn and I ran to take the horses from the pasture and put them back in their barn/paddock area. Showers all around after all that and the 6 of us smelling like a barn, then a late lunch. We are planning on sausage and sour crout for supper, yum!
A couple of weeks ago we got our new aquarium set up. It is a 55 gal tank with a nice stand. Tad gave it to us when he cleaned out his garage,and we bought 14 gold fish for it. We only have 5 left, so we are going to buy a few blue goldfish to put in it, soon. Maybe today, if we get any energy back from all the poo scooping we did!
Hoping everyone has a great 2011, and may we know of a closer walk with our Father and His Precious Son. Love, Dora

Memories to keep

Like, Zach asking me if I was born back in 1842 when we was working on a history lesson this week, and if we had steam powered engines or motors.
Or, Noah eating a fortune cookie for the first time at a China Buffet, and after he took his first bite he said, "Look Mom, there's trash in it!" He then pulled out the fortune, and said,"I got it out, Mom".
Or, Josh saying, "If you had a full-sized job, we'd have to go to the school building, right Mom."
And then there was Zach at lunch today. =) I still smile about this one and the look on his face was priceless. He wanted more water, and when he saw the water jug on the table, he said,"Oh." Then he proceeded to be the funny guy, and pretend to drink right from the jug. As he tips the 1/4 full jug to his lips, off pops the lid, down pours the water, covering his face, some of his hair and ear, shirt, pants, and of course the chair and floor. He said, "Somebody didn't put the lid on!" as I smile and think I know what is going to happen, but it happens to fast to say anything (since I was the one who didn't put the lid on all the way, knowing I would be offering refills)!
And then there is Hannah, whom her Dad asked if the elevator wasn't getting to the top floor, and she replies,"I don't have an elevator" to which Shawn and I busted out laughing about, and is still a fun saying in our home. Aghh, these are the days.

Snow, snow and cold!

We have only had a few days in December without snow, and the temperature has been...., very cold! Like 5* F. We have made it almost to the 30's, and even one day was a little over 30*F, then back to 16*F the next day with a few inches of snow. We haven't had massive amounts of snow, like our friends to the north that had over 20". The most we've had at a time is 3". Makes me think back to when I was young and the snow fell in November and didn't melt off until March. We were so excited to see grass for the first time in the spring, after the thaw. Oh, I guess I'm turning into one of those, "I remember walking to school and home, uphills both ways," sorta gal. Sigh... =)