Merry Christmas 2015

We are having a wonderful Christmas Season.  It was such a blessing to see almost all of our grand children and older children at various times during the week and on Christmas Day, and to spend the day with family and friends. 

We started with reading the Christmas Story from Luke Chapter two, After everybody was nice and awake, as they are no longer little kids and tend to sleep longer, we opened gifts.  

The girls were very thoughtful with what they asked for, and of course Miss Erika got a comb in her stocking as she does every year. :)

 


The Cat joined in and left us a lovely present on the back porch!
EWWWW

We saved the best for last.....
We are a family of backgammon players.  We had been studying the history of where backgammon came from and started looking at Vintage boards.  We found this one on Ebay, being sold by a fellow named Vadim!  It didn't come with any pieces, but we found the right pieces located in Ukraine.... Kharkiv Ukraine! (where the girls are from)  It was perfect, and everybody loved it.  The board is from Russia.


And then Anna bedazzled her dad's pj's. :)

Here are some highlights of the week.  I wish I had gotten more photos!



Many of you know from my other blog that Miss Alli is in detention for the next year.
We miss her terribly, but she is getting much needed therapy to help her navigate all her trauma.
We were able to take her favorite foods to her yesterday a.m. so she could celebrate Christmas and share some of her favorite things with her pod mates.
We will be visiting her tonight. :)

Dances Tonight

Tonight Anna goes to the ROTC Ball and Sarah has her first High School Dance recital!
Now, they both have to be two different places at the same time! So well see what magic can be pulled off, since Mike is gone this afternoon working on the other house!

Here is a sneak peak of Anna's dress.  Erika designed it from a different dress she wore to the Homecoming dance. :)

First Day Of School.... Like Public School!

Today, we embarked on a new episode in life. Public School!

I have been praying about this for a long time, and truly feel a peace in my heart that this was the direction we needed to go.  So we did!

I am so proud of each of my girls. They all did awesome today!

 Alli was truly TERRIFIED to go to school.  She hated the idea 3 months ago.  Today, she got on that bus, so bravely!

 Anna and Sarah had a long wait for their bus! It was 20 minutes late, but got them to school on time

Erika started College today.  Wow. COLLEGE!  She is 16 and working REALLY HARD.
We are still home educating her in most subjects. :)

So.... Erika had a young man ask her for her phone number. She handled that one very well. :)
Sarah loves her classes.  Anna does too.
Sarah and Anna are in the same History Class. :)
Alli loved all of her classes too.  She came home with a big smile. She said she had a little bit of panic and did what we told her to do, just in case.  (breathe deeply and SLOWLY)  She said she added to it, "Mama loves me. Mama loves me. " :)
And then she was ok. :)

And what did I do today???  I prayed for my girls! I went to the bank for Mike. Erika and I studied some together and then she did her own studies.  I cleaned out the attic of all the old school work, and pared down our books.  I did 3 loads of laundry, and then took Erika to college.
In the evening after dinner, we had to get a few more school supplies including "jazz" shoes for Sarah because she is taking a dance class that requires ballet shoes (which she already has) and Jazz shoes.
And then....I sat down to write this.
What a full and BLESSED day!

Summer Is Almost Over!

I cannot believe how quickly summer is going by! We start school on the 25th of August.
For 2 of our girls this year, this means Public School and then Erika will be taking a class at the college.
Times are a changin'!

We had a wonderful drive to go and get Lillian. She'll be going home in 8 days.  We will miss her. It has been really nice having her around. She is so funny and creative.

This week is VBS .  "Spy Academy" has been a hit around here with all the spy activity!
Saturday, Sarah will be celebrating her 15th birthday with a live "Clue" birthday party. Her birthday is in June, but this party took some planning!
Apparently, my role is to scream and die. LOL 
I think I can do that.  And then the clues begin!

We have made the decision to put Alli into Public School.  It was a long and hard, prayer filled decision. But we think it is what is best for her at this time.
She is not ready for high school, so she will be going into the 8th grade. I'm not thrilled putting her in Jr. High, at the same time I have a sense of peace about it that is unexplainable.
The school administration has been wonderful so far and we have a meeting planned for August 11 to discuss how best to meet her educational needs.
People...If you are reading this and are of child bearing age, please do not consume alcohol.  It is devastating on the developing brain. 
Both Anna and Alli have to wear School Uniforms. This posed a problem yesterday for Miss Alli, but she quickly recovered and said, "I'll be fine as long as I can wear boots." :)

The weather in Texas has been very "Un Texas" like.   Seriously, it is in the 70's outside right now. We are typically in the upper 90's - 100's.  We are ENJOYING IT while it lasts. I think we are supposed to thank Canada and Global warming. :)

I remember several years ago writing about changes in our family dynamic as girls were getting a little older.  Sarah had a really hard time because Anna and Erika didn't want to "play" anymore and she felt left out.  She still wanted to play with toys.  She wasn't ready for older girl stuff.
It seems it is Miss Alli's turn for that transition. 
She gets upset because everybody is using "electronic devices".  "They are just interested in their devices and not me!"   :)
"Nobody wants to play!"
Sarah has worked hard to make sure she spends time with Alli and Lillian. They go bike riding and play basket ball together.
Last night Anna took Sarah to the local church youth group meeting and they walked home. (part of the way)  I caught up with them and gave them a ride the rest of the way home. :)
I was out celebrating with our son Tim.  He is now going to be teaching at a local high school not too far from us!  He will be one of two teachers in the Special Ed department at the high school working specifically with Autistic kids. I think he is going to do an awesome job!

Sadly, we have not been able to go boating this year because of the drought. The lake is so far down, you can't get a boat in. :(


Overall, everybody is doing well. 
I am getting ready to post on my other blog about some ideas to make the school year go well.

Lilly Is Visiting

 Yea! We picked Lillian up on Saturday to stay for part of the summer!  She is getting so big! 10 years old now!

Today, she helped me make pop overs.  She also managed to bonk her head on the goat barn. Ouch!
Ice and Arnica. :)

Bun Confusion.... A Funny

LOL.... Sweetie "Mama, I need a bun shaper."
Mama"You do NOT need a bun shaper!"
Sweetie "why not"?
Mama "Sweetie you are fine!"
Sweetie gives me a puzzled look.....
Mama: "What is this bun shaper for?"
Sweetie: "My hair"! With puzzled look!
Mama: Relieved laughter.....
Sweetie: Don't tag me on facebook for that one!

TIme is FLYING BY!

It isn't easy having 3 blogs, and I've been focusing more on the other two, getting them updated.
But here are some pictures of the girls from recent days.  They are all doing really great and we are looking forward to a trip to NM to see Katie graduate from High School! :)

Anna and Felix

 Anna has just 5 weeks of school left!  The rest of us have at least 8!

 Sisters enjoying each other's company..... my how they have grown!

Doing School Work

16 is right around the corner!

Easter Was Just FUN!

Happy Easter!

Tomorrow the stone will be rolled away!  

We are looking forward to celebrating with family tomorrow.