Our Goals for 2015

I could sit here and tell you that we accomplished all of our 2014 goals but we didn't since we forgot half of them...

As for 2015 it's safe to say we have a few goals... 

Home repairs/remodel:
We have at least two rooms to repair flooring. Three - four rooms to paint. Remodel entire back room (living room). And add another building to the property.

Educational:
Finish current grade levels no later than the end of June. Cover pre-algebra with ECJ over the summer so he can begin algebra one in the fall. Look further into what methods and curriculum we'll be using next fall. And join at least one co op.

My crochet business:
I got a good start on it last year, the website and Facebook page are almost ready to go public. Need to increase both sales and stock. Do more craft fairs and get business cards made up.

ECJ:
Wants to grow 3 inches. Find part time work this summer.

YCJ:
Wants to improve music skill, reading, and crochet. Has plans on buying her own dog.

PEANUT:
Wants to have her own diner with her easy bake oven food, where we pay for her food so she can buy more food kits. Says she's going to "master money".

I'm sure there's much more we could plan out... But, I'm happy with these (mainly) generalized goals... It makes at least part, of some of them achievable.

Life Gets Busy

It seems like no matter what you do life ends up getting busy!!! More so if you're moving, during the holidays, or when you've already got a lot on your plate.
Many of you remember that we spent awhile in September packing up the house we'd almost finished the way we wanted. We moved in early October to another state and it was over two weeks before we were able to move into our new house. Then it was already Halloween!!
November showed up and went by in a blur! Lots of yard work comes with two and half acres in the fall! Thanksgiving was spent at the new house where I mangled the sweet potatoes.
Which brings us up to December.... So far this month we've taken down and old fence in our front yard, burned leaves, torn down an old block building, and drove almost 700 miles to be with family at Christmas!!!
We've still got tons of things to do when we get home... But, it'll be 2015 by then so I'll worry about that when the year rolls over.
For those of you curious (and who haven't found us on Facebook yet) we've already logged over 400 hours since September towards our 1000 Hours Outside Challenge. Our second time taking the challenge is going much better than the first so far!!!
I'll be back in a day or two to share our plans for 2015 and later in the week I'll review 2014  :-)

*this post was written on mobile*

Whew! We're Doing Good

Soo much stuff happening in the blogosphere! I've been peaking in at all of my favorite blogs. But, since we've moved south I haven't managed one single blog post...
Not because we had nothing going on (TONS happened), not because I didn't want to share (because I've managed to keep up fairly well on Facebook), and not because I couldn't find time (though we were busy)...
It's because we've been busy living that my blogging got put on the back burner. It took time after we'd already gone south to finish the paperwork on the house, then cleaning, moving, unpacking (mostly), Halloween, lessons, Thanksgiving, outside hours (we're racking them up this year), projects around the house, crafts, and gift making I wasn't sure we'd make it this close to Christmas!!
More details to come before the week is out. Merry Christmas, y'all!!!!

Week of Packing

OK, let me just start with packing a family of 5 people, 2 dogs, 2 birds, and a cat (found a home for the other cat) really is a pain in the neck of epic proportions! 

We began packing on Monday with some neighbor's help and while the women were inside the guys were outside building the sides onto our trailer we'll be moving with. The kids were in and out of the house. Everyone was productive and we got a TON done ... but I didn't take even a moment to snap a picture because we were trying to get things accomplished. I made supper for everyone and then we all went to bed exhausted.

Tuesday Noni came out around noon. But, other than children being sent to organize rooms, dishes, and laundry being done nothing else got accomplished. She came out and we visited, had lunch at a local diner, then visited some more. Tears in her eyes and mine when she left. It's only 10 hours away but that's 9.5 hours further than we are right now. There are plans in the works for a spring visit from her though and we're planning on coming back up at Christmas time. *No packing got done this day.* I made a chest blanket with super soft, super warm yarn for Daddy who often coughs through the night when the weather changes and went to sleep shortly after the children did.

So, you'd think having taken a day off we'd have been packing on Wednesday. Nope, Daddy and I were hurting. The children hadn't finished going through their rooms and spent a good part of the day doing that. I spent some time on the computer and then went to crochet. As you can tell, again I didn't pick up the camera.

Thursday we finished packing up 90% of the house... I didn't take pictures. I don't mind moving as I've done it a lot but it's always sad to leave a place you've been in for over a year. There's memories in every corner, in every item you pick up, in every single thing everywhere. I'm a pretty sentimental woman and sometimes packing is the worst thing ever for me. I get it done and we're always ready on time but there's moments when I never ever want to see another box or bag again. 

Friday we finished packing all but the kitchen, it looked like a tornado had put everything we own in the living room. Most of the kitchen was packed up as well. Coffee pot and a few dishes and pots were all that was left to pack. A visit to Grandma and Papa's house, supper at one of the Aunt's houses we never visit often enough, then back home to crash out.

What the weekend holds for us: Saturday we're packing the trailer up almost completely and getting a good night's rest. Last minute things will be packed Sunday morning into the trailer so that we can get to Grandma and Papa's around noon. We'll sleep there Sunday night and hit the road Monday morning sometime... I'll be updating via Facebook once we're actually on the road.

As you can probably tell from how this was written I'd planned to have this finished and posted by Friday evening ... it is now early Sunday morning. We're nearly finished with the packing (it's obviously taken longer than expected) and we're loading the trailer once the sun comes up. Still stopping the night at Grandma's house and hitting the road sometime after breakfast on Monday.

Posts you may have missed this week:
Our Time Outside September 2014
An Odd Kind of Love

Who we're linked up to this week:     
Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
Homegrown Learners
Squishable Baby
Our 4 Kiddos

And for those of you who have yet to look us up on Facebook you can find us there by following this link . As yet it is the only social media account we can be found at.

** We'll be trying to do Pinterest, G+, and Twitter after the move! Be on the lookout for updates! But in the meantime you'll always find us here and on Facebook **

An Odd Kinda Love

When I did our Q & A post last week one of my regular readers asked a question that I thought deserved it's own post. It's not so much homeschool related as relationship related.

How I met my husband:

   I have the oddest story to tell my grandchildren when I have some. My husband and I met when I was an assistant manager at a local pizza place near his mother's house and he was a customer coming in after I'd just clocked out. I decided to wait on him anyway because we were swamped with other orders and told him that he looked angry. To which he answered that he was simply tired. We bantered like this for a few minutes before his pizza was finished and I was walking out.

He chose to ask for my phone number, and I being single at the time wrote it down on his pizza box. Then he asked me my name, "Chrystal, what's yours?" He looked shocked and quickly answered. Then it was my turn to look shocked. I shared a name with his ex-wife and he shared a name with my ex-husband! At that point I figured I'd never hear from him again and went home to clean up from being at work.

A few days later he did call me and asked me out for a quick drink. We enjoyed ourselves but much to my dismay (at the time) he didn't even kiss me goodbye at the end of our "date".

We continued going out a bit here and there for a few months before we decided that this was something we wanted to explore more. Our joke then, as it remains now, is we'd had the names right but the people wrong and that sometimes God shows his humor through the lessons that we much learn.

About six months into our relationship he proposed to me with a rock he'd fished out of the water near Lake Huron (brrrr) that I'd thought was a shell. He got back up on the dock and in front of what felt like a million strangers he proposed to me. Of course, I had to say yes :-)

A few months later he gave me a ring. We stayed engaged for over four years before we finally set a date for the wedding. From the day we set the date until we walked down the isle we had exactly three months to get everything done!

We had my best friend's father (an ordained minister) marry us under an arch that my new sister-in-law had given us. My best friend walked me down the isle in place of my father. My Matron of Honor was one of my new sister-in-laws and my new husband's best man was his other sister. Our little niece (then about 2 years old) was our flower girl.

We had a pig roast and all the "fixin's" on our property where we held our wedding. The weather held all day and it was a beautifully perfect day as I look back (oh, there's some odd stuff that happened of course but we try not to think of those things).

We've now recently (July 14th) celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary. My in laws celebrated their 42nd the week before. I wouldn't change a minute of our lives other than my husband having been so ill for so much of our married life.

But, God gave him to me and each day I see a new reason why. Each day I fall more and more in love with the man I married. Each day he falls more in love with me. 

God has a plan for each of us my friends... Just remember when he's teaching you those lessons that you really wish you'd never had to learn that God also has a sense of humor and one day you'll look back and realize it.

I could have made this story much longer. Much more details. And bored every single one of you to tears having to read it all. I hit the highlights up until our marriage...

Since that fateful day we met so many years ago we've had several more blessings:

We gained custody of my son from my first marriage (long story)
YCJ was born healthy and happy
Peanut was born a month and a half early (and yes, she has some health issues) but she survived and is the most cantankerous child you'll ever meet
He held me up when God took my Grandmother
We've made several moves and always made it safely
I've had many surgeries and always come out the other side OK
Dear husband has been severely ill, and yet is still with us 18 month into remission now from the worst of it
And the list can go on

People tell me all the time that for such a rocky life we've been blessed. I've always answered, "With God on our side, we're always blessed!"

May your relationships all be blessed and if you've been looking at things in a dark light look back to what the two of you once were, remember God has a plan, and keep stepping forward. Eventually, it'll all make sense.


And for those of you who have yet to look us up on Facebook you can find us there by following this link . As yet it is the only social media account we can be found at.

** We'll be trying to do Pinterest, G+, and Twitter after the move! Be on the lookout for updates! But in the meantime you'll always find us here and on Facebook **

Our Time Outside: September 14

This is our September outside post. We take part in the 1000 Hours Outside Challenge and this is our second year! (We're a little over two weeks into this year's challenge and are close to 60 hours outside!) Each month I'll be doing a recap of our outside time with basically this same format. A ton of pictures, a little writing, and then our new total for the year at the bottom. So, even though there's only 3 days into this new week and I'm not adding those hours in just yet here's out total for the new year of the challenge!!!!!

Year to date total outside hours: 57.75 hours!!! (two weeks in! That makes our average for each week so far: 28.9 *rounded up* hours)

And for those of you who have yet to look us up on Facebook you can find us there by following this link . As yet it is the only social media account we can be found at.

** We'll be trying to do Pinterest, G+, and Twitter after the move! Be on the lookout for updates! But in the meantime you'll always find us here and on Facebook **

Whew! What a Week!!

It always surprises me when I go through the pictures at the end of the week just how much stuff we've actually done throughout the week! I think when you see them all you'll be surprised as well!

Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday we did lessons (2 days worth on Thursday) and spent a TON of time outside. Wednesday we spent the entire day with Noni!!! Here's pictures from those four days, some of them I'll even caption ;-) hehe!

This was Peanut Sunday/Monday night :-)

Monday's nature study begins :-)

Mommy running up the hill to catch Peanut!

Us standing at the top of the hill

That's one big hill! Same picture as above only Daddy didn't zoom in!

This stump was holding water...

View that Peanut was looking
down on

ECJ showing Peanut Daddy's "find"

Nature journals and drawing/labeling going on as a group!

Recess time Tuesday

Peanut (and later I) slept on the couch most of Tuesday night because
she wasn't feeling very well (she was better by morning).

Peanut "grooming" the dogs Wed. morning

Posing in her new outfit from and auntie :-)

He's posing on top
of that lion drinking fountain!

She wasn't sure she liked the chipmunk "ride"

Sitting side saddle due to her skirt (her idea at that :-) ... makes me one proud Mamma)

Even though it wasn't near hot enough for the splash pad at the park with Noni
ECJ found the button to turn it all on...
they ran around "avoiding" (kinda) the water for about an hour!!

Thursday afternoon we did two days worth of lessons and this
is how the girls did them (side by side)
most of the time!

 Whew! See what I mean? So, now it's Thursday afternoon and we've got a bunch to do around here. We're showing the house twice this afternoon, we have to make (and eat) supper, then drive about an hour away to pick up the trailer we'll own which we'll be moving with! Obviously I won't have time this evening to write anything else and I'll be super busy tomorrow too as that's the day we begin to pack and we'll be doing our final lessons for 2 whole weeks!! So, for now there's no update for Friday.

Things I crocheted this past week: (though I've worked on more that's not done lol)

First ever "big" bear... stands about ten inches tall toe to head
I did mess the leg positioning up a bit but since I'm keeping it (was practicing the head for a lovey
I'm making and decided to make the bear for myself) the legs don't bother me...
She'll eventually have a face lol

YCJ's cat ear headband for her Halloween costume this year...
she wants to be a black cat with one white ear and a white tipped tail
so sometime tomorrow I'm working on her tail!!

 Posts you may have missed this week:
Knowing When to Take a Break
Good News! (explains about the move)
Spelling You See. Review Before the Review
Camper Q & A

 Who we're linking up with this week:
Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
Faithful Mom of 9
Squishable Baby
Homegrown Learners
Our 4 Kiddos

 And for those of you who have yet to look us up on Facebook you can find us there by following this link . As yet it is the only social media account we can be found at.

** We'll be trying to do Pinterest, G+, and Twitter after the move! Be on the lookout for updates! But in the meantime you'll always find us here and on Facebook **

*** Also, after next week's wrap up (so one more after this one) I'm pretty much only going to be on Facebook until I can get to the library while I'm waiting on internet to be installed at the new house. ***