My Cup Runneth Over

I love my family

Nope - not perfect. But, I love each one of them so much it hurts sometimes! How did I come to be so blessed by these 5 people? God's grace and prayer...lots and lots and lots of prayer. My folks began praying for my spouse years before I met Trevor. He wasn't quite what they pictured when I first brought him home with earrings and an attitude! But, they love him and are so grateful for him now. I couldn't ask for a better husband and daddy to our kids. Iron sharpens iron and Trevor and I give each other plenty to pray about and allow God to continue working on us and our marriage - but we love each other deeply and are best friends.

My kids...well - I go on and on about them here on the blog, on facebook and to anyone who will listen! They are, each one, a gift. I have always been a fairly  happy person - enjoying childhood years, teenage years. I was thrilled to get married and become Trevor's help meet. But, my joy was multiplied exponentially when Chase was born...I expected to enjoy being a mom - but wasn't prepared for the deep, incredible joy (and in turn all the other emotions that run just as deep in parenting). As each child has been birthed or adopted into our family I truly feel that my cup runneth over. Yes - we are busy, we are loud, we are at times stressed, grumpy, frustrated and impatient with one another. But, most often our joy runs over. Can't wait to have 6 people to love!

African necklaces for sale! (To raise money for our adoption!)

     

To help raise money for our adoption we are selling these beautiful African bead necklaces. They are actually made from recycled magazines! (But, they feel like regular beads) Women in Uganda make them to sell - so buying them gives these women a sustainable income to help support their families. Some of the cost of the necklace goes back towards helping feed children in Africa. And a big bonus - we are able to sell them as a fund raiser for our adoption. Win-win for everyone!

In the picture of Eloise below - she is wearing one necklace (looped 3 times, I wear them looped twice). The necklaces sell for $25. We will have them at our yard/bake sale this weekend if you live close by and want to see them in person. We are also happy to ship them to you.

If you or anyone you know is interested in buying one - please let me know. Feel free to contact us by leaving a comment here on the blog, or by sending me an email at blessedsahm@gmail.com 

  

 

 

 

Resurrection Day

 

I love seeing all four of our blessings in one picture. It's become a bit rare with busy teenage boys and squirmy little girls. But, once in a while it happens and I think the angels sing. Well...OK - perhaps not, but I sure enjoy it! Our Easter weekend was filled with multiple church services, plays, time with friends and family and lots of good food. We were able to celebrate Jesus being risen and have some good conversations with Eloise about how precious Jesus' blood is to us - thankfully we can rejoice in that every day of the year.

I had originally planned to put the girls in a hand-me-down dress or pick up something simple and casual enough that they could wear it all summer. The first option didn't work out with their current size and after looking at two stores we came across these outfits (half price!). Loe thought it a very cool opportunity to match with me..."We'll be triplets, Mom!" :) Gotta love 6 year olds. So, as much as I LOVE pretty, pastel, ruffly dresses - this year we were decked out in black and white. But, we added pink bows and fingernail polish (after these pictures) along with some extra curl in their hair. Oh how I like having boys - they are handsome, simple and at 16 and almost 18 - very independent. But, yes...it is pretty darned fun having girls in the house, too! (And yes, Trev was around and a part of the day - but somehow didn't make it into any of the pictures. Might have to dedicate a blog post to him soon!)

 

  
  
 
  
 

 
  
  
  

Home School

This is my favorite part of homeschooling...snuggling on the couch reading a great Sonlight book to the kid (or kids!) This right here makes the hard times worth it and the memories we build and the stories the kids hear...priceless.

Now...some in the family would say one of the advantages to homeschooling is the free time it gives them to read their own books and play video games. :) This is what recess looks like at our house!

 

Impromptu field trip to our neighbor's house when the fire truck came through! SO cool!

Government...Teenpact (it's educational and FUN)

P.E. and bible in the same classes.

Literature

Mid-morning snack (lots more fun in a tea cup!)

 

Ready for CHESS (optional enrichment academy classes that meet one day a week)

More field trips...science!

    

Centers :)

Not only art, but life and relational skills...

...lots of opportunity for those skills to be built!

  

Spelling, vocabulary and PE (if we count all the laughter!)

 

More PE and health (big doses of Vitamin D!)

 

 Nature journaling the nasty spider out front = science
 
 

Considering I didn't do a lot of Loe's science book work...we managed to work plenty of science in = field trip to local dairy and farm

Let's see...PE, history and socialization!

 

Outreach and cultural awareness

Definitely PE and bible (gotta memorize those verses!)

And even more science at the aquarium. And one of my favorites..Loe conquering the shoe-tying challenge!

We all have learned much this year, so much that we didn't get pictures of...regular book work, family devotions, driver's ed, jobs, church, volunteer work, frisbee, Disney, family, friends, and the list goes on and on. We LOVE homeschooling and I can NOT believe Chase will graduate in a couple of months!! 

LASP field trip

Last week our field trip group went to LASP (Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics) in Boulder. Driving through Boulder can be a field trip in and of itself. It's nickname is "The People's Republic of Boulder" in our circle of friends and family. It's a great place to people watch! And it truly is beautiful - I could ignore the politics and live there (Trev - not so much). Anyway NASP is nestled in close to the Flat Irons. Here they not only build satellites, they monitor 5 at a time. It was very fascinating seeing some older satellites and things on display - most duplicates of what went into space. Though one had actually been in space. We also had a chance to see the  "clean rooms" where they have to wear special clothes, shoe covers, etc where they put things together. We saw a room where they manufacture some of the parts themselves - fascinating feeling the differences in weight between some of the metals they work with. Along a hallway with posters listing all of the launches they are responsible for. We saw their operations room as well as a screen where you can see the 5 aircraft they are monitoring. All very cool stuff! After the tour we sat outside with all the kids to have lunch and it was actually HOT in that Colorado sunshine! It was fabulous for January - especially after some of our subzero days. We had a chance to visit and plan our next few trips while the kids ran around playing on the grass and in the snow. A fox ran through right by where we were eating. We see them fairly regularly - but still so cool to see them up close - beautiful creatures.

 

 

 
 
 

 
 

 

 
 

 

 

Greeley Family Christmas

 

Our annual Greeley Christmas festivities include gifts (each couple draws the names of 2-3 kids) and Grandpa and Grandpa spoil the kids with some stuff. We eat (really what event doesn't include food?!). And Kristen has helped the kids do a short Christmas performance every year for the past 5 years - sometimes a play, sometimes a song with actions, this year it was a puppet show. They all created their puppets and the big kids helped the younger ones with the show. It was super cute, as always! I love the whole day, but the relaxing after gifts and watching the kids play is such fun. What a blessing for all of them to grow up together.

 

  

New Year's Eve '09

Brad & Patti and Steve and Cindy came over with all the kids to help us ring in the new year. They brought games and we had a ton of food. Lots of laughter and visiting and playing.  

A good time was had by all!

 

Cookie Bake Day '09

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Harvest Farm Fun!

We had a grand time at Harvest Farm again this year. We went on a weekday afternoon and it was fabulous. The weather was mild and we practically had the place to ourselves! Harvest Farm is a part of the Denver Rescue Mission - so all proceeds to to such a great cause. The folks working at the farm are so friendly and great with the kids. We enjoyed our entire afternoon - wandering through the maze (though a tad muddy from last week's rain/snow!), a hayride, kid-sized maze, and more. But, my favorite had to be the petting zoo area since Ren was having SO much fun! The moment she spotted any animals while walking around she went crazy! It was the cutest thing. This photo below made me laugh. It looked like these guys all 4 lined up for the photo! Very cute.

 

 

This cute little goat Loe is feeding below was not interested in staying in the pen - but instead hung outside with the people.

 

 
  

 

 

When Trevor was taking the girls through the little maze he sat Ren up on one of these big bales of straw and she immediately turned to jump into Trevor's arms. He barely caught her since he had no clue she was going to do that! Then she asked to do it over and over again! No fear!

 

  
 
 

 

Love the scenery at the farm - good looking boys, beautiful clouds, buildings and fields.

 

 

  

Ren begged over and over again for us to do the 1-2-3 swing her up in the air thing. She, like most other kids - thinks this is big fun.

 

 
 

She would have stood here feeding these guys as long as we let her! Once the goat nibbled on her finger a bit when she didn't have her hand totally flat and she turned and "told" me all about it and made this face below. Then went right back to feeding it some more. Oh...it was a good day at the farm - fall is my favorite season. These kind of days are a big part of that!

 

  

Fall Happenings

 

God just knew what He was doing with all the colors He created to go together in each season. Wow! So spectacular. Some day I hope we can take a trip back east during the fall to see the gorgeous leaves changing and maybe visit some of our country's historical places. That would be an awesome trip. But, in the meantime I'm thankful we get little tastes of those colors here in Colorado with trees, bushes and even in a $5 bouquet of flowers!

  

The kids getting ready to go to their CHESS classes - they clean up real good! ;)

On our way to a park the other day Loe happened upon a caterpillar and he happily climbed right into her hand and proceeded up her arm under her sweater! She wasn't thinking that was a good plan - so she turned him loose on the grass.

 Having a game night is a very cozy way to spend a fall evening together. We played Blokus and Scrabble and laughed a lot. Someone mentioned on Facebook how nice it is to see people enjoying their teenagers. That we do - they are a blast! I love their sense of humor, their conversation and their company.
  

And I love watching these two play together. I can't get over how quickly Ren is growing up and what a good big sister Loe is. She got out all of her Polly Pockets and helped Ren dress them and played this and that. Ren drops something about every 30 seconds and Loe patiently gets down and picks it up over and over and helps her so much. During the moments when Loe is tired and frustrated by Ren I really need to keep in mind how good she is with her the rest of the time!