buddy's 7th birthday

Happy 7th Birthday to my Buddy! It's so hard to believe he's seven years old. I love this kid so much, and I learn from him daily. So creative, so sensitive, so deeply emotional, and a friend to all. Life with Buddy is a loud, hilarious, happy, chaotic, challenging, and exciting life. We were truly given a special gift with our big boy! He's doing well in 1st grade, horseback riding, participating in multiple church activities, soccer, and loves Star Wars, legos, and cheese pizza.

 

Birthday morning. Pretty sure this pic is evidence of Nugget not being a morning person-

my payback for not being one my entire life and giving grief to my family, my former roommates, and my husband.

 

 Cake and a few more presents that night.

 

New Bike!!!

 

 

This is a common scene in the fall/winter- Snuggles with Daddy while watching football.

I know Sandman will likely give me grief for this one (probably taken after an outing...

he's not accustomed to running around in an undershirt...except on a lazy Sunday afternoon or after work.)

christmastime

School all but stops from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day, but we hung in there this year much better than last year. We will school more consistently this summer so that we can put the 'reading, writing, 'rithmetic,' aside and just focus on Christmas activities once Thanksgiving is over.  This year, we finally started a Jesse Tree tradition. We managed to not keep up with it the way I'd like to, but the kids enjoyed it.

Here's an explanation of the Jesse Tree from the Etsy shop where I bought our set. Found here, at Inspired Tradions on Etsy.

"The Jesse Tree tradition began as a family tree for Jesus. It originates from Isaiah 11:1, which says, "A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse". Jesse, the father of King David, is one of the patriarchs through whom Jesus' lineage is traced. This Jesse Tree ornament set can be used much like an advent calendar. Advent, meaning "coming", refers to the anticipation of the coming Christ. There is an ornament for each day in December through Christmas day that depicts a story from biblical history. For each symbol there are correlating Old Testament and New Testament scriptures. These stories give a "refresher" of the Bible as a whole, all the while reminding us of how the scriptures are all connected in the theme of God's grace. Some of the Old Testament symbols were chosen because a person in the story is in the lineage of Christ while others because Jesus himself referred to some part of the story. The New Testament symbols chosen have the prophecy scriptures referenced from the Old Testament. From the story of creation to the story of the wise men following a star, each symbol was chosen to help tell the story of God's plan to bring us back to himself through Jesus. The Jesse Tree displays the story of the coming Christ, carved out through history, by the sovereign hand of God."

I got a small 3' pre-lit Christmas tree on sale, but the ornaments can be displayed anywhere or on your main tree. I liked having them separate.  There are also sets that are much cheaper, paper sets that kids can color, or you can make your own symbols. I'm the opposite of talented when it comes to crafts and arts, so buying our family something pre-made was the best option for us. The quality of the Inspired Traditions set is great and they will last quite awhile.

Nugget had a Christmas program at his preschool. He cracks me up with his faces, especially when you catch him with the camera!

Stopped singing as soon as the camera went up.

 

"I will not perform for you" face

 

 

Buddy entertainment

 

 

 

We made salt dough ornaments for our tree and to give away. We made lots of cookies, and at Nugget's request, we made cupcakes. I also made a ton of our "bar cookies" and peppermint brownies, and we enjoyed sharing our goodies with friends and family!



 

 An early December dusting

I was not all that camera happy this Christmas, which is both a blessing and a bummer. I enjoy having events documented, but I also enjoy soaking up the family time and celebrating our Savior, and sometimes for me, the camera gets in the way.  I'm still hoping that more pics surface (like the November ones) and it's likely that they will as sometimes we have put them on the laptop or tablet when the camera is full.

Nanni and Gran and Grandad were all here for Christmas, and we had a lovely time entertaining. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were relaxed, we read from the Bible, played Christmas music, cooked delicious meals, and enjoyed the company. It even snowed on Christmas Day- just a dusting again, but it's still so special to our little family that's used to wearing shorts on Christmas Day and cranking up the AC.

Next year, I am hopeful that we will have quite a different celebration. It would be nice to have family in town again, and snow would be sweet.

texas trip

I'm so behind already in my blogging, so I'm just going to share a gazillion pics. And I'm missing some pictures from late November, so I'll add them when we find them.

We traveled to Houston for Thanksgiving, and after a short visit, we hit San Antonio on our way home. Sandman had to attend a conference or teach or inspect or something there at the base. We even drove by our old house (currently rented out) and that stirred up some unexpected emotions! When we arrived at that house in '07, we were a family of 3 with a 16 month old toddler. When we left, we had an almost 4 year old boy and a 2 year old toddler. Lots of deep memories.

We also enjoyed the many playgrounds on base, as one of the TLFs was actually old base housing. We managed to bring a little school with us, and the boys and I took a trip to the zoo. That brought back some memories, too, as we spent a lot of time there when the boys were little!

Nanni joined us mid-week, and after eating at one of our favorite tex-mex spots downtown, we toured the Riverwalk and walked over to the Alamo. Sandman couldn't help but throw in some Texas history. I think we're all Texans at heart, even if Nugget is the only one of us actually born in Texas.

One place we never visited while living there is Natural Bridge Caverns. I'd been twice as a kid- once with my parents, and once on a school band trip when the weather was too cold for us to go to Schlitterbahn. The boys LOVED it, and we will definitely return. Another new place for all of us was the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch, one of those wildlife preserves where you drive through and feed lots of hooved critters and hope they don't slobber in your car. I have GOT to find the photos and videos of that experience, because it was priceless. And hilarious. And we're thankful that Sandman was using his tablet to take pictures and resting it on his lap because that ostrich was seriously invading his personal and private space if you know what I mean. Or not....hopefully we'll find the pics.

Our last day in San Antonio, we took advantage of the free admission to Sea World for military families. Sea World was all decked out for the holidays, and personally, I LOVE THAT SO MUCH. Our last minute trip to Disneyworld in '09 was at that time of year, and it was super fun.

We made up for our free tickets while feeding the dolphins.

Oh, I can't explain how cool it is to be so close and interact with such beautiful, friendly and intelligent animals!

 



 

Candy Cane forest with a local singer performing timeless Christmas favorites.

My inner Clark Griswold enjoyed the ambiance.

 

It was hard to get them off this thing.

 

Sandman almost had to force me on to this ride. I can't believe how scared I have become of big coasters! We used to visit AstroWorld all summer long as a kid! But I made it, and it was a smoking ride! I did feel queasy afterwards, which only made me feel more like a wuss because Sandman and Nanni rode it TWICE.

 

The kids love whales, so watching these amazing creatures in person was a treat!

homeschool

Buddy started his second year of homeschool this year.  So far, homeschooling has been nothing like I expected, but it's much better than we could have imagined. 

I have become more open to long term home school.  I have seen too many amazing families with kids that homeschooled right on up until college to be afraid of it.  And it works well with our family.  It gives me some freedom.  I still think we'll pray about each year, but for now, it's what we're doing.  It's not what I envisioned myself doing 7 years ago while holding my little Buddy in my arms, but I don't think I was ever opposed to the idea. But it definitely took some prodding from the Lord to encourage me to seek his direction for our children's education.

We're using a mixture of Sonlight, Math-U-See, Awana- Sparks, A Reason for Handwriting, Explode the Code, First Language Lessons, and a ton of other books.  Because Nugget participates on the days he isn't at preschool, I chose some book lists that are geared for younger kids....around a PreK-K level.  But with Buddy in 1st grade, we've almost read all of them (and many others.)  So, we may move on to the next level after the holidays.  I think my planning was sound, but Buddy loves for me to read to him, so we've read just about all of the entire year's material!

Sandman and I have been encouraged by a number of homeschooling families to come up with a list of written reasons why we have chosen to homeschool. It comes in handy when talking with naysayers....or just on those days where I am ready to ship everyone off on a bus IMMEDIATELY. We're still working on that written list, but honestly, I don't think the list would be the same today as it might have been a few years ago when we started seriously considering this option for our boys' education.

And if we were not homeschooling, we'd miss out on some of these opportunities:

Both boys riding. Sandman coaching Nugget.

 

 

Helmets on. Ready to go. 

 

 

Post-ride doggy-lovin'

 

A "reward" ride on the atv as a positive consequence for a good lesson learned. Having the ability to learn genuine life lessons is a huge blessing to homeschooling. He can't get this stuff elsewhere.

 

Town ruins at Sugarite Canyon. Homeschoolers can have lots of field trips, and we absolutely take advantage of camping trips and other experiences to learn more about history, ecology, astronomy, biology, etc....the list is infinite! 

 

 

 

Maybe someday I'll get around to finishing that list of reasons, but until then, we know God led us here, and we're reaping blessings from it already. I can't imagine not having our family together these days. I can't imagine anyone other than Sandman or me being the biggest influences on our children. I can't imagine not tailoring Buddy's education to his specific and lengthy list of needs. We are our children's biggest advocates. We know them deeply. And yes, there's a great element of trust involved, and there are also many days where I feel totally inadequate and incapable of teaching them. But my God has given me His strength and courage, and I choose to be faithful to Him. 

futbol

This was Buddy's fifth soccer season and Nugget's third time around.  We were hoping for an improvement in the league....we had a rather unfortunate experience this past spring, but the boys enjoyed themselves and remained mostly oblivious to what was going on.

The boys attended soccer camp this summer with one of Ben's teammates, and this boy's dad was their coach.  Good people....they are why we decided to give the league another shot before defecting to the other league in town...the one that's known for being more competitive.

Both boys had great seasons, and I have no idea how their teams finished, but they had a blast.

Buddy, center, with Angry Birds hat

Buddy as keeper...his favorite position

 

Nugget is #4. (And all of his pics were taken by Buddy, so, well, you know how that goes.)

 

 

Selfie.

 

My big little Nugget



In this one, you can see two-thirds of Sandman. He filled in as coach for most of the games, as the league was terribly understaffed, and the team's coach had to referee games for older divisions most of the time. 

house on wheels

Well, not really.  It's no secret that our family has loved camping over the last few years.  We have been fortunate to live in places where camping is easy and accessible, and we love embracing adventure each trip. 

Here in New Mexico, the wind comes whistlin' down the plains quite fiercely.  Last summer, our beloved tent took a beating, and the wind snapped one of the tent poles.  That tent had been through so much....we initially bought it because Nugget's pack'n'play would fit on one side, as well as a KING size air mattress--  who doesn't take their 2 year old and 6 month old camping??!  But it has been the perfect tent.

After renting some pop-up campers from the base's outdoor recreation department, we decided to look into purchasing our own camper....the wind and the cold pose a greater threat here than our balmy Florida climate, and while it wasn't expensive to rent, it made more sense to find something moderately priced and used.  It took months of praying and looking and emailing and praying, but we found the perfect set-up for our (hopefully) growing family.

We picked it up on a Thursday afternoon from a lovely family in Lubbock, and that weekend, we set out for northern New Mexico.

Here's our new setup!  I'll get some better pics the next time we take it camping.

As you can see, we always pick the best weekends to go camping.  We had snow the first night, and we woke up to ice and sleet all over everything.

 Exploring near our site.

 Hot chocolate in the camper.  For those of you who know us well, do you recognize the bright and green and red blobs behind Nugget's head?  We never leave home without them!

 We drove across the border into Colorado and stopped to admire the mountains and colors.

 We found another campground in Colorado, and I know we'll be back to camp there!

 Mule deer were out and in abundance.....

...as were the wild turkeys.  These guys were EVERYWHERE.

 And we saw a BEAR!!!

 Practicing his ninja skills....

These red rocks are somewhere between home and the campsite.  Just gorgeous.

 

Needless to say, we love camping.  It's such an escape for our family. 

 

 

....and that isn't a bear, but did I fool you?  We sure thought it was on a first glance.

 

 

....