Happy Birthday, Matthew!

Happy Birthday to my New Year's Eve baby!

Wasn't it just a few years ago that I laid cozily in my hospital bed with a tiny baby boy!?!  I don't know where the years have gone, but they went by way too fast!

Matthew has been a joy to raise!  He is loyal, hardworking, honest, sweet... and messy! :)  He can't be perfect, right?  I am so thankful the Lord made him ours!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

My blog has been pretty quiet lately, and there is a really good reason why!   As you will see in our family's Christmas picture there is another little blurred out face.  

We had our adoption in July, vacation right after, school started the beginning of August, my dad's health was bad throughout that month, we moved him to be closer to my sister in September, we got a call to take another foster placement the first of September... and THAT is a long story!  Grandbaby born in October in the midst of our chaos, McKenzie and her family finished building and moved into their new home this fall.  Yeah... it has been crazy around here!

It has been a really hard fall, but things are starting to get a little better around here!  For those of you that follow me on social media you have kept up with our journey.  I have been trying to write more in my journals at home, but I am hoping to start writing on here more this coming year. Posting on social media is super easy and fast, but I have missed this little corner to journal our lives.  It was always sort of therapeutic for me.  I have no idea who still pops by here to read... but I am back! :)

I hope you have all had a very Merry Christmas, and that you have a wonderful and healthy New Year!

~Until next time....

Happy Birhday, Myles!

Happy 10th Birthday to our sweet Myles Truth!

He requested waffles for breakfast, and hamburgers and French fries for supper!

We have a tradition with our kids that they get a "big person" Bible with their name on it once they learn to read well.  Myles was still using his Precious Moment's Bible that they all got at birth and was quite hard on it. :)  He has been reading his Bible and loves copying passages out of it.  We decided it was a good time to get it!  He was so proud and sat and read multiple chapters the night he got it. <3 br="" nbsp="">

I pray he will always treasure God's Word and live for Him all the days of his life!

Happy Birthday Malachi!

On September 13th, Malachi David turned 13!

It is hard to believe that this kid is already a teenager!  Not sure where the years went...

Keeping the tradition, he got his first gun for his birthday.  Wasn't it just yesterday that Mathew got his!? :(

I sure love this crew!  Matthias had already gone to bed.

We moved my sweet dad to be closer to my sister.  He has lived down here close to us for 3 1/2 years.  It was becoming increasingly difficult to care for him with all of my responsibilities at home, especially with home schooling. We were glad he got to celebrate one more birthday with him down here.

I am very thankful that the Lord made Malachi ours!

~For those that have noticed my absence on here.....  we have had a lot going on!  I will try to catch up on all that I am behind on and you will soon find out! :)  I probably will adjust dates on my posts too.  It helps in the future to be able to click on the months when you are looking for certain posts/pictures. )

~Until next time...

Minimalism

In my quest for minimizing our home the hardest part for me has been our books and our children's clothing!

The boys have a large walk-in closet and it was the perfect spot for bookshelves.  However, they were a huge mess!  I recently emptied all of them into the floor and went through them. I got rid of a large box full!

This little shelf has all of our baby/board books on it for Matthias.

 This shelf is mostly chapter books and educational books. (Well, sort of.)

This shelf has seasonal stuff and picture books.  This is not even counting two shelves in our classroom/office.  We have a large collection of Lamplighter, another shelf with G.A. Henty, and our Hero Classic collection!

I have always loved children's books!  It is definitely my weakness.  I am going to try to weed out a few more, but this is probably the way things are going to be for now! :)

~Until next time...

Evening walks...

Most evenings that we are home I take Matthias for a walk. Sometimes Mariah or Madeline joins us, sometimes Marc... and sometimes Macheus!

                                            These two  play so hard!

 

We ventured off the beaten path and into the peanut field!

By the time we got home they were filthy, but they sure did have fun!

Cleaning up his bike! :)

After bath time snuggles!

I sure love these two munchkins! 

School days...

Summer zipped by, and even though it isn't  technically over with.. we did start school back!  I had so many summer posts that didn't get done.  We traveled a good bit, and of course the adoption dominated so much of our time and attention!  

The years slip by so fast.... I can't believe that Macheus is in the first grade.  I went back and looked at some of my old blog posts earlier today, and they grow up way too fast! :(

Our curriculum this year is going to keep these guys busy.  I am doing Saxon math with Macheus, but the rest of the crew is doing Teaching Textbooks on line.  They like it and it saves me a ton of time not having to grade it!  I am working through Explode the  Code workbooks with Mac, handwriting and just some fun books to read together.  Until he is reading independently this will be all we do.

Malachi and Myles are doing Rod and Staff Language programs.  They are pretty rigorous, but they are doing well.  We used it with the older kids and it definitely prepared them for college.  The Reading program in the 4th grade is covering Bible; so Myles won't do a separate Bible curriculum, but Malachi is.  We are finishing up our study of Human Anatomy with Apologia.  Not sure what we will study next.  I wanted to do Notgrass Georgia History this year, but they aren't selling it anymore! :(  We had a copy that I used with the oldest three, but it was worn out. I got rid of it thinking I could replace it for the next crew.  If anyone has suggestions feel free to share! :)  I have had some blog readers communicate with me through e-mail after I shared it.  I will post it again... maynor7@windstream.net.  Feel free to e-mail any suggestions!

Sweet Mariah.... I so enjoy this girl!  God was so good to give me my three girls!  I adore my boys... but life without my girls would be lonely!

She is doing Notgrass Economics, Government, TT Algebra 2, Apologia Anatomy and Physiology (Bio 2), and Learn to Write The Novel Way.  This will be her last year home schooling, as she will be doing dual enrollment next year.  Makes me sad...

This sweet little nugget couldn't be left out of the back-to-school pictures.  Oh how we all love him!

We have gotten on a pretty decent schedule.  I get up at 6:00, fix smoothies, start laundry, and then I head out the door to go running.  I run a pretty long time (usually around 10 miles), so it works best for me to start while everyone is in the bed/just getting up!  By the time I get home the kids have gotten chores done, drank smoothies and started school.  When I get home I shower, throw the next load of laundry in, and then I start school with Macheus.  His usually takes me from 10-12.  In between helping him I usually help the other two.  Madeline is a huge help too!  She usually does everyone's English!  At noon I feed Matthias and spend a little time with him.  I try to lay down with him for at least a few minutes and then I put him down for his nap.  While he is napping the other kids eat lunch and we do any other school and grading that we need to get done.  The afternoon is spent putting laundry away and getting things done that need to be finished before the guys get home from work.  I try to at least let Mac and Myles have several hours of free time outside.  It is so important for boys to be outside and moving!

For now, this schedule is working.  Life is ever changing and adjustments have to be made!

These two started back to college classes.  Matthew works full time and is finishing up his senior year!  He is very ready to be done!  Madeline has been a journalist for our local newspaper for the past year, but Marc encouraged her to take a break from that for now.  She is currently taking SIX classes and needs to concentrate on that.  She is teaching piano lessons out of our home though.  She currently has a 4.0 and we knew she couldn't keep that up while working a very demanding job.

Well. that is what life is looking like these days!  I hope all of you are off to a good start wtih your school year!

~Until next time...

Family Beach Trip

Three days after adoption day our entire family took off for the beach.

 

The timing of it was just perfect, and it was so weird not having to crop or cover up Matthias' face in our social media posts!

 

The first night of our beach trip Marc and I always go pick up dinner and do our grocery store run.  Every year he is shocked at how many groceries it takes to feed our crew! :) 

 

 

The evenings were so nice... just sitting around talking and reading.

 

Our condo this year was a great setup for us.  It had a full kitchen and a washer and dryer!!!

 

The island was so beautiful!

 

 

I could get used to morning runs with these sights!

 

 

We closed the water park down one day!

 

 

Snow cones and miniature golf.

 

Our balcony was nice because the railing was high enough that they could play out there without me worrying.

                                Such a sweet, sweet baby...……

This kid has eaten his weight in Purely O's!

We mostly had the pool to ourselves.

My beautiful and sweet Madeline!

He absolutely loves the water!

McKenzie's family went down four a couple of days.  This is the only picture I took the day we were at the beach together!  The babies had fun playing together.

Macheus always has to pose like he's falling in at the end of the pier.

 

 The annual "line up" picture.  I wish I had thought to take one when McKenzie was still there. :(

 

  I sure love this girl!  Everyone talks about the dreaded teenage years. I have loved my teenagers so much!

                                                       Worn out.....

Madeline was my photographer this year. :)

 

 

I am always sad when another summer comes to a close.  Even though summer is far from over, our summer travels are over and school is right around the corner.  Thankful for the sweet memories we made this year!