Busy days....

Sometime in January the boys finished up their astronomy study with Madeline.  We are doing Apologia Anatomy and Physiology now.

I was at Aldi one day and saw some science kits and they had a planet one.  Malachi is my kid that loves to build and make things, so this kept him busy one afternoon.

 

I'm amazed at how much they learn!   There are so many things that I don't remember learning in school.  I love that homeschooling can make things come alive with field trips and extra projects!

                                               (Note to self:  Malachi needs a haircut. :)  )

Last weekend Mariah had her piano festival and she received "superior"!  She stays busy with piano and violin lessons, and this past fall added theater!  The girl keeps me hopping!

Her daddy took her and  of course, they had to stop for some coffee. :)

 

Today is the first day of spring, and it is actually cooler than it was last week!  I am ready for spring!!!

 

I love when the bulbs come up!  Daffodils always remind me of Madeline because I picked a bouquet of them while out walking when I was in labor with her!  We always know Madeline's birthday is near when we see them come up!

 

This was actually a couple of weeks ago.  Our woods are starting to look a little thicker and greener.  We have been letting the horses out of their pasture to graze since everything is growing.

 

I couldn't find the pictures that I took of the front of our house, but we had these huge bushes that the original owners planted.  For whatever reason they never cut them, so even with us trying to shape them over the years they just never looked very good.  My mom once told me the name of them, but I can't remember now.  I decided to let Matthew chop them all down, and the front of the house looks so much better now!  We figured with him butchering them to the ground that the stumps would die over the winter and we would plant something new.  Madeline spread pine straw across the front and I just enjoyed how much more open and "clean" it looked!  I noticed though that they are coming back!  I am really excited because number one, we won't have to spend money on more landscaping, but also because they looks so much thicker and healthier!  I plan to keep them very low since I really like the openness of the front porch. I will have to take pictures when we start planting flowers. :)  We also have a huge butterfly bush at the end of the front porch that is overgrown.  We plan to replace that this spring!  This is my favorite time of the year! :)

~Until next time...

Sunday afternoon ramblings...

You may notice that I have several new posts on here.  I decided today was the day to get some of my posts done. Life is speeding along and I feel like I am getting further and further behind. I changed the date on them,,,, because I'm a perfectionist that way. :)  I wanted the dates to line up closer to when it really happened. :) 

                                                   (I love early morning runs on my road.)

I am trying to respond to each e-mail I received about changing my blog to a private setting.  I don't have a clue how to go about doing it yet, or how to "add readers".  I will let you know if I do but realistically, it probably won't happen until school is out.

It was really fun to hear from some of you!  I had no idea who even read my blog. I'm definitely not a "cool" blogger and not interested in becoming famous or anything. LOL.... I just enjoy writing about our family and the things going on with us. I have so much fun going back on old posts.  It is bittersweet to see memories and wonder where the years have gone! 

One reader wrote and told me that my blog was an encouragement and a calming presence in a negative world!  I loved that!  When more people used to blog, I always enjoyed the "real life" peek into the lives of other families.  I miss that now!  If any of you blog please send me your link!  I know many people are gravitating to FB and Instagram.  While I am on both, I just don't enjoy them that much.

I also was encouraged by those of you that told me you have been praying for "Baby L"!  How cool is that!?  His story is an amazing one with God's hands all over it!  HE is working, and I pray that I will be able to write all about it one day soon!  In the meantime... please pray that it would be "sooner rather than later" and that no more delays will happen!

Well, it is Sunday evening as I sit to finish this post.  Marc took Malachi and Myles back to church tonight to start a series on Revelation.  Matthew won tickets to a Mercy Me concert and he took his three sisters with him.  Isn't that the sweetest! :)  I love that they enjoy being together.... even now that they are grown.  McKenzie told me today that she felt bad that I was not going and that I could take her ticket.  LOL... I told her I was just fine staying home this evening!  I guess I am getting old, but the thought of that "noise" all evening did not appeal to me.  We have had a really long week and I am enjoying the two "littles" by myself this evening. I will have to post about what we went through with Macheus.  Oh my.... it was a very long week!

~Until next time....

(And please don't critique my writing today. I have not proofread any of these posts! :)  )

A sunday...

walk in the park.

 

The "big kids" all went out of town to a dance class that a church was hosting.  It was such a warm day that we loaded the four youngest and went to hike a trail.

                                                     Boys belong outside!

The sticks, rocks, and water provided entertainment for hours!

My sweet little "charmer".  He loves his mama! <3 p="">

This past year has been one of much stress!  Thankful to walk it with this man!

Oh how this baby boy is loved!  These two are inseparable!

                                                Goofy boys!

                                               lachi was being our tour guide. :)

We have lots of pictures of "Baby L".  I hate that I can't show them!

 

Thankful that the winter is almost over.  It has been fairly mild, but we have had lots of rain and sickness everywhere!  We have tried to stay away from crowds as much as possible, but we still managed to get a cold that went through the entire house!  Malachi picked up a stomach virus from somewhere, but thanks to charcoal and grape juice the rest were spared!
 

Happy Birthday, Madeline!

We celebrated Madeline's birthday on March 3rd!

McKenzie is always such a big help with our parties! She picked up flowers and balloons for me because... I forgot! :)

We had three pans of chicken (one gluten free), three pans of macaroni and cheese (one gluten free), biscuits, and a huge salad!  McKenzie made a beautiful gluten free cake, and of course, the best pictures are on my camera!

Myles likes to be helpful. :)

 

Her birthday was pretty memorable!  Storms came through and there were tornadoes all around us!  Thankfully, none of them came close to us, but we did have the kids go into the closet for a little while.

And, since this post is about Madeline.....  Her life has changed a bit since the beginning of the year!  She took a year off from college after she got her Associates because she couldn't find a school that offered an online option for what she wanted to study.  The music school where she has taught piano for the last couple of years was closing after the first of the year, and she was struggling with what she was going to do.  However, like always... God had it!  She found a school that offered the degree she wanted to get and she started back in January! I told her not to worry about getting a job, that I would be happy to pay her to help me with home schooling the boys!  God had other plans though and she literally was contacted by the local newspaper the day after her piano job ended!  She was hired immediately as a journalist!  Pretty cool for a "not quite 20 year old"!  She is super busy these days, but I'm excited to see what all the Lord has in store for her!

I'm very thankful that the Lord put this girl in our family!  She is a sweet presence and a blessing to us all!

Macheus' birthday

Macheus requested homemade pizza for his birthday this year.  The girls took over and did an amazing job! Homemade whole wheat pizza crust and lots of yummy toppings. 

 

While they worked on dough, he got to watch movies. :)  Happy kid! :)

Always sweet to have grandpa here. 

 

 Macheus  made his own pizza and was pretty proud of it!

His favorite little friends... his niece and nephew. <3 p="">

He had requested a "black" cake, but Madeline wanted to try a "burnt caramel" cake that she learned how to make at a ladies' gathering at church.  The cake was amazing, but McKenzie made  sure Macheus still got his "black cake"!  He thoroughly enjoyed his cupcake the next day!

 

One of his gifts was a wooden truck that he got to paint. 

 

Malachi is a very creative fellow and was just the guy to help him get it done!

I still can't figure out how to get my pictures off my new camera, but I wanted to go ahead and get his birthday post done!  Lots going on and life doesn't seem to ever slow down!

 

Macheus

This little guy turned 6 on February 2nd! 

 

I am so behind posting things on here.  I got a new camera for my birthday back before Christmas, and I've yet to learn how to save the pictures to my computer!  I have only used my iPhone for the past few years!  It is SO nice having a real camera again!  Hopefully I will get them on here soon and can share about this sweet boy's birthday!

We have a lot going on.  Things with "Baby L" are still rolling along.. but very slowly.  When people say the "system" is broken, they aren't kidding!  We have a wonderful DCFS here and our social worker has been great.  However, because they are overworked and underpaid, there is a big turnover and things often get overlooked.  We have spent all morning at the courthouse only to find out that our social worker didn't do some paperwork so the judge wouldn't even see us!   I look forward to the day that I can share more on here, but for now just keep praying!  God is working!

Which leads me to.... I have NO idea who even reads this blog.  There is so much unrest these days in our country, and I have been pondering things.  I am on Facebook and I have recently deleted quite a few people.  I share so much about my kids, and I just try to be careful who sees it.(Not to mention mean people have to go!)  I thought about this blog and wondered if I should make it private.  I have  journaled on here because I like saving the memories for my kids.  I miss the days when I had my "blog list" that I checked each day. Now everyone does social media, and I just don't like it as much.   Do any of you blog, and if so is yours private or open?  I'm not sure what I will end up doing, but if you would like to be added if I make it private feel free to e-mail me. maynor7@windstream.net

It is very late. I better head to bed...

~Goodnight

Laundry room makeover...

About a week ago I was in our laundry/mud room and noticed how cluttered and dark it looked.  I wish I had taken some "before" pictures but I didn't think about it.  The walls were a taupe color, and I had a tan valence on the door and café curtains on the window.  It was not a very cheerful space!

 

The weather is very dreary this weekend, so the pictures don't really do it justice on how bright and cheerful it really is. (Marc is replacing the outlets and switches today!  I think he has just about finished changing the whole house out  to white!)

Almost our entire house is repose gray now!  It is such a clean, peaceful color!  Another project we have been working on over the past year is getting rid of ALL of these ugly popcorn ceilings!  We have smooth ceilings in most of the house but we have done these ceilings in part of the house, and I love them!  Marc is planning to do that in this room soon!

I replaced the tan curtains with this light airy valence I found for $10!  Much better! :)

I couldn't get this picture to rotate, but I can't decide if I want to paint these cabinets or not. I'm leaning towards leaving them .

I like that I can look out the window and see the horse pasture now.

A closeup of the valence.  I am leaving the door window open. I'm not sure why I ever thought it needed a curtain. :)

I wish I had a before picture of this wall.  It had a terrible, bulky plastic thing on the wall that we had our reusable shopping bags, broom and "Sh-mop" (if you have wood floors you need one of those!)  hanging on it.  It was functional but very unappealing to look at every day.  We go in and out of this room all day, and it is the entry door that most people come in.  I really don't want to look at all of that junk.  I put the bags in the back of my van and tucked the broom and mop in the corner behind the freezer.

My mom bought me this freezer for Christmas 16 years ago, and we have never had a repair on it!  We have another chest freezer and a second refrigerator in our well house.  I have decided to sell the old fridge, move this freezer outside with the other one, and Marc told me I can get a new refrigerator for this space.  I can't buy a weeks worth of groceries at a time because I don't have enough room. (We go through a TON of fresh produce in a week!) We also have lots of fresh goats milk most of the year, and that takes up space too.  When you have a large family, and you eat most of your meals at home you go through a lot of food! :)  It isn't convenient to put our extra groceries outside, so I think having the extra fridge inside will be handy!  Mariah spent yesterday scrubbing the old fridge out to list and sell!

All of the cute little laundry signs came from Hobby Lobby. :)

 

Well, that was my weekend project!

~Until next time....