Rawr! Caden

No real reason for this pic, except this is my little guy being silly and fun.... 

Caden, 8... All boy! 

Beauty

Sahara (3)  [CORRECTION:  That is Sienna.  I am getting into to big of a hurry.  ;)  ]

I love this face!!  My prayer is that her inward beauty will match her outward beauty.    

You would never guess this is a quick snapshot at her siblings basketball game.  I think I need to print this for my wall!

My Rewards... My Blessings

The photo of my church journal says it all... 

Look a little closer... 

Do you see it?

My "rewards"... My "blessings" are all listed at the bottom.  These are my children.  

Ch-Ch-Changes... Blog Photo Update

It is amazing what how much the faces in your family change when you don't update your blog photo in THREE years.  Ha!  This is the 2011 photo and for the record I just did not realize so much time had passed:

Sierra, Sahara, Caden, Savannah, & Sienna

And this will be the new one... for 2014... 

Ummm, yeah.... that is a huge difference!  My baby is not even a baby anymore.  I remember thinking how grown up my kids were looking in that 2011 picture and well.... I could cry.  Only I won't because I am joyful that they are healthy, living, growing children and what more could a mother ask for?!  

And just so you know who is who is who in the new pictures...
Group pic is left to Right:
       Top... Sahara (5), Me (41), Caden (7), Savannah (13)
       Bottom... Sienna (3), Sierra (10)
Top Right:  
       Caden (7)
       Cody (41) with Sahara (5) photo bombing & putting a rabbit on his back
Bottom (left to right):
       Sierra (10)
       Sienna (3)
       Sahara (5)
       Savannah (13) 

Also, it may take me a while to figure out how to fix my edits... sigh... I can not remember how to make this look right... because it has been three years since I have done this stuff.  So, I need that picture larger and centered... and so, I have to wake my brain up.  ;)  Update:  I already figured it out... yippee!  Amazing!  For my own future reference (and anyone else that may need to know) I had to open my saved photo in "Paint" and changed the "resize" setting to 1600 megapixels wide and then save and upload the new photo.  I hope I remember to look here if I need to do this in the future.  Otherwise, I will probably do a whole new post for this same thing.
 

The New Van for Our Crew

I almost forgot to post the picture of the van.  It has been a craZy week here.  So, this is the new ride my little crew will be riding around in for the next 10 years or hopefully more.  Hopefully, it will carry us through many years, miles, and memories with our little family.  The weather has been bad and my husband has been sick since a couple of days after we got the van so we have not gone anywhere in it.  I made two trips to Wal-Mart for quick runs which is less than a mile from my house and that is all, so last night we loaded the kids up and the sick husband and went for a joy ride.  I did not realize that my husband has not even driven it, yet... even for the test drive!  That will change soon... after he is well I suppose.  I will be the one driving it most so, I did the test drive at the dealership since I need to make sure I can handle driving it.  Honestly, you would be surprised to find that it drives very much like a minivan.  It is just a little bigger and I would say that it drives sort of like a large truck.  I feel very confident driving it.  I think the only thing that would make me nervous is backing it up and parking it, but it has a backup camera and sensors that beep if you get too close to something.  The really great thing about the backup camera is that you don't just get the view out the back window.  You see all the way to the ground, so you see if you are going to back over a toy, curb, person, etc..  

We all really enjoyed our little ride last night and one of the things we purchased for our kids for Christmas was a dual screen portable DVD player for travel so we got to try that out last night, too.  Now, let me shift gears a bit and go all "frugal talk" on you.  Originally, I had purchased a dual screen DVD player in mid-November for $99, but my husband went to some of the Black Friday sales and was able to get a similar one for $49 and I returned the one I had bought.  That is HALF the cost!!!  Okay, back to the topic at hand.  We drove all over so my husband could see how it rides... down, small roads, bumpy roads, long smooth highways, over railroad tracks and even to Wal-Mart, again... so I could run in and get my sickly husband more juice and extra meds for his throat.  All was happy in van land because they were watching a movie in their new comfy ride.  Clearly it does not take to entertain us all.  I considered treating them to ice cream... but... I cringe at the thought.  Ha!  I think I will wait until a warm day when we can order ice cream and eat it OUTSIDE the van.  I have already gone to the auto parts store and looked at options to completely cover the carpet to save it from us all and I am considering Scotch Guard for all the seats.  Yes, I may be a bit extreme, but I want it to last and be a nice vehicle for our family.  It is nice to have something nice.  Not that our other van was not nice, but it had already been through 10 years of us... and... well... it just wasn't quite as new anymore.... the carpet did not fair well with drink spills.  I plan to try to do better with this one.  

I was about to end this post, but in keeping with my recent decision to make this blog about how we make it all work as a large family I want to also include the budget aspect of this van for us.  You might be asking how we have a large family and afford to just go out and buy a new van like this.  Well, I want to be sure that I answer that question.  Our budget is low for our family size and in all honesty we are considered poverty level, but you would never know that because we are totally not in poverty.  We have well above what we need and even well above our "wants" most of the time.  For the last couple of years we have been totally debt free.  That means our house, cars, etc. are completely paid for and the only bills we have or monthly expenses like electric, water, gas, food, life insurance, etc..  

We are not longer debt free after this purchase.  ;)  BUT we did not just go out and buy "new".  It is mostly new and new to us.  We actually looked at and older van that would have been a great purchase, as well, but when I considered the years ahead and how many years I would need to make sure this last for the cost difference we decided this was the choice for us.  We don't buy new.  The reason is that as soon as you drive that thing off the lot it depreciates greatly (meaning the value instantly goes down).  This van is a 2013 "program car" and it only has 25,000 miles on it.  It was HALF the cost of a new one just like it.  HALF!!!  We got it for $19,900.  We did buy the additional 7 year warranty knocking that up almost $3,000 more, but our experience had been that those warranties pay off in many cases.  And we did not HAVE to do that.  So, what is a "program car"?  I think that can mean many things, but my understanding is that this vehicle was on lease to someone and once the lease was up they turned it in for a new one.  I believe this one may have been a rental van because there was a small sticker on the window stating that there would be a $250 fine for smoking in it.  This van shows no wear except that there are some very light spills on a couple of the seats (and you have to look very hard... and I plan to clean them off).  There was a tiny ash tray part missing in the back which will be replaced under warranty and I just need to go to my local Ford dealership and order that part this week.  To finance this van with really low interest (2.?%... I can not remember exactly) will only add about a $1,000 over the lifetime of the loan and our payments per month will be about $552 a month for 5 years.  Of course, we plan to pay that off early.  Consider this, also... I will be selling my other van.  We could have traded it in for $3,000, but we can sell it ourselves for closer to $5,000.  Normally, I would immediately take that money and pay it directly to the car payment, but in this situation we are actually supposed to be saving for another upcoming expense so we plan to immediately apply the money to that savings when the older van sells. Sometimes we juggle money here to make things work, but we make it work and that is all that counts in the end. 

To elaborate a little further I could have this payment for the van and a payment for the other savings (medical) and that would be two bill payments each month.  The way we will be doing it we will still have the same result (amount of money financed), but only one payment for the van.   The medical will be paid off and it will all be at the low interest of the van financing. If I chose to put the sell of my older van towards this payment, I would knock that loan down quick but I might end up needing to finance the medical at a much higher interest rate (using a credit card of line of credit account at probably a 9-10% interest). In the big picture the way we have chosen will save us money on interest fees.  I should note that I still plan to save the medical amount if I can swing it from my monthly budget and that money will just build our savings for any other needs.  We also plan to pay the van off early buy making extra payments when possible.  The goal will be to eventually be debt free again soon.  I'll update on all that much later as time passes.  Feel free to question me on that and hold be accountable in the future.  I love having budget buddies!           

Homeschool Field Trips: Necessary or Not?

I am going to start by answering that question.  Are homeschool field trips necessary or not?  I think not; however, they can add so much fun to the journey.  I think the trick is in choosing your field trips wisely and not overwhelming yourself with too much on your plate.  Many times I have let that happen because I did not want to miss some event.  You have to choose what is truly worth your efforts and if it is truly worth your effort you might need to scale back some school assignments during that time frame to avoid becoming overwhelmed.

Another thing that I like to do is if I we are having a field trip venture I like to plan it later in the afternoon if it is close by so that we can get some lessons in beforehand.  I just feel accomplished if the kids get some lessons in and we can relax more on our field trip.  And if we are going to be out and it is a short event I try to squeeze in more than one event into the trip.  Recently, we went on a spur of the moment field trip to a pumpkin patch at a local farm (about 30 minutes away from our house).  We purposefully planned it for 3:PM, so we could do lessons early in the day.  And since we were already out and about I kept my eye open for other things we could do as we were travelling down the road.  I noticed a park (because if all else fails kids always love a park), a pottery shop (did not have time for that one that day), a small pond with a watermill (but it was on private property), and a sign that said "Rock Shop" in front of an old building that did not even really look opened.  After our pumpkin adventure I decided to pull into the rock shop.  I left the kids in the van (right by the entrance to the store) and darted inside to take a quick peak.  What looked like nothing from the outside turned out to be a hidden treasure and I had the kids unload and we toured the rock shop. 

Just from those two events that day we learned a lot.  It sounds like we just goofed off at a pumpkin patch and a rock shop for a little while, but it was much more than that.  There was so many levels of learning involved and so many topics of learning.  At the pumpkin patch we were able to learn about many varieties of pumpkins (10 or more), observe old farm implements (hand push plows), harvest sunflowers (at a bargain of 25 cents a piece), interact with an elderly gentleman (yes, there is much to learn this way), learn about gourds and the proper harvest time, observe an old crank operated corn shucker and bring home our own Indian corn, and the list does on.  At the rock shop we were able to have a brief geography lesson and we plan to go back to that little shop for more teachable moments as we study geography.  And again we were also able to interact with another elderly gentleman that owned the store.  The older generation has so much to share with us if we take time to listen to them. 

Another great way to experience field trips in on the WEEKEND, so it does not interefere with lessons at all.  I love these because Daddy gets to tag along.  Often, Daddy is less than enthusiastic, but it good for us all none the less.  Daddy likes to be on the go, so slowing down to observe little details sometimes gets him antsy.  He likes to whiz through much of the stuff that we could all spend hours at.  Recently, we dragged him to a little historic site while we were out running an errand.  He learned to sllllooooowww down.  It is hard for him sometimes, but good for him.  They all posed for pictures on the porch of an old homesite and then, we meandered around and found a few pecans that Cody and I cracked and nibbled at while the kids played.  The kids go to be put in jail in a little replica jail.  And the weekend before that we dragged him to a Heritage Festival.  We could have spent the whole day, but we settled for a couple of hours.  And in those two hours we learned so much.  Field trips can be a fun way to learn without the kids realizing they are learning at all.  There was weaving and tanning hides, blacksmithing, a potter spinning pottery on a leg powered wheel, spinning wheels, basket weaver, musicians playing their music, Hawaiian dancers demonstrating many styles of dancing, a museum of old wagons and their purposes detailed out, Native American Indians showing their crafts, pioneer clothing and so many things I could never list it all.  There is much to learn this way. 

Occassionally, there is a really special trip that Cody will take off work for.  A few weeks back we went to a One Room Schoolhouse.  Now, that sounds like something you would tour like a museum and be done, but no this was much more.  We were there for four hours.  We dressed in pioneer clothing and actually had school in the schoolhouse for a few hours.  The kids did real lessons the way they would have if they had attended that school in the late 1800s.  After that they had time in the museum that was spent with the teacher teaching them and showing them items.  Afterwards, they went outside for recess and games and drinking from the water pump. I think it was the best field trip ever... or pretty close.  We have done some great ones. 

 **** That is all the pics you get... sorry.  My computer is tired or I am making the internet tired... ****

So, we love our field trips.  It is not for everybody, but I don't really enjoy "classroom teaching" so the field trips are great for us.  One last thing is I like to change them up.  I don't want to see the same thing over and over in most cases and if I do I like to skip a year or two between the things that we repeat or see what the interests are of my current age grouping.  We love live theater and are blessed to get to see Snow White in ballet annually, but last year we skipped do take a break from it.  Seussical the Musical on the other hand is something we do EVERY year and do not like to miss at all.  Actually, we just saw that one last week and it was awesome, as usual. 

****I wrote this post a few weeks back and did not post it because I wanted to take another look at it before posting.  I am so thankful that I had loaded the pictures in this post because I thought I had lost them forever.  I destroyed my camera and possible all my pictures that were on the memory stick while on vacation.  God knows my heart's desires and I was really sad that I did not have these fall pumpkin patch pictures.  I may not have them all, but these few make my heart rejoice!****

Easter Pic 2012

I can't say this is the best Easter pic we have ever taken, but they are all there and that is what matters the most.  Savannah (11), Sienna (1), Sierra (8), Sahara (3), & Caden (5)

I took the older two girls shopping for dresses with all the little ones in tow on our dentist day.  Whoa!  That was crazy!  But we came up with two dresses and we all agreed we could live with these dresses and end the shopping spree.  Let's just say that Caden and Sahara spell t-r-o-u-b-l-e and they were very restless after being gone all day.  I normally will not choose a sleeveless spaghetti strap dress, but these were very well fitted around the arms and chest area and were ankle length.  I think they still fit the "modest" category for us and with the Texas heat, so I decided they did not have to wear a shrug.  I was excited to realize when I got home that Sahara had a hand-me-down dress of Sierra's that coordinated and Sienna had a new dress that she got for her birthday that also coordinated.  On another outing I was able to find a lime shirt for Caden to wear with pants he had.  The two older girls were already in need of Spring/Summer shoes to wear with dresses and we made a late night run and found a solution to that issue.  Yeah!  All had outfits without a huge ordeal or huge expense. 

 And I just want to share this pic of Sienna on her first Easter egg hunt.  She basically crawled to her egg because she was too excited to walk.  She had to get out of that Easter dress that was making it hard for her to crawl, so she is wearing some comfy play clothes that she can get messy in. I just love the look of deep thought on her face here.  She actually did eat some boiled egg, which was a huge surprise to me since she absolutely will not eat scrambled eggs. 

 And here are some of our beautiful peeled hard boiled eggs.  I just love to see how much of dye transfers onto the actual inside egg.  So pretty!

And Savannah is being very silly like she is going to take a bite out of the butter.  And we don't usually have such pretty butter, but this was one of our purchases from our dairy farm field trip.  Look close at the beautiful flower.  I just love that! 

I was actually sick on Easter this year, but did not realize it until after church.  I was very weak and feverish, so I did not quite accomplish my plans for our Easter day celebrations.  That's okay, though.  I got to spend it with my little family.

Lots of Faces!

I just love all these little faces! 

I took these pics on Friday the 13th!  I have has always claimed it as the opposite of what people say.  I always say it is my lucky day... and I think because I "claim" it always seems to be.  My original reason for "claiming" it is that I was born on the 13th, so I never liked being told it was an unlucky number and especially when my birthday fell on a Friday I did not like the idea that my birthday was unlucky.  We can find the "bad" in a day if we are looking for it.  Why focus on the "unlucky" parts of the day.  Anyway, now I also "claim" it because I just don't think Christians should be superstistious.  Anyway, I just wanted to share these pics of my kiddos.

Just A Few Pictures So You Know What These Kiddos Look Like

I thought I would share a few photos, since I am so bad about not doing that. Those little faces on my sidebar have aged by about a year and a half! Maybe some day I will update those! ;) For now I will just share a few snap shots that kind of reflect normal life around here.

This is Sierra doing a little of her math.... outside. We have been trying to get outside and enjoy the fabulous whether we have been having this fall. I wish it was like this most of the year! I could really get use to temps ranging in the 70s and mid-80s for the highs. Check out Sierra's giant marker she created while we were sitting here. She was quite proud of herself. I want to note that this year when I bought the new Crayola Washable Markers I was a little surprise by the solid black tube. I am quite impressed that Crayola made this switch for environmental reasons. The only down side that I have found is that when the cap is not on the marker you don't know what color you have. Or if your six year old mixes up her marker caps and you decide to borrow one you might want to read the tube BEFORE writing. Twice I have been surprised by the color that comes out on my paper. ;) This problem could easily be solved for pre-readers by putting a color dot or sticker on the side of the tube.

This is Savannah looking at her math book. She does a lot of "looking at it" as this is the first year we have used a textbook. She has had a hard time with this switch, but the math, Rod & Staff, is a great book. I am very pleased with the layout of the book. I do sometimes wish it was a workbook, though.

This pic is of Savannah, Sierra, and Caden.
They were ready to play cowboys and indians with another homeschool family. All those things are homemade stick horses. That mischevious grin that Sierra has is because she is pointing a toy gun at the camera. Caden is pretty excited, too. Can you tell?! Savannah is looking very tall and grown up in the pic with exception to riding her zebra stick horse. She will be ten next month and Caden will be four this week! Time is flying by!

I caught Caden "reading" to Sahara while we were doing some school work. This was a sweet moment. He was telling her about all the pictures of our family at the zoo in this little scrapbook. I love sweet moments like this because usually when they disappear for a couple of minutes around the corner it looks more like this.....

Ooooooh! That was bad day when Daddy got home.... we were very busy with schooling that day and time got away from me and we did not get it cleaned up before Daddy got home. We meant to. In fact, that is the only reason I took a pic. I thought I would show Cody what the missed out on.... but he got to see it himself. Not a good moment!

But you can't stay mad at this face long! Even with snack crumbs on his face he is pretty cute. All boy... All mischief... all mess maker and he is pretty good at recruiting Sahara to be his "partner in crime". They do get in a lot of trouble on a daily basis!

Answer To "Can You Guess..."

Sorry to keep you waiting. I posed the question a couple of days ago of what this is.

I got some very interesting responses. No, it is not new carpet and , in fact, if I get the chance for home renovation all the carpet is going to go. In fact, this pic is not even taken in our home. Yes, I hope the feet are clean... they look clean to me. ;) No, these feet were not ready for bed. In fact, they had a much more important duty on this day. We did not get a "manicure" on these feet, but they were in for quick soaking. ;) No, as far as we know there is no toe fungus... and after that comment I did zoom in on this pic to see if they look fungus ridden. LOL! And lastly, I do think they are adorable feet, too!

These feet have now been "washed white as snow". You see, these feet are sweet little baptism feet! My nine year old daughter, Savannah, was baptized Sunday morning. Standing there waiting I just could not help taking a picture of those sweet little feet.

And this is a pic of her coming up out of the water. Isn't that the most fabulous thing to get to see your child take that step in faith?! This is what is all about right here. And is such an exciting time. Full of questions, nervousnees, joy, and an eagerness to tell the world. When I say "this is what it is all about", don't misunderstand me. I don't mean that it is all about be simply proud of her. I mean, knowing that she truly understands what she is doing. Honestly, she made her decision some time back, but she did not understand it.... and she was afraid of drowning. ;) After many discussions over the last year she finally came to the conclusion that they would not drown her. She then became instantly ready to make her "Profession of Faith" in church and could hardly stand the wait until she was actually baptized.

Savannah

Walk Down for Spiritual Counsel on January 24, 2010

Public Profession of Faith on January 31, 2010

Baptized on Sunday, February 7, 2010

Can You Guess....?

.... what this is?

Daddy Love

Cody & Sahara

at the lake

November 2009

Pics from yesterday...

Firecraker #1 and Firecrcker #2 baking rolls... trying on their bandana skirts... Miss Modesty wanted hers ankle length. I hope she will always be so modest ;) When I get all the outfits done, I'll post that. The girls helped sew theirs, so it has been a slow project to get completed!

Little Firecracker shining her RAZOR teeth.... Those chompers are cute, but the worst thing ever for nursing.... I am daily consider if we can go on... They are all different and she is not biting me, but has always had a tight latch-on. Yowweeeeee!

Ready to eat... Simple fixings... I told the girls they could have made this meal all by themselves.... I have to learn to LET them!

Boy Firecracker is just too beautiful for words.... look at those fluffy cheeks, full lips, and long eyelashes.... Dreamy!! I tell everyone he is the "Man of My Dreams"! He is gonna have one lucky wife with all his handsomeness! (..coming from a partial momma)

Little Firecracker can Patty-Cake! Yeah, we still think she is pure genius... even with all her delays... At 11 months she still can't crawl or sit herself up.... well, she did sit up a couple times without realizing it, but it is just easier to whine and one of us do it for her... so, spoiled rotten... She scoots around in circles on her booty.

My "twin" firecrackers were born years apart... one male and one female, but they look so much alike. They are wrestling in the bounce house.

These two were enjoying the balls, but Sahara was scared to be alone. She only smiled if her Sissy was near. Safety in numbers, ya know.

Savannah liked the bowling, but Brother Firecracker was busy destroying any chance she had to bowl... He was kicking them down... That's one way to do it!

I do exist... here's a pic to prove it! A rare moment when I am in a photo. Sierra stuck some "bunny ears" on Sahara! Cute moment!

Savannah was excited about the bounce house! She asked me why her mouth is opened in this pic.... I told her she as very excited, obviously.

Wow! Another pic I am in! What's going on! Daddy stepped behind the camera for a change for a group shot... Yippppppeeee!

Taking a short ride down the rode to set off some fireworks.... Sahara had already had her fill, but she was hanging in there a little longer! Caden was anxious to see where we were going.

"I love these type of pics... They are watching Daddy light the fireworks, while I observe my "little doorsteps"... .they grow up too fast.... and check out my little guys bronze body!

I must tell you we all feel like we are "hung over" today... and no, we only had tea and Kool-Aid... We are just tired... exhausted really, but it was a fun night!

HAVE A BLESSED DAY!!!