The Fabulous Fishbowl

Next Project- Replacing Siding and Deck Damage

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 05:28:00 +0000

Photos coming soon of this fiasco! To make a long story short… we have this weekend only to replace the water damaged siding on the back of our house, and the rotted deck boards on our back deck. Why??? Because we are trying to get this house refinanced and we don’t want to lose our locked in rate. Such a pain in the you know what! I was planning on designing and having the King Fish built several raised garden beds for our garden this Spring/Summer. But that had to be put off. Ugh!
So while The King Fish works on that project, I am on Pinterest gathering ideas for our next several projects! Care to know what we’ll be attempting next? Well the following are in the running.
1. Swap bedrooms so the two oldest boys can finally have their own room, and Small Fry and Munchkin can share a room. This will probably happen sometime late this summer. The big guys and I are gathering ideas on Pinterest for how they want to decorate their rooms. One wants to go all out SPORTS. At least he is into having a chalkboard wall so he can draw his own sports stuff on their, which will save me on the bright team colors! He wanted to go Kelly Green and Gold and Orange. Ummmm….. NOT! Unless you have a hunting theme or Duck Dynasty. LOL! He wants a big cool mural on the wall, and I can see it black and white too. I think his space will end up looking cool. The other son wants to go vintage/industrial. I am very psyched about his room. He wants to go “”junking” with me at architectural salvage shops,the habitat for humanity re-store, flea markets and yard sales to find the stuff to decorate his room. A kid right up my alley! I have an old 1920’s wooden office chair that he can totally borrow (it was my dad’s and who knows where he got it, plus we have an antique typewriter that he could totally use in his space as well. Music/guitars and old license plates plus industrial lighting will grace his space. Below are some ideas I’ve been checking out.

2. The second option is to re-do the dining room. That one “seems” like it would be pretty simple. But nothing is ever really simple here at our house. We always seem to start a project and find that it requires more work than we initially thought. The dining room needs to be reconfigured and a piece of furniture needs to come out. It is tight in there….. We use it for a work station for school, and for china storage etc… and for eating whenever we have friends over, which is rare. Plus it’s where I teach my classes to kids outside the home. I need more space in there and the table can expand to seat 10 comfortably, but right now it can’t because it’s at an angle. I need everything back and straightened up. We would have to change the doorway trim on two doors in the dining room, change the window trim, and then add new boards and batten (but more formal) to the lower part of the walls. It currently has crown molding and beautiful dental molding that the previous owners did not paint. So that will have to be done. Plus, I want to stain the pretty buffet I bought two years ago. I have no idea what color I will go. I am leaning toward a sea blue/green. My friend painted her shutters and door that color and it transformed her house. Here is the molding I am thinking about for the lower half of the wall.

3. Third option is to re-do the doorway trim and baseboard molding in the upstairs hallway. We already have all the paint we need, it would just be a matter of changing out the trim. I would also love to have the King Fish add crown molding upstairs, but that will probably have to come later…. if I just get the doorways changed and the wall re-painted I will be happy!
4. The garden is a given. But I really would like to add raised bed this year. I think it will make the prep work much easier next year, AND keep the critters like chipmunks etc out of the garden. Or at least keep most of the critters out. I was thinking of a couple raised beds like this. I think if you click on the photo it will take you to a great step by step link of how to build this yourself.

5. Finally, What I would really like to do is put a fence around our entire property. I am really tired of dogs coming into our yard and using it as their personal bathroom. Plus Munchkin is scared to death of dogs and we have two neighbors in particular whose dogs get out all the time. I would like to keep them out of our play area. Plus I think a fence would add character and when combined with the right landscaping…. it can add privacy. We desperately need privacy in our side yard! I LOVE the fence below. It really goes well with the farmhouse type clapboard and it looks just beautiful with the flowering dogwoods that provide some privacy.

So there you go! My dreams for projects for this year. Not sure if we’ll get all of them done, or maybe one or two. But I’m having fun on Pinterest gathering a multitude of ideas for when we are ready to move forward!

Front Entryway Staircase Reveal!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 04:42:00 +0000

I have been meaning to post this forever…. and tonight seems like the best time. We are finally finished with the entryway and staircase! It took us over 2 months to complete the ginormous project! DIY is not for the faint of heart, especially when you have 4 kids who you also homeschool….. Yikes!!
Below are before and after photos of the stairs and some of the entryway…. but unfortunately I took very few before photos of the doors and walls. I absolutely love the board and batten on the walls and all the new craftsman style door trim. It adds such character! And speaking of character, the new coat hooks are very vintage, and I love the toile curtain to hide the shoe storage by the front door. I think I’ve had that fabric for over 3 years, and have wanted to implement that idea for-ev-ah! So glad I got around to it. I totally made that freestyle, and somehow it worked….. Ha! Lots of imperfections, but I kept thinking I am not going for perfection here… just pretty.
Okay, so NOW here are the photos… enjoy!

Stairs before Stairs After

These are two doorways with the old builder’s trim. Paint color swatches on wall… I ended up liking NONE of them. LOL!

New board and batten and trim over dining room doors.

New trim over homeschool room door, and vintage coat hooks. Love!

Niche by front door where we store our shoes. Now hidden by toile fabric. Pretty!

Best photo of the stairs, board and batten going up the wall and the door trim.

Have I mentioned that I LOVE it???? :-)

Ripping carpet from the stairs!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 17:46:00 +0000

I cannot believe it has been this long since I've blogged. Those with 4 kids will understand. Life gets really really busy. I wish I had the time to write like I used too, but I am homeschooling 3 right now, and teaching an Intro to Spanish class at co-op and a Middle School Literature and Composition class at my home. Not to mention Lego Robotics that just wrapped up! Our team took 2nd place OVERALL in the state!! A-Maz-Ing!
Okay, so our family celebrated Christmas, and my one present I asked for was that the carpet be pulled up off the stairs so I could stain them or paint them. Great idea right?! Um.... well, unfortunately we did not find anything good under the stairs. Just builders quality pine boards. Ugly. At least it was wood, though.. right? However, the builders left large gaps between the stairs and the wall. We were going to have to address some major details. We weren't going to be able to just sand and slap some stain on these bad boys, no... we had some things to figure out. (The hard way).
The King Fish didn't want to pull out all the treads, but our stairs squeaked and creaked so badly, that it just made sense to deal with that problem now... rather than leave it. Gosh he was not very happy! (But it was the right thing to do!--- he even says so .... Now.)
If The King Fish and I are nothing else, we can be resourceful. Unfortunately, we learn a lot by trial and error. The stairs project has been no exception. Not only did we have the gaps to deal with, but the builders had drywall sandwiched between the stairs and trim. That needed to come off too if we were going to expose those stairs. I wish I had a picture of that, but dh was quick to pull it down.
The stairs are thankfully back up, and I am happy to report that they are SQUEAK FREE! If we don't go a step farther, that was worth it just to have silent wood stairs to climb up and come down. We just not stained or painted yet. My color issues are coming into play again as I realize we have 5 inch cherry planks at the base of the stairs, and I have to watch that the color doesn't go too dark. So my original stain choice is out the door, and The King Fish is getting new samples as I type. If I end up hating everything and how they look stained, then I am going to paint the stairs with a runner.
Below are some photos of where we are now in the process, plus some inspiration photos as well.
~Jackie

My Vegetable Garden….in loving memory.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 06 May 2012 01:44:00 +0000

For the past two years I have chatted on Facebook with my friend Christina about wanting to plant a garden. I am not the vegetable garden type, or the vegetable loving type for that matter either. I prefer a potato chip to a vegetable, but that’s another story for another time. A garden really intrigued me, and I really wanted to try to grow our own food… to be a little more self sustaining. The problem was I hadn’t the foggiest idea how to go about it. I am talking clueless! Picture “city girl trying to do some kind of farm work in the country”. That would be me. Last spring I posted an SOS on my friend’s wall asking what website to go to to find out what I needed to know. She sent me a link and encouraged me with this, “Jackie- You can do it!”
Christina, my Facebook and IRL friend, passed away this past fall unexpectedly. I wrote about it here. The weeks and months after her death, I thought about her and the ways in which our lives connected (mostly via the net). She inspired me in so many area of her life; from having goats and chickens, to making homemade yogurt and bread to having her own vegetable garden. I wistfully thought of attempting things of that nature…. the things my crunchy, granola, Facebook friend did. She was so different than me, and yet accepted our differences with ease and grace.
This year I knew that I would plant a garden. In my own mind…. in my own way… I knew it would be in memory of her. She would be really proud of me. I posted Facebook photos of my little space, and I surely missed her comments that I know would have been there.
Christina, I did it! I actually planted a vegetable garden. You’re still inspiring me to grow and change.

The corn is growing well, as are the pole beans.

The garden-hard to see but sweet bell peppers and tomatoes are on the left and strawberries line the right.

Small tomato starting to grow…

Jabber Jaws spinach that he just had to plant!

Close up of the corn and beans.

Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 02:35:00 +0000

It is hard to believe that it’s been this long since I’ve blogged. Life is crazy! Homeschooling my kiddos is busy! Good, but it keeps me busy and away from this blog. Oh well, I guess I’ll just update a little at a time, and then maybe I’ll get caught up.
School
School has gone really well this year. We are in the final stretch, and trying to complete major projects for the end of the year. My older boys take outside classes in subjects that I do not excel at…. and so we have a Science Fair project coming up, and a big history presentation. We also have Finals in both of those subjects as well. I say “we” because I will be making sure the studying gets done etc. We will still be doing school through the summer in Math. The boys will have some vocabulary to finish this summer, and then I am making them do some summer reading. (I know what a terrible mom!!) They are going to have to read at least 4 books and they will also be writing papers on them. It’s not THAT bad, and it will keep their writing skills fresh.
Small Fry has started K4 this Spring, and will be in K5 next year (here at home). I am so impressed at how his fine motor skills have improved over the last year. His gross motor skills have always amazed me, but his fine motor skills seem to have caught up. He cuts with scissors so well, and his coloring is really good! His own creative drawing could use some work, but we’ll get there. I am loving doing the K4 program with him, and how he is learning his vowel sounds and blends. I have saved both Tiger Shark and Jabber Jaw’s Kindergarten work, so it will be fun to pull it out and compare all three. (I love that I saved all that!!) ;-)
Munchkin is wanting to do everything his big brother does, but he can’t. He loves to color on blank white paper, and will ask to do so every day. He is also learning all his ABC’s through osmosis I think, because I am not formally doing anything with him. But he can point to letters and tell me what they are. Kind of scary really…. he’s only two! I’ll have to do a separate update on him later, as there is much to tell.
I am winding down this year and thinking about next year too. I will be doing Abeka’s K5 with Small Fry and I will do some fun Tot stuff with Munchkin. (Once he stops trying to put everything in his mouth). I think age 3 will be a good time to start some fun stuff with him. The big guys will still be taking Science and History outside of the home, which I love! At home I’ll be using Teaching Textbooks Algebra for math, Easy Grammar and Abeka Grammar and Composition, and some type of Spanish. I have also planned to teach a middle school boys literature and composition class with some friends. I am really looking forward to reading some great boy’s literature, and working with them on writing. Planning my books next month and working out the syllabus. Love it! The King Fish and I are also taking a lead role in Lego Robotics next year. That alone is VERY scary for me. I can organize, but there is a lot about Robotics that I really don’t know. Plus it’s at our home. And I don’t have a very neat or clean home… (just lots and lots of clutter!) I’m just praying it will be a good experience for everyone involved.
I guess that’s it for the school update. I’m sure there is more, but it’s all I have time for. I’m just glad I can get the Christmas pictures off the front page of my blog! And speaking of photos. We lost our camera on our trip to Florida to visit both sets of grandparents. UGH! I don’t even know where to look, and I can only hope it will show up in all the clutter.
Next update: Home stuff
Later,
~J

Please Consider Helping These Families!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:23:00 +0000

Adeye at No Greater Joy Mom (who I just love!) is trying to help about 20 adopting couples bring their children home. There are some urgent cases, and some where the financial mountain is so huge it's discouraging. So many of these couples are alone in this journey. It is sad to say, but very few churches "get it" concerning adopting, or they don't want to set a precedent in their congregations, and so they do nothing. I hate that. We have experienced that as well. One day I a going to write a post regarding my heart on that issue as well. But not for here....

No I just want you to go to Adeye's blog and view the couples up there who desperately need help. Then consider donating $10 or more. Every little bit helps. You may think, what can $10 do? But believe me it all adds up and immeasurably helps. It might help offset the cost of a plane ticket, or it may help pay visa fees, or passport fees for the new child.

If you donate a minimum of $10 you are also eligible for a drawing at Adeye's blog for a $250 Walmart gift card. I also have a friend who is on there who is trying to adopt a last chance orphan in Russia. He is 16 years old, and will be on the streets soon. He has an 8 year old brother who they are also trying to bring home. The amount they have to raise to adopt these two is staggering. Over $65,000. Crazy! She is also offering a $50 gift card to Target for anyone who donates a minimum of $10 to their adoption. So if you choose to donate to her family, you can leave a comment on her blog, to be in the drawing for a $50 Target gift card.

Whatever you do today, take some time to go to Adeye's blog and view the couples that are on there... and consider helping in whatever way you can!

Christmas Card Photos

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 05:28:00 +0000

Happy New Year from our house to yours!

Special Celebration!!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 05:02:00 +0000

Today marks a very special milestone…. My parents celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary today! They live about 9 hours away, so I called them, and found out they celebrated with a fancy dinner out. Beautiful restaurant, great view, delicious food! Yay! So in honor of them…. I am posting some photos of their wedding- 45 years ago. They got married in the Bahamas, because at the time, my dad was working as the Assistant Director of Golf, at one of the resorts down there. They looked stunning…Both of them! Of course, I am very biased. (The last photo is my favorite… )

Lego Robotics!!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 06:52:00 +0000

I know it’s supposed to be all about Christmas this time of year…. but I have to admit I am floundering with that whole holiday this year. I can’t seem to get my act together…. but my lamenting will have to wait for another day.
I want to share some photos and memories of our 3rd year at the state competition of Lego Robotics. I’ve had several people ask what exactly that is… and the closest I can come to describing it is this…
Basically it is a base robot, and you build it out with Legos. You design your own robot with attachments, touch sensors, light sensors, color sensors, etc. and then you program the robot to accomplish specific mission assigned to all the teams in the competition. Basically each team has a little over 8 weeks to design and program the robot to accomplish as many missions as they can. And it’s HARD! There is also a presentation/research portion each year based on that year’s Lego Robotics theme. This year the theme was on Food Safety, and each team had to brainstorm and come up with an area or topic in which there was a current problem with food safety and come up with an innovative solution. The team has to not only run the robot in several competitive runs, but it presents their research to the judges, and they are interviewed by the judges on robot design, teamwork and core values. It’s a full day…. but lots of fun too!
So since this year the theme was Food Safety, our kids chose Milk Safety as their topic. They chose to look at the safety of milk, not necessarily from a standpoint of kid’s allergies or anything, but the safety of the processing of milk. Apparently many larger milk companies have gone computer automated with their production and with the cooling temperatures. Our kids chose to look at it from a vulnerability standpoint of hackers trying to break in and waylay the safe storage and processing temperatures of milk. Pretty cool huh? Well guess what?? They won first place for their research project! (Uh-huh! That’s what I’m talking about….!)
I was so hoping for a 1st, 2nd or 3rd place finish in the overall competition, but we had some technical difficulties in our first two robot runs, and in our actual presentation. Next year we hope to rock it on the robot competition as well! Anyway, here are some pictures….

One hundred origami of milk cartons! yes, that was my idea…. much to my dread when we actually had to make those little suckers! Each team typically has a “giveaway” for the other teams at the competition. We wanted to incorporate the dairy theme into our giveaway, but we couldn’t find anything inexpensive. Then I found a video on how to make this milk carton origami. All we needed was paper and a printer… Voila! Awesome, inexpensive giveaway!

Our kids designed their own T-Shirts, and then they were hand painted by one of the moms. She did an amazing job! I did two of them for my little guys, and they were a bit messy.

No one noticed of course, because the “wearers” of the T-shirts were so darn cute!

The awesome presentation board. This is included for the judges, as well as a power point presentation that is all “kid made”. (These kids are smart!)

This young lady (with the yellow hat and balloon) walks around and interviews the teams before their robot competes on the main floor. The kids all loved her!

Jabber Jaw getting ready to do what he does best….

Jabber Jaw giving the team “interview”. They have a camera crew around too, that takes video of the event.

Jabber Jaw is also known as the team’s “happiness officer”. He definitely gets them all fired up!

Two of our team members getting ready to run the robot.

The last run they did SO well! This is their huddle/cheer before they broke away.

Totally fun, yet exhausting day! I’m so proud of our team and how they performed!

Jabber Jaw Celebrates a Birthday!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:56:00 +0000

Gosh, it seems like we have been celebrating a birthday every other day here… but it’s just my lack of blogging in between birthdays that makes it seem like they are so close. Regardless, our family celebrated Jabber Jaws 12th birthday. It’s hard to believe that next year we’ll have TWO teenagers in the house!
It’s always a busy time of year anyway, and then add to the fact that our family is still sick, we had a football tournament…. and well…. we were lucky to catch a free day to celebrate! But we did! Here are some photos to mark the occasion…. Jabber Jaw’s last year of the kid menus and 12 and under prices. (Okay, I’m just being a smart aleck). :-)

Presents and a football for the football theme

Balloons!

Brothers…. today they are friends… Little did either one know they would both have 101 degree fevers the next day.

The cake! I did not make this one. This used to be his favorite from a local bakery, but Jabber Jaw informed me that the cake I made for the King Fish was much better than this one…. Next year, I will make his cake. I love these candles!

Opening his “fake” present. We thought he saw one of his presents, that he was dying to get. So we wrapped up a DVD of Barbie Swan Lake and had him open it…. just what ever 12 year old boy wants for his birthday!

Opening his real present…. Star Wars Battlefront I, II and Republic Commando.

Obviously he is in shock! He was just hoping for one of those, but Amazon had it in a 3 disc set for the PC. (Much better than Barbie!)

Lovin’ his new Dolphins Sweatshirt…

Always the ham…. but he had a great day!

Munchkin Turns 2!!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 06:06:00 +0000

Okay, it was LAST month, that this event happened…. but better late than never! Actually, what’s motivating me is that this month we are celebrating Jabber Jaw’s birthday. I couldn’t put photos up of that, without having posted about our littlest guys celebration. No way! Besides, Tiger Shark’s tooth photos have been up here for way to long. Seriously.
SO our little munchkin loves Elmo. He loves to sing/say “Elmo” at different times throughout the day. He is actually just getting into Sesame Street. For awhile there, no TV show was of any interest to him…(only the cords BEHIND the TV).
Naturally, I wanted to do some kind of Sesame Street themed celebration. I was originally going to do Cake Pops, that I saw HERE. But everyone got sick with the flu, and so we were lucky to find a day that everyone felt well for Munchkin’s party. (We celebrated it a week and a half late…. shhhhh…… he doesn’t know.) Anyway, those cake pops were sooo not happening. I really wish I had time to make them, but I chose instead a simple 3 tiered cake. I made a white icing, and decorated the heck out of it with sprinkles, candy and fondant. It was my first 3 tiered cake. Here are some photos of the day.

Sesame Street Pinata

Elmo and the presents

Pin the Nose on Elmo

Pinata

Blowing out the candles!! Looks like he had a little help…..

Presents- One more Goodnight Moon book. (We now own three- but you can never have too many of his favorite book!)

Cookie Monster who actually eats cookies….

Tentatively feeding him a cookie…. (still holding his favorite book though)

The best shot I could get of all the crew…..

At the end of the day…. Munchkin had a BLAST!

The one with the knocked out tooth….

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 03:52:00 +0000

----------------------------------
I just posted how last week was a really rough week.
Well in the midst of all that happened that week, 3 of my 4 children were in bed with high fevers and flu symptoms.
One of my children also had a stomach bug…..
And not all at once either…
NO, that would be too easy, to just get it all over with at once.
No, this little virus spread itself out over a period of 2-3 days.
Thankfully it only lasted about 48 hours for each child… spread out over 2-3 days each.
--------------------------------------

And here is also what happened that week……

Not sure if you can see it, but Tiger Shark’s front tooth is knocked out. The one next to it was chipped too.
Poor kid!
He gave me his permission to post this photo on here. (Thanks son!)
He and his brother had spent the day playing at their friends’ house. It had been a quiet day of Lego Robotics, and Monopoly. I stopped by to pick them up and as usually happens, I got into a conversation with their friends’ mom. Needless to say we can talk awhile! So the kids went outside to play tag. I just had a feeling something was going to happen, as they chase each other hard, and there yard is not open and grassy. It’s got tight corners, tree roots, paved walkways and a concrete driveway. Several months ago Tiger Shark took a nasty fall playing tag, and I thought for sure he broke his shoulder. He was okay them, but this time he broke his tooth.
It happened so quickly, one minute he was fine, and the next he was wiped out with his tooth broken into many pieces. Naturally it was a Saturday evening and all dental offices are closed. My heart just sunk when I saw his permanent front tooth, and my mind just started racing thinking about what to do. Surprisingly, with four boys, this was our family’s first experience with broken teeth. Tiger Shark was so worried about losing his permanent tooth, but his daddy knocked both of his front teeth out, so after hearing from The King Fish, he felt a lot better. I called our dentist’s emergency number, and they got back to me later that evening. Our dentist actually met us at their office on Sunday afternoon, so they could remove the nerves and pack the tooth, and start him on an antibiotic. He went in for the rest of the work the next day. Tiger Shark was a trooper through the root canal, and the insertion of the post and new tooth. I was so proud of him and how brave he was.
There must be something about boys and knocked out teeth. I grew up with just me and my sister, and I would die of mortification to go out in public with my tooth knocked out. But for a boy it must be like a right of passage or something…. battle scars. He went to church the day after it happened, and was smiling the whole time. He really handled the whole situation well, and I couldn’t be prouder.
Here he is below, the proud owner of a new front tooth. Love that boy!

Legacy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 04:31:00 +0000

Last week was a really tough week…. two friends of mine passed away, both died of a massive heart attack. I found out on Monday evening that our friend Jim, had passed away earlier that day. He was only 50 years old. My husband had just seen him the evening before at church. I was just shocked by the news… blown away really. I was having a hard time thinking that we really wouldn’t be seeing him here on earth anymore. (Though I know we will meet again in heaven one day).
Jim was such a great guy. He was almost always smiling with such a big grin on his face. His personality was big, just like his grin. In our old Sunday school class, I could always count on a “crack” or joke to come out of his mouth. He had a quick sense of humor and it made him endearing to so many people who knew him. He was fun too, and I looked forward to seeing him at the class get-togethers. If you heard people laughing, you can pretty much bet Jim was right there in the midst of it. So many people have posted to his Facebook page on how he had touched their lives, and there were almost 600 people at his funeral.
Two days later, an urgent prayer request came across my Facebook page. My friend and fellow homeschooling mom had a heart incident and was fighting for her life at our local hospital. My hands shook as I read my mobile phone. Disbelief set in, that this could even be happening to her, now, two days after Jim went home to be with the Lord. I picked up the boys from their outside classes and I began praying for her throughout the day. I don’t think I could have checked Facebook or my messages more often than I did. I told my boys so they would know what was distracting their mama so much, and because they knew Christina and her two oldest daughters. The news was grim and the doctors were not optimistic. Christina was bleeding internally and they were not able to stop the bleeding. If she made it through the night the doctors would try to go back in and attempt to stop the flow of blood. Oh how we as a community of friends prayed that the internal bleeding would stop and that she would turn the corner toward healing. But God had other plans for our friend, and he took her to heaven with him that Wednesday evening. She left behind her husband of 17 years and her 5 daughters. I attended her memorial service and it was a tender, beautiful ceremony. It reminded me of her, so accepting and unassuming.
I have no idea why God chose to take these two friends to be with him in heaven. I really don’t. I may never understand this side of heaven. But I do know that God is God, and I am not. I know that he is good and loving, even when His plans are different than our own.
Both of these tragedies prompted me to examine my own life. Jim and Christina impacted so many people who they came into contact with. Each of them left a separate and unique legacy to those left behind. Jim in his great love and joy for life and for people. He loved the Lord and loved people, and it was so obvious to all. Christina loved the Lord and those around her as well, in the most accepting and unassuming way. Her love for her husband and girls was evident to all who knew her and her hearts desire was to raise her girls to be warriors for the Lord. I pray that one day from heaven, she sees that hearts desire fulfilled.
Both friends left a wonderful legacy….
To their family….
To their friends….
To their acquaintances….
Maybe even to strangers…..

What kind of legacy am I leaving for my children? To my friends? To my acquaintances?
What will I be remembered for?

Will it be a love for the Lord?
Will it be a joyful life?
Will it be that I took the time to listen….to care….to pray?
Will those things show that Christ lives in me?
Does His light shine through me?
I so want to leave a legacy that shouts….
This woman loved the Lord, her family, and people with everything she possessed!
Oh Lord, please help me to put aside my own “stuff” ……
…….so that I might leave that kind of legacy.

It’s heavy on my heart….

Update #1- Homeschooling

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 02:15:00 +0000

Things have been busy, but fun here at our household. Lots of running around with four kids, but The King Fish is not traveling as much, and so things are much more manageable, and feel much less overwhelming. Granted, this has not necessarily translated into a cleaner, neater house… since we LIVE in it daily…. but life is good!

I thought about how to go about updating on all the things of our life in one post… and it’s just not do-able. Too long! So, I thought I’d take it in little sections. I guess since it’s first and foremost on my mind, I’ll update on homeschooling. I am loving homeschooling this year….. LOVING it! And let me tell you as a mom who is on her 8th year of homeschooling, I have not been able to say that every year. Some years yes it’s been such fun, and some years… well it has been a struggle and I am just happy to have made it through. To people looking in, they may think it’s all blue skies and rainbows and happy days all year long for this homeschooling mom. But sometimes it’s a battle, and sometimes it feels like drudgery, and yes sometimes there is even weeping and gnashing of teeth. (By me ….) <grin>

So, I have to tell you that this year we “I”, needed a good year. I needed a year that was fun, and I needed to feel the joy of homeschooling again. And so far it has been one of our best years. Curriculum choices have been a big help, and our outside classes have definitely helped me to keep my own sanity. Here’s a look at what we are doing this year. And if you are not at all interested in hearing about homeschooling stuff, then you can just skip this post altogether… and move on in your blog reader. :-)

Math

We switched from Math U See to Teaching Textbooks this year, and that has made a huge difference in my boys learning. The boys were frustrated by all the repetition in Math U See, and they weren’t understanding concepts in the higher grade levels. Teaching Textbooks has made math fun for them again. It is all on the computer, and they are understanding and better yet, enjoying math again. The only drawback for me is that Teaching Textbooks is quite pricey, but the good thing is that I’ll have it for the younger kids for down the road.

Language Arts

We use two different things to teach Language Arts. The first is a grammar curriculum called Easy Grammar. My boys totally “get it” for their Grammar work. And I mean “Get it”. They can name pretty much every preposition and identify all the parts of a sentence. While Easy Grammar does not diagram sentences, if the boys were shown how, because they can easily identify all the parts of speech, they could easily diagram it. I can’t say enough good stuff about this curriculum! It rocks, rocks rocks! We also use Wordly WIse which is mainly for vocabulary, but we also use it for spelling. This is just a good solid vocab curriculum, and also has the boys practicing their reading comprehension. I found an awesome website called Quizlet that actually has the words to each vocab lesson already loaded into it. My boys practice their vocab and spelling playing the games on this website. It’s fun, and they love it!

Literature

I used to send the boys out for this, and I absolutely LOVE the teacher who teaches this class at the school I send them too. She has taught both of my boys Creative Writing and Literature, and they have loved those classes and her. We all miss seeing her on a weekly basis. But this year I had to make a decision as we could only afford two outside classes. While I would love the boys to take Literature, I knew that I NEEDED them to take classes that I struggle with teaching. And one of my strengths is literature and writing. So this year I am teaching this subject….. and having fun doing so! We just finished reading Where the Red Fern Grows. Oh my! What a great story, and what a tear jerker. I bawled like a baby reading the end of that book. The boys had a mid book quiz, and they have a poem to write and a lengthy final exam on the book. At the end they get to write an acrostic poem about one character of the book. I LOVE coming up with some creative things for them to do…. some of which I completely “stole” from our beloved Literature/Writing teacher. :-)

History

And moving on to history…. well this is one of those areas I really struggle with. It seems like history was always the subject that would start well, but fizzle out. I’m not sure what the deal was… but it was the one subject that I would put on the back burner. So, we were usually finishing that subject up over the summer. This year I have the boys taking history as an outside class… (meaning outside the home). They are doing a chronological journey around the world studying the ebb and flow of empires, cultures, Christianity, and world religions. The class will conclude with an examination of the trends of the emerging 21st century. Does that sound interesting to you? Well when I read it, I was immensely glad that I didn’t have to teach it!! But I have to say it has been interesting, because I have been reading right along with the boys, and preparing them for their quizzes and tests. The accountability to having history be an outside class has been awesome. And the boys are enjoying learning all about history! Which is awesome!

Science

This is the third year the boys have taken Science outside of the home. They are in middle school now, so I knew they needed a good science program, and once again that is SO not my forte. I have been pretty much hands off, except for helping them study for tests, and they have been doing well. They are doing a life science study this year…. so it’s been interesting and fun.

Latin

The boys are also studying Latin. I know… so many people say… “Why? It’s a dead language.” But in response I have to say, there is so much we can learn from Latin. It has been so helpful in my sons vocabulary and in finding English derivatives for the Latin words. Plus the conjugation of Latin verbs alone is super helpful when you get to a foreign language. I took Latin in middle school, and I think it helped me immensely when I took Spanish I in high school.

Spanish

Which leads me to our foreign language study. I enjoy teaching Spanish so much! This is one of the subjects that the boys and I crack up over all the time. I took four years of Spanish in high school and 3 years in college. The one regret that I have growing up is that I did not take a year off of school and do a study abroad program in a Spanish speaking country. I tried out for a program my senior year of high school, but I was not accepted. I guess it just never occurred to me to try again when I was in college. I really was so close to being fluent in that language, and I know 6 months abroad would have done it for me. So, now I teach my boys Spanish. It is so much fun! My vocabulary is very rusty, but we all have decent accents and roll our “r’s” well. It’s funny there was a girl in high school who I’ll call M.V. She was in my Spanish class and had the most pronounced American accent when she spoke Spanish. It was awful sounding. I can hear it in my head now… she spoke the words with an American accent. For instance the Spanish word Perro. (roll those Rs on that word), would come out sounding Pair-Roe. And it wasn’t a soft quiet voice, no it was pretty loud and almost had a hint of a southern accent, since her mom was from the south. So anyway, when my kids say a word correctly, but with the wrong accent, I’ll break out into my worst M.V. accent ever. They laugh and laugh, and can do it themselves now too. So funny! My apologies to this poor girl who probably will never speak a foreign language well, but who makes millions now as a cosmetic dentist.

Preschool

Arrggg! This is the area I need to step it up in! My little guy knows all his letters and points them all out on the Sunmaid Raisin box. We need to work on his numbers and I need to break out my Kindergarten bin and pull out the curriculum for him to try. I think Small Fry is ready to start reading, but I just have to find the time to teach him! His fine motor skills have gotten sooo much better this year, and his memory for his Awana verses at church has also vastly improved over last year. I have really noticed a change in him, and it encourages my heart! I’ll have to post a preschool update when I do a Small Fry update, because it really deserves it’s own section.

That’s pretty much the update on homeschooling. It’s going really well this year, we are enjoying it, and we are staying on track. I have planned out all our lesson plans through the December break, and that has helped tremendously! I have even managed to find a grading Excel spreadsheet that has been on one of my favorite “go-to” websites for years. I’m using this each week or so, updating the boys grades/attendance etc. Which just goes to show, that you can teach an old dog new tricks.

~Jackie

Small Fry Celebrates a Birthday!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 04:46:00 +0000

Small Fry had a birthday recently. He wanted a Thomas the Train birthday theme…. so, I began to think of a few Thomas the Train ideas, like a cake, etc. Here’s the thing about Small Fry, he isn’t in preschool like my other boys were, and so we aren’t having the big preschool birthday parties. Our birthdays are pretty much our family. Maybe every other year we have a few friends over for birthdays, but typically it’s just us. And by “us” I mean, just our little family unit, as The King Fish and I don’t have family that live in the area.

Birthdays are a big deal for us. We want to make them very special for our kids. So we almost always have streamers. The dining room table must be “dressed” for the event.

The birthday child always gets to chose what they would like for dinner. Small Fry’s choice was interesting…. chicken divan, and corn on the cob. Hmmmmm. He wanted a Thomas cake, and since we have a Thomas Cake pan, that was one easy thing that I could provide for him. Except that a few days before his birthday, The King Fish and I could NOT find the Thomas Cake Pan anywhere. And we looked everywhere, in the cabinets, pantry, all the usual places. Then we started to look in unusual places…. the garage, the attic, the master closet in our bedroom….. No Cake Pan ANYWHERE. Plus they are not sold in any stores around here. Ordering it was not an option, as we didn’t have time for it to be shipped. Enter Plan B….. make my own Thomas Cake. I found one online where Thomas was actually carved out like the train. Holy Cabooses! (What movie is that phrase from?) It was a very difficult cake to make, especially for this novice cake maker. I was up until 4am working on that cake! A whole lotta love went into it…. but it was worth it!

I also found several ideas for games we could play as a family for when we had our little family party. Tiger Shark made this awesome poster. It’s called Pin the Nose on James, and he drew it all freehand. That was such a fun game that everyone enjoyed.

Jabber Jaw was tied up with football, but was able to come back and help me laminate some of the cutest Thomas the Train Bingo cards that I found online for free! Awesome!

Finally we had a Thomas Piñata and everyone enjoyed whacking away at that!

Here is the birthday boy at the beginning next to all his presents and some of the games…. I forgot to get a photo of the birthday boy and all his brothers. Darn! Next year I must remember!

So much work went into this little party, but it was one of the sweetest birthdays we celebrated! We certainly made some lasting memories.
This is a photo of Munchkin sometime during dinner.

He was certainly zoned into something, but I have no idea what it was. His birthday is next, and I’m thinking of some sort of Sesame Street cake/theme. Stay tuned!
~Jackie

Great Giveaway for a Great Cause!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 21:17:00 +0000

Hi! Remember me???? I know I have been absent from this blog. I hate that. Thank you to those who have left comments asking how we are doing. I didn’t mean to worry anyone. We are all doing really well! I want to do a blog update soon, because we’ve been celebrating birthdays and football championships, and homeschooling is rockin’ this year. And while I want to tell you all about those things, I NEED to tell you about this first!
It’s a Giveaway and a Fundraiser. It is one AWESOME Giveaway… and it’s ending soon!

Here’s the deal. Adeye- who blogs at No Greater Joy Mom, is giving away a ton of prizes to help 32 different adoptive families offset the costs to bring home their children. And she didn’t even start out with that in mind, she was just wanting them to post the links to their blogs so that others could find out about them and read, and possibly help. But it’s morphed into so much more! One of the giveaways is, get this…. a $500 gift card to Target. $500 dollars! Can anyone use that for Christmas shopping??

And I know someone who is trying to bring home two boys from Russia. One is a last chance orphan who is just turning 16. He has a little brother who they just found out about who is 5 years old. They are listed as number 31 on Adeye’s links of families. Go over and read their story and any other story you have time to read, and then please give to one of these precious families. The blogging community is such a strong and vital community, especially the adoption community.

Thank you!! And I hope to get a blog/family update on here soon! I really, really do!
~Jackie

My family of boys…

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 02:57:00 +0000

Think Before You Eat.....

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 19 May 2011 05:00:00 +0000

I have much to share about how things have been going in the Healthy Me category. But it's late... and I'm hungry. And I'm not eating a blessed thing. Late night snacking is out for me. But I found this cute video made by Anita Renfroe that had me cracking up!! Hope you enjoy it too.....

Rambling, jumbled, post....

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 10 May 2011 03:12:00 +0000

I'm sorry I've been so nonexistent around here lately. Life has been busy I guess. I want to blog, but I can't seem to find the time, or sometimes even the words to say. (or the energy to write)

Right now we are working on finishing school for the year, and believe it or not... planning for next year. I need to be praying seriously about a direction to take for next year's classes. I'm contacting a few private Christian schools that allow homeschoolers to play on their football teams. Really trying to find a place for Jabber Jaw to get plugged in next year.

As my boys get older, I so wish that we could afford a private Christian school year round. I'd seriously consider sending them, for the sports opportunities alone. While our local homeschool group does offer many sports for boys and girls, it doesn't have a football program, or a tennis program. I'm not sure if I envision that happening at all.... so for now I'm just praying for direction.

The littles are doing well.... just tonight they had a blast running around at Jabber Jaws baseball game. At one point I turned my head for like 2 seconds, and Munchkin was almost through the gate and onto another field where a game was being played. Too funny! Everyone at the park seems to know Small Fry. They all think he is completely adorable. It cracks me up he is so social, and loves to talk to people. (Most of the time).

Anyway, I'll try to update more as I can. The King Fish is out of town all week again. Ugh. So that just makes it harder to get to blogging. By the end of the day I am just tired, and blogging is low on the list. :-) The King Fish gave me his travel schedule for the month, and I about wanted to cry. It was so discouraging. I think other than weekends, he is home only 8 days this entire month. Wahhh!!! I'll get through it... but will be reminding myself of the following verses.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28

~Jackie

In the quiet of the morning…

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 12:17:00 +0000

I am not a morning person by nature. But I want to be. Here in the south, especially during the summer, mornings are the best time of the day. The weather is cool in the early mornings, and it’s just the way I like it. There is something about a cool temperature that affects my mood. I can not really explain it, but when it’s so hot and sticky and humid here in the south I am miserable. Last year even our local pool was like taking a bath in bath water. It was ridiculously warm, and never really cooled off. The temps stay warm even through the evening here in the summer, and so early mornings are my only time of relief. Up north, you could count on the weather cooling off at night, and a neighbor and I would visit back and forth to our houses, checking out our flower gardens over a glass of ice water.

So, all that to say, I am determined to be more of a morning person this summer. It’s quiet, and peaceful and I’d love to get a morning workout done on my recumbent bike before my day even begins. I’m just hoping the night owl part of me relents and actually let’s me fall asleep!

This morning I had some time to reflect while listening to the rain out my window. There is something so peaceful about rain. It’s like it takes all the dirt of the world and gently washes it away.

God does that with me too. He wants to take those parts of me that are not benefitting me, that are weighing me down, and He wants to gently wash them away.

But I cling so tightly to the familiar. It’s my security blanket. Half the time life is so crazy and fast paced that those “things” are like second nature to me. My life begins running on auto-pilot, and I’m running so fast and so sporadically that it’s like dodging raindrops. Never allowing the rain to really hit me. In doing so, I never recognize how dry I am, or how thirsty I’ve become.

But in the quiet when I have a moment to slow down, and think and reflect…. I can step back outside of my world and readjust my focus. I can look up and listen to God. It’s only by slowing down and allowing myself to be still, that I can allow God to gently wash away the grime. And while that gentle rain is falling, it’s also watering a very parched soul.

A little mischief….

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 04:21:00 +0000

Our munchkin has such a mischievous smile. It reaches up all the way into his eyes. Sometimes he knows he shouldn’t be doing something, and he certainly knows the word “no” by now… and yet he’ll do it anyway. Oftentimes it requires correction, especially when he is directly disobeying us. But other times he will grab the TV remote, or the diaper wipes,or one of the kids school books, and take off running. He has such a look of glee on his face, like it’s one of the funniest things for him to do. He’s too cute!

Here are a few photos of our Munchkin in action….

First I have to show you our entryway shelves that the King Fish built. It’s this little niche in the wall right by the door that was empty. So I thought it would be a good space to store shoes, and the occasional floral arrangement and family photo.

There are three levels of shoes, (the wood floor is not shown in the photo). The plan is to add a pretty fabric (black and white toile) to the lower half to hide the shoes. That has been the plan for well over a year, and I even have the fabric. I just haven’t done it yet! It will look so much better when that is up there!

Anyway, here is what I find every day, maybe several times a day on the floor in the entryway. Hmmmm…

Oh, I know the culprit, and have seen him with my own eyes! But I just haven’t been able to catch him red-handed and have the evidence to prove it…. Until now…..

See what I mean???? Too cute!

Yay!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 03:35:00 +0000

Just a quick post to say that my computer booted up just fine after two days of drying out! So happy about that!! I have a few posts to get up here... but not tonight.... Tomorrow maybe. :-)

Computer Trouble

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 02:14:00 +0000

I'm typing this from the King Fish's computer. I spilled 1/2 a glass of water on my computer keyboard. I'm not sure how much damage I did, but I am currently without a computer until it dries out completely. It's been 24 hours since this happened, and The King Fish is making me wait until it's been 48 hours before I turn it on and see if it works.

I can say that the screen shut off before I could get a paper towel to sop up the water. I immediately shut it down, and then 10 minutes later dh came down and said to unplug it. We took out the hard drive and it looks good. I think at least all my files are undamaged. I pulled off all the keys were the water spilled and took a cloth to dry any areas that were still wet. We also opened up the back to allow it to dry more thoroughly. The area it spilled was above the motherboard, so we have a 50-50 chance. I am praying that it works okay and that I didn't short circuit or damage anything.

I so don't need to be buying another laptop, or paying a huge fee to have ours fixed. I'll let you know tomorrow night if we skated through unscathed.....

~Jackie

Are you done yet?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 05:14:00 +0000

Ever since we brought Munchkin home we’ve had many people ask us, “So are you done yet?” A year ago I might have said, “Yep… we’re done…” Except that God has thrown wide open my heart for orphaned kids, and my desire to help. Here’s what I know about our family. Were not perfect by any means…. but I know we have a great deal of love to give. And I know that even though the house is kind of tight right now… there is definitely room for one more… (even two).

Does that mean we are actively pursuing adopting again. No. We have some debt to pay off with this latest adoption. Plus, we are all still adjusting since Munchkin joined our family three months ago. Quite frankly the King Fish is not even ready to entertain the idea until munchkin has been home for 6 months. Wise man.

But I definitely have been praying about this. I can’t even begin to describe to you how God has thrown open my heart to orphans… even older orphans. I’m not sure in what capacity He might direct us. I’m not sure if it won’t be for a season much further down the road…. But I do know that I can’t close the door on this area of my life. If God called us to another adoption, I do believe we would obediently walk where he calls us to walk.

I loved one answer from a blog I read recently. When asked by friends or acquaintances why she wanted to add to her already large family through adoption…. her answer was simple, and to the point. “I just can’t stand the thought of children living in an orphanage without a family.” I can so relate to that comment! Especially since I know we have a family ready and willing to lavish a child in love.

So, for now I guess my response will be…. “There’s still room for one more…..”

Happy Wednesday!

~Jackie

One of those nights….

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 05:38:00 +0000

This evening was such an exercise in frustration for me… I just need to vent. Tiger Shark wanted to go to church this evening to attend the middle school program. I know he enjoys that, and I typically have no problem working our schedule so he can go. My plan is to hopefully have Munchkin adjusted to the nursery so that I can go to a Bible study class once a week as well on Wednesday evenings. Anyway, Jabber Jaw also wanted to go to the kid’s Wednesday evening program. So, I cooked dinner earlier than usual, fed everyone in record time, threw sweatshirts and shoes on the little guys and headed out the door. We couldn’t stay because Small Fry is still running a fever, and coughing and sneezing everywhere. He is most certainly contagious. Munchkin also has a nose that is running like a faucet, so I was just going to drop off the big guys and run home. The little's could play for awhile, and then we’d all go back to pick up their big brothers. Except that on our drive home I got a call from Tiger Shark. No middle school program this evening…. because of the mission’s conference. By this time it was close to 7:00pm, so there was no point in driving home, and I wasn’t going to have the little's sit in the car the whole night. So, Tiger Shark came in the car, and I ran into get Jabber Jaw who was not thrilled about leaving. Two frustrated kiddos in the car waiting patiently and not so patiently for Jabber Jaw.

We went home, and I let everyone play for awhile. But Small Fry chose again for the umpteenth time to be unkind to one of his brothers today. We had many talks about it throughout the day and about his choices. He had some time in “time out”, apologized to every brother at some point today, and shed many a tear today. The last incident was with Munchkin, and so I told Small Fry it was time for bed. Oh the tears that followed, but he truly was given multiple chances throughout the day. He was done, and so he marched up to bed, and has been sound asleep since I tucked him in. Hoping for a better day for him tomorrow… please let this consistency be sinking in!

I then laid Munchkin down after rocking him. He fell asleep again in my arms. The big guys and I began to attack the kitchen. Dusting the space on top of all the cabinets and also dusting the ceiling. You should have seen the dust flying in that room! We moved onto the next area in the kitchen and were having a ball just talking and laughing with each other. But I guess we were too loud because we woke up Munchkin. He woke at 10:00pm, and would not go back to sleep. I sent the big guys to bed, and went in every 10-15 minutes to try to rock/console/help my little guy back to sleep. I finally rocked him one last time around 11:45, and he must have tuckered himself out because he fell asleep in my arms again. Thank goodness we head to the pediatrician for a well visit tomorrow. (Even though he has a cold). I am not convinced his ear infection is getting better after this second, different antibiotic. He’s been so clingy lately, you just wouldn’t believe it…. I can scarcely believe it myself. It’s a good thing, but he’s not my usual happy baby. I also just read that kids typically start cutting their 1st molars between 12-16 months, and his are not in yet, and their cusped start between 16-20something months. Maybe he’s dealing with an ear infection and he’s getting a mouthful of teeth. I better buy some more Motrin!

So, I never did finish the kitchen. And my evening with the big guys, just hanging out and talking, was cut short. We went to church, but left early, and we are still dealing with sickness and crankiness here. (And I promise that it’s not me….UGH!)

The King Fish is away this week, and returns tomorrow. I am anxiously awaiting his return! I so need his help in shouldering some of this responsibility. I am praying that Small Fry’s fever breaks and am thankful we have a Drs appointment tomorrow. I’m praying for Munchkin and his ear, and feedback from the Dr concerning his ear infection and teething. Did I mention that I am also getting my permanent crown put on tomorrow? Such joy!

Hoping and praying that tomorrow is a much better day in so many ways!