What is This Counrty Coming to?

Things like the CA decision to basically ban homeschooling scares me pretty good. Now they are doing this! I'm afraid. I can only pray the the Lord comes quickly and my children and grandchildren won't have to live in a world where the government controls your every move. Where they can't even use Biblical standards of discipline and education in their own homes. At the rate things are going I can't hardly imagine that we will be able to continue such practices with our children until they are old enough to be on their own.

It sickens me.

Digging Out

We have been hit with our second worst snow storm of the year so far and they have both been in April! Bob didn't need to worry about not going to school yesterday because it was closed at noon! It's the second time this year and again, in April! I think there was only one other snow day all winter...and I can't say for sure there was one. Can someone please explain to me how all this snow in April has anything to do with global warming? I don't understand!

Here's proof that it came in full force!





Bob's dad drove here yesterday afternoon. It took them 2 and a half hours to drive about 50 miles. The trip is mostly interstate where the speed limit is 75 mph here in SD. It should have taken them about an hour. He said that there were 26 vehicles in the ditch between here and there on the interstate and 6 were semi's. Once they got to our exit on the interstate it took them about a half an hour to go the last 2 miles or so because the interstate was closed and everyone was forced to get off at that point. We found out it was closed to the ND boarder. What fun! Then they got their Explorer stuck in our parking lot! Bob and I had to go out and shovel it into our space. At least we didn't need to worry about being in anybodies way - it's not like anyone was going anywhere anytime soon! It's a good thing we didn't risk our lives to go to those 25 pages worth of rummage sales - not that I didn't REALLY think about it though! LOL

Here's some more pics I took throughout the day yesterday and this morning. Mostly from my front door and windows...I wasn't about to go out in that if I didn't have to! :)

Happy Birthday, Belle!

She was still a little sleepy when I took this before 7 this morning!

Nine years ago she became ours, nine years ago she made our lives and our family fuller. Without her we would be incomplete.

Here's a few pictures of her through the years. Most of my pictures are in storage and can't be reached but these are a few that I had in frames from when she was younger so I scanned them in for you...

Me and Belle at about 4 months.

Me and Belle at about 7 months.

Jozie and her Baby Brother still in the hospital. (She was just over 15 months.) Already the little mother and full of love for others!

Here she is at 2 years old! Look at those curls! *sigh*

Here she is at 5 - Luke's 4th birthday at a bear sanctuary (the title of the pic is wrong).


Here she is at 6.


Seven Years Old


And finally 8!





These were taken outside just minutes ago! (It's gotten worse, Luke has declared a blizzard! But you can seriously hardly see the neighbors house out our back yard window!)


Snow in her hair!

Miss Belle, I hope all your Birthday dreams come true! We love you forever! :)

Hmph...No Garage Sales for us....

Again we are foiled by the weather! It's started to rain already this early morning and we have 3 to 6 inches of snow forecasted for this afternoon. The roads are supposed to get nasty so there will be no garage sales for me today. :( Bob was even going to cut class for the day - which isn't really advisable because he would have to make them up at the end of the year and a test as well - but he is going to take the test that he didn't study for instead of going today. Bob's dad is going to look for some elbow and knee pads for Luke on his rollerblades for us. Just in case you are wondering what we are missing you should really see it all here. Bob printed the list and there's 25 pages of posted sales - that doesn't include the ones that aren't posted! Sweet heaven! Boo Hoo!

We are going to wait and get to this one in a couple of weeks...I will die if we get snow in May! (It's coming down as I am typing this!) Grrr!

Cowboys and Tumbleweeds!

We've had some problems with our internet connection the last week or so - that's why I haven't done any posting lately. The cable guy came on Monday and fixed it but I have also been walking a couple of miles a day with my neighbor and one of her friends everyday this week so I've been keeping torchered, er, busy (and sore) the past couple of days! Today I get to do laundry and clean because Bob's dad is going to be here to visit this weekend - but have you seen our 70% chance of snow on Friday? I was hoping to meet them in Sioux Falls early Friday morning for a huge community garage sale day but if we are having snow...I'm not sure I want to make the drive. Yuck!

• Luke became a cowboy this weekend. The neighbor boy gave Luke his old cowboy boots - which are huge on him! He wore them to church with his cowboy hat and wrangler jeans! There were several comments that he made in reference to his "cowboyhood" - as he's climbing into his bed one night, "I guess even cowboys need their rest, huh, mom." Me - "Luke, what do you want for lunch? Peanut butter or turkey?" Luke - "What would a cowboy choose?" Me - "Probably a big juicy steak!" Luke - "Then I'll take the turkey!" LOL

• Jozie was glad the snow was gone so she could get back on her favorite swing again! :) They got out their marshmallow guns one day and peppered the birds and yard with mini marshmallows. I had to clean about 6 dried up, stuck on, marshmallows out of Jozie's gun before she could use hers though - they have been there since last fall! Yuck!

• The kids found this big old tumbleweed blowing in the wind one day last week. Luke was trying to keep it - I guess he wanted it for a decoration or something! The wind was actually pretty frigid that day - you couldn't tell it by the smiles on their faces, the bright sun and blue sky and the lack of the zipper on Jozie's jacket! She doesn't think she needs to zip and this morning woke up with a stuffy nose...maybe she will learn someday! :)
  

• Luke finally got his new rollerblades on and was thrilled. I followed him around our apartment complex for about an hour before he was confident enough again to let me go inside. :) He's excited to have them on again and didn't do too bad.
  

I Corinthians 13 For Homeschoolers

I just got this from Jamie in my email today and though it is written for homeschoolers, I think it is great for any parent. I don't know who wrote it though.

Though I teach my children how to multiply, divide, and diagram a
sentence, but fail to show them love, I have taught them nothing.
And though I take them on numerous field trips, to swim practice and
flute lessons; and though I involve them in every church activity,
but fail to give them love, I profit nothing. And though I scrub my
house relentlessly, run countless errands, and serve three nutritious
meals every day but fail to be an example of love, I have done
nothing.



Love is patient with misspelled words and is kind to young
interrupters. Love does not envy high SAT scores of other homeschool
families. Love does not claim to have better teaching methods than
anyone else, It is not rude to the fourth telephone caller during a
science lesson, does not seek perfectly behaved geniuses, does not
turn into a drill sergeant, thinks no evil about friends' educational
choices.



Love bears all my children's challenges, believes all my children are
God's precious gifts, hopes all my children establish permanent
relationships with Christ, and endures all things to demonstrate
God's love.

Love never fails.



Where there are college degrees, they will fail; where there is
knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we teach in
part. But when the trials of life come to our children, the history,
math, and science will be done away and faith, hope and love will
remain; but the greatest of these is love.

Playing With Photo$hop

Lately I have discovered the cheater way to use Photo$hop. To use actions. They are basically a set of instructions that you download (or write on your own - but since I am PS stupid, I just use the ones that other people have written) and tell PS to use all at one time on your pictures.

This picture of Belle I just love but it was too dark in the tube of the playground I never used it for anything but I pulled it up today and here's what I did...

Here's the original...


First I lightened it....


Then I made it black and white...


And I also added a blue action...which I think I like the best. :)

I would probably get reprimanded by real Photo$hop people, like my b-i-l, but I can't help it! I wanted to do something with these pictures I have and I wanted to use Photo$hop...we have it so I might as well put it to use.

This is a Little Strange

Ok, I know you all must be getting tired of hearing about my weather...like it's the only thing in my world worth blogging about - that's SAD! But...this afternoon I checked my weather and this is the current "warning" that came up...

MON APR 14 2008

...MODERATE FIRE DANGER...

THE GRASSLAND FIRE DANGER INDEX WILL REACH THE MODERATE CATEGORY THIS AFTERNOON.

THE OUTLOOK FOR TUESDAY AFTERNOON... THE GRASSLAND FIRE DANGER INDEX WILL REACH THE HIGH CATEGORY.

It's pretty common here on the prairie to get the grassland fire danger index daily but in the summer...we just had a ton of snow and the grass will be ready to blaze by Tuesday?!? I guess I will believe it when I see it!

To Camp or Not to Camp....

...That is the question.

Jozie got the flier for kids camp last week at church. She is pretty excited about it. This is the first year that she has had the opportunity to attend kids camp and they are doing a High Sch00l Mu$ical theme this year so that is a major plus for her. The only thing is that the camp is almost 8 hours away from home in the Black Hill$. I wouldn't mind so much if she were only an hour or 2 away but 8 is awful long...do you guys remember how old we were when we first started going to camp? Jamie? Jodie? I remember our first trip away from home with the Youth Group was when we were 13 and we went to Gre@t @meric@ but I don't remember going to camp before that....maybe Bethany would remember...not that it would make me feel much better about letting my 9yo little girl (yep, she's gonna be 9 in a few days!) go across the state without me for a week.

Luke is also old enough to go but could care less about it. Which is fine. There is only 1 other boy his age in church that is old enough to go and he's also a homeschooled kid. He doesn't want to go, he says maybe when he gets older but not yet. So I can't see Luke spending a week at camp with a cabin full of other boys he doesn't know.

I've had the bright idea of going with her as an adult mentor for the group but then what do I do with Luke? And how much extra will that cost for me to go? One kid is $149 with early registration - by May 1. So I have to make up my mind before then! Both my parents got on board the maybe-she-could-use-the-week-without-you-to-mature train and I'm not sure I want my 9yo baby to mature...I know, I'm a terrible mother...just if it wasn't so far away...she has a nervous stomach and when she gets really upset emotionally - like when she misses someone like her Grandpa and Grandma (Bob's dad) and her Amma (my mom), or her Papa (my dad) she feels sick to her stomach so I'm afraid she might get homesick. Then what would I do? I would feel so bad and would have to drive 16 hours (8 there and 8 back) to bring her back home.

Gosh! Listen to me! Who knew that one little postcard sized flier could cause so much indecision in my life!

Contest For a NEW PHOTO PRINTER! *UPDATED*

*I didn't win. Boo Hoo...Now I have to keep my 3 printers or find the $250 to get one new one...the prospect is very tempting...LOL*


But you have to sign up by 7:00 tonight pacific time so get over there and do it!

Ree at Confessions of a Pioneer Woman is giving away an HP C8180 All-In-One! We've had an HP printer since forever and we love ours but it's getting kinda old and doesn't print the best pictures...so this would be WONDERFUL! We currently have the HP plus an All-In-One (because our flat bed scanner broke when we moved - we don't have ink for the printer on this one) plus a huge old laser printer (because it was free and Bob thinks we needed it to print pictures!). So if I could win this new HP C8180 then I could probably convince him to get ride of all three of the ones we now have! Wouldn't that be WONDERFUL?!!?!

Here's proof of our 3 printers...

Spring Knits

Here are some of the knitting projects that I have been working on this spring. The pictures with Belle in them didn't come out so good so I will have to retake them. They are kinda dark and you can't see the colors real well. The poncho is purple with a white fun*fur edge and the shawl is a multi color. I wish the prayer shall was a little bit longer but I used 4 skeins of yarn for it and thought it was enough...until I ended it. I should have measured it and invested in that one last skein! Oh well, it will still serve it's purpose!

Luke's Math Lesson for the Day

+

+

+

=

Ahhhh....

Snow Day

This is what we woke up to yesterday morning...dead grass, clear sidewalks, little birdies eating bugs out of the grass.....

And this is what we woke up to this morning!

The birdies weren't very happy! (Here are our poor little robins getting a rude spring blizzard!) And I wasn't very happy either! LOL

But the kids were another story! They went out to play as soon as their dishes were done this morning and had a great time! I was going to be the mom who made her kids do school work even on a snow day but when the neighbor kids came knocking on the door I couldn't very well make Jozie and Luke work when they knew their friends had a snow day...




I'm so glad we got those bikes out early!




And then we have the picnic table...which they had to move early this morning when they plowed the parking lot! LOL I thought about that as I went to sleep last night!

So, I guess you can say that we have officially survived our first prairie blizzard! Last night right before I went to bed I heard the weather man say that every road in the state was either snow or ice covered! I was very glad for my nice warm bed last night:)

Jozie is outside still as I write this at almost 5. Luke is in watching Kim P0ssible. He was tired of being cold and playing with the girls!

But I hear that it's supposed to warm up and the snow should be gone by the end of the weekend...I'm looking forward to it! :)

I Thought we LEFT the UP!

I would have to agree with Amie...April is NOT my friend!

Here's what I woke up to greet me this morning in my weather...

...BLIZZARD WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 1 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 7 PM CDT FRIDAY... ...WINTER STORM WARNING IS CANCELLED...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ABERDEEN HAS ISSUED A BLIZZARD WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 1 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 7 PM CDT FRIDAY. THE WINTER STORM WARNING HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

LIGHT RAIN THIS AFTERNOON IS EXPECTED TO BECOME MIXED WITH...THEN TURN QUICKLY OVER TO SNOW LATER THIS AFTERNOON. THE SNOW WILL THEN CONTINUE THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT HOURS AND FRIDAY MORNING...BEFORE TAPERING OFF TO LIGHT SNOW. COUPLED WITH NORTHEAST WINDS THAT ARE EXPECTED TO GUST AS HIGH AS 50 MPH AT TIMES...WIDESPREAD BLOWING AND DRIFTING OF SNOW IS EXPECTED... WITH VISIBILITIES APPROACHING ZERO AT TIMES. THE SNOW IS EXPECTED TO BE HEAVIEST FROM MIDNIGHT THROUGH 6AM. TOTAL SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS WILL VARY FROM 6 TO 10 INCHES FROM THE JAMES RIVER VALLEY AND POINTS WEST...TO 10 TO 15 INCHES EAST TOWARD THE I-29 CORRIDOR. ISOLATED HIGHER AMOUNTS ARE NOT OUT OF THE QUESTION.

SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW WILL FREQUENTLY REDUCE VISIBILITIES TO LESS THAN 1/4 OF A MILE WITH WHITEOUT CONDITIONS AT TIMES. TRAVEL WILL BE DANGEROUS AND IS STRONGLY DISCOURAGED. IF TRAVEL IS A MUST...BE SURE TO PUT A WINTER SURVIVAL KIT IN THE VEHICLE...ALONG WITH HAVING A FULLY CHARGED CELL PHONE...A FULL TANK OF FUEL...AND PROVIDE SOMEBODY WITH YOUR TRAVEL PLANS AND ROUTE.

I highlighted some important parts for those of you who don't want to read ALL of our weather woes...and FYI - We are in the 10 to 15 inch area. Yay. I guess that's what happens when you get the picnic table out! So I must say again...April is NOT my friend.

I Cheated a Little

I finally got around to getting all those badges on Luke's Royal Ranger vest the other day. Here he is proudly modeling the results. I used this groovy little bottle of goodness called "Patch Attach". I got it at Wa*lMart and it was easy to put them on! I planned on sewing them all on after I had "Patch Attach"ed them but after sewing a couple I realized that they weren't going anywhere anytime soon so I didn't sew them all! That stuff was wonderful! I used it on Jozie's GS sash as well!

My First Felt

Here is my first felting project! It's not exactly like I pictured it - and I think it was supposed to have 2 handles but I must have went wrong somewhere - I like it with only one handle though! I thought it was pretty good for a first try at making a bag and at felting! :) I did this while we were on vacation. Jodie - this the one I used my needles for! ;) The ruler is a 6 inch ruler. I didn't realize how much it shrunk up until after I looked at the pictures. It was fun! I'm going to look for a bigger version of this pattern so I can get a bigger bag out of it. :)

Before Felting

After Felting

Is Today Monday?

I know it's really Wednesday but it feels like Monday here.

My dad was here for a quick visit over the weekend and I was supposed to take him to Sioux Falls to the airport on Monday to go home. Monday morning came with an abundance of snow and cold and foul roads so we didn't go. He tried to get out of our local airport but that flight was canceled so he ended up staying another night. We didn't complain, we enjoy having him here! The kids are always especially sad to see him go.

So because of the extra company and the planned trips to Sioux Falls that didn't happen we didn't do any school work on Mon. and Tues. Today was the first school day this week and of course I wake up with a nasty cold. It's been coming on for a couple of days now but today is the worst. And of course the kids didn't want to have anything to do with school work today! Big surprise! Thankfully we are done! We still have reading to do which I plan on taking to my room and we will all read in bed! Then I plan on letting the kids watch a movie after that's over so I can take a nap. Thankfully I cooked plenty over the weekend while my dad was here so we have more than enough leftovers for supper - I don't have to cook tonight! :)

Hopefully it will be more like Thursday tomorrow than another Monday!