December Stuff

by // // Comments off

Time to take a look all the way back to December.

Which means I will have to clear the cobwebs out of my brain to remember it all!

Life was full, as usual.

Which makes me feel like this sometimes, ha, ha.


Here is another cute photo of her.


And another one!


I love that puppy.

Ok, moving on.

(I did already post a few posts about things in December – here and here.)

Have I ever told you all how thrilled I am that I have passed on my love of books and reading to our children?

Well, I am!

We ALL love books!


We still love games too.

We play them all the time, which is a great relationship builder!


In case you think it is always calm and quiet here – nope. Never.


We did not have much snow in December, but when we did we got outside to play in it!


So many things were still the same in December and are still the same now.

Like date night.

But who in their right mind would change something SO good?!!


Blake was trying to use up all his vacation days back in December before the end of the year, so sometimes we would date in the morning too!

I love when he helps me with grocery!


We also grabbed some kiddos for date night here and there.

These two demanded ice cream, just saying.

But they were SO much fun!


Having Addie to ourselves was an extra special treat!


This is what you look like when your Mom plans a grilled meal in the middle of December.

Don’t worry, he loved grilling for me!


We had our church’s Christmas program in the middle of December.

It was AMAZING.

I still get chills when I think back on it!

This past year has brought out a lot of ugly in this world, but I’m here to tell you it has also brought out a lot more boldness and passion in good people to do right by the Lord too.

Our Christmas program is brought together by people just signing up to share something, and it was OVER THE TOP this year!

Our pastor’s families did the very last song, and it was truly the grand finale.

SO, so good!!

Chad and Addie joined some friends to share as well!


We also had a candle light service on Christmas Eve.

My favorite, all time favorite, service of every year.

Our church can really sing!!


There were appointments in December.

As always.


There was hunting in December.

I do have a house full of guys, after all!

These two are checking the photos from their trail camera.


We filled our days with all kinds of other things too – naps, crafts, play, a few shows here and there…

Fixer to Fabulous is our favorite show!


There were some warm days in December!


But our chickens are still in the garage all winter no matter what.

They are doing great though!


We receive so many sweet gifts in the mail here and there and I am always so humbled by the love that just oozes out of the packages as we open them!

This is one that came in December.

Thank you, sweet friends!!!


We also got a new computer in December, because our old one was a dinosaur!

It would not support the things we were trying to use it for, like on-line school and this little blog of mine.

Lane enjoyed helping install the new one for sure.

My little techie.


December, you were good to us!

It was a wonderful month!

Next up will be a post about God’s protection for our family.

As usual, we have so much abundance to be thankful for!

Hope you all had a great month of December too!!

A Few Appointments

by // // Comments off

Way back on November 11th, most of us had dentist appointments for a check-up and a cleaning.

We have been very thankful, since moving to Wisconsin 20 years ago, to have good insurance for the dentist.

We are blessed with free cleanings every six months!


We had mostly happy teeth that day back in November, except for our sweet girl Eliza.

The dentist said that three baby teeth in Eliza’s lower mouth needed to be pulled because of decay.

It was not a happy or easy day.


Because of the need for some kind of sedation for Eliza to be able to handle having this done, we headed back to the pediatric dentist we have used before for more serious work.

Thankfully that second opinion was much different than the first!

Pulling those three teeth would have required Eliza to need orthodontic work to hold the space in her lower mouth for several years until her permanent teeth grew in.

This dentist saw nothing wrong with one of the teeth, said the second one just needed a filling, and that the one with the most decay he could put a crown on.

We agreed with him that the actual tooth is the BEST holder of space in Eliza’s mouth!

After our initial consult with the pediatric dentist, I called the orthodontist and cancelled those appointments, and we set an appointment to have the work done.

On a Monday afternoon in January Eliza and I headed to the pediatric dentist.


Blake was not allowed to be with us – only one parent was allowed in.

That is not our usual way, but it is what we had to do.


We had decided, with the dentist, to just use nitrous oxide this time instead of further sedation.

I am SO glad we did!

I used essential oils (peace & calming and lavender) all day that day to help calm Eliza’s (and my!) nerves.

I also had the sweetest friend (who is a therapist) suggest that we ask to lay an x-ray blanket on Eliza during her appointment, thinking that the weight of the blanket would calm her as well.

We asked.

It DID calm her.

She loved it!

Her appointment went very well and I was able to sit right next to her and hold her hand the entire time.

The dentist looked at me after finishing the crown, because Eliza was crying the entire time, and asked if he should continue on.

I reassured him that this was 100 times better than the last time she had work done, and YES, please finish!

I am SO PROUD of our sweet girl!!

Blake and I had bought her a new lovey on one of our date nights.

I had it hidden in the car and was able to give it to her when we were on our way home.

The whole way home Eliza brain-stormed to think of a name for her new lovey!

Meet Jubilee.

(Kinley, on the left, is the lovey that she had taken with her that day!)


Once we were home, I gave Eliza some ibuprofen, we put her new pajamas on, and she played with paper, pencils and scissors – which is her favorite thing to do!


By the next day she was eating and drinking normally and had no lasting effects from the work done to her teeth.

We are SO thankful for how this went!

I am grateful that the Lord burdened me to be pro-active with Eliza, “walking through” the appointment with her a couple of days before we went!

My friend also taught me that using “stories” (telling Eliza what most likely would happen) would help set Eliza up for success – and it DID!

Our sweet Eliza Claire is brave and strong!

She has come SO far!!

It has been six and a half years and I still can’t believe I get to be Eliza’s Mom!

I’m SO thankful she calls me Mommy!!

School Days

by // // Comments off

School has been rolling along and I have really enjoyed our year so far!

Because our old computer finally wore out, I have many photos to share now that we have a new one!

We have a wonderful rhythm to our days.

The kiddos days start with breakfast, chores, personal Bible time, Bible time all together, school work, lunch, after lunch chores, and then our afternoon activities.

The children spend 30 minutes right after breakfast getting themselves ready, taking care of the animals, and doing their chores.


After chores, they do their personal Bible time.


Soon it’s 8:30 a.m. and time to meet for our all together Bible time!

During our all together Bible time we sing, work on scripture memory, do a devotional, and have a round of prayer.


My trio and I start always with math, language, cursive practice and spelling.

We mostly work on school in the school room, but not always!


The kiddos got personalized pencils in their stockings at Christmas, and they have loved using them!

We usually have mascots join us for school – whether they are real live puppies or not!

Sometimes you bring leftover cheesecake to school at 9 a.m.!

Pay attention!

I am giving you some of my best scheduling and teaching tips here.


After we finish those core subjects, we move into our My Father’s World study of countries and cultures.

It has been a BLAST!

We are moving around to different countries, stamping our passports as we go, and learning as much as we can about each country while we are there.


Our study of the Amazon jungle was FASCINATING!


Once we got into studying Europe, I was enjoying it the most!

I grew up in Brussels, Belgium.

We traveled a lot the almost eight years I was there, and studying about all the places I had been brought back a lot of memories!


We make vocabulary cards once a week as we study any Science that ties into the country we are learning about.

These kiddos can really draw!


We did a lot of reading about the castles in Europe.

They are AMAZING!

I actually slept in one as a child!

Of course, we had to draw one.

Even I draw with the children most of the time.


We always have a craft day once a week.

While studying France, we made a craft with the Eiffel Tower!


We also learned about the Flower Carpet they lay in the Grand Place in Brussels every two years.

I have been to it!

Probably much more than once!

It was beautiful in person, but also beautiful on You Tube.


After My Father’s World, Lane works on his Science independently, and I teach Science to Tate and Eliza.


We also have a read aloud time every single day – which is all of our very FAVORITE thing!


We even read while we are out and about some days – this day we were sitting in the car waiting on Chad who had a dentist appointment.


Of course Chad is working away at his High School courses while I am working with the younger three.

Chad and I have a daily meeting, if needed, where I help him with any questions he has and I also jump in often as a study buddy for a test he is getting ready for!


Our afternoons are full of many things, but this year our afternoons are spent at home, of course.

We play a lot of games, read many books, do crafts, work puzzles, bake and cook, and of course, play outside.

Chad is taking guitar lessons on line this year and he is loving it!


There are SO, so many sweet things about our days here…

like puppies that are always close by –


Also the cute ways they sit!

I’ll never get enough of their cute positions!


There are always sweet little things that they bless me with on their school pages.

I have them practice a few cursive words every day, and then leave the last line blank for them to write what they want.

Look what Eliza wrote this day!

“Go light your world.” Yes, baby girl!! Go and shine your light!!


It wasn’t very sweet the day Tate had a huge nose bleed during school, but he had some sweet companions while he laid still to get it to stop!


We have some dreary days where school is SO welcome because we cannot be outside.

Some dreary days call for the construction light to be brought in from the garage!

It was so dark this particular day!


How’s that for a sssuuupppeeerrrrrr long catch-up post?

I think so too!!

We SO enjoy looking back at our scrapbook here!

And I enjoy keeping this scrapbook too!

Our school days are really full and fun.

I am so thankful to be their teacher!

Here’s hoping we will finish this school year strong!

A Make-Over

by // // Comments off

Blake came home this past week with some paint color options so that we could make a plan to freshen up our island in the kitchen!

We painted our island white two years ago, but it was very dirty and chipping in places.


I like the island painted white very much!

Besides how dirty it always looked, I mean!

Blake and I decided to put a pop of color on the island this time.

I have always been drawn to the teal color of a wire basket hanging on the wall behind the kitchen table.


We started on the back side of the island and after one coat I stepped back and snapped this photo.


I loved it!!

Then I panicked and wasn’t so sure!

Then I loved it!!

(If you have never met someone who cannot STAND change – well, now you have, ha, ha!)


Yesterday we painted the drawers and put a clear coat of wax on everything because we had painted with chalk paint.

Thankfully all of our bigs were home yesterday so they helped us finish it all up.


It looks fresh and beautiful and the color is growing on me just a little bit.

By the time it is time to freshen it up again, I won’t want the teal color to go away!

It was a fun project for a freezing, below zero temperatures weekend.

The kiddos gave the teal color rave reviews, but they are good with change and all!

I heard some whispers about our next project – time will tell!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend too!

Wisconsin friends, stay warm and safe!

« Older posts
Newer posts »