catch up

whew. it's been awhile. so this post will be long i'm sure. just warning you now. :)

we've been super busy lately. couple that with 70 degree weather in march...in wisconsin...and you don't have the time to sit on the computer. it has been back to normal for weather, but still pretty decent out.

now...where to start?! school has been going really well. i've looked ahead and we only have about 5 weeks left of school. that's insane to me! it doesn't seem like this school year can already be almost over. my original plan was to take a few weeks off, then start up again. i *think* that is what we'll do. but more of a laid back approach over the summer. just to not lose the routine, and really i miss it when i'm not teaching, and the kids beg for school again. so by doing "school" all summer (with breaks/not every day/etc) that should satisfy our school urges.

the only problem...is deciding what we'll use next year. i already have most of our curriculum bought for next year. well our "core" curriculum i guess. everything else we are not almost finished with because we started things at different points with spelling, science, math, handwriting, and we already "finished" our language arts/grammar so we just started the next level.

i *thought* we would be moving on to our next level of my father's world, exploring countries and cultures. then last weekend i felt like we may not be. i can't explain it really, but i feel the Lord pulling me somewhere else. so i've been researching curriculum for the past week. and mainly the "history" part of the curriculum. so i've been looking into mystery of history, story of the world, tapestry of grace and other randoms. ((and if you have personally used any of these currics, i'd LOVE to hear your responses about them. good or bad.)) and who knows, maybe i will end up back with mfw. i'm just researching. :)

it's all a decision that is prayed about and i know the Lord will show us where to go with it. and can i just say how it blesses me to hear shaun pray about it. :) the other night when we were praying before bed he prayed about curriculum stuff. it made my heart swoon. actually each time we pray together as a family it makes my heart swoon. especially hearing evaleigh. she doesn't have "words" but she sure has stuff to pray for, and ends in an enthusiastic "AMEN!" i just want my kids to feel comfortable praying and praying outloud. and they do. it's such a blessing to me.

speaking of school, and praying amelya recently wrote this letter for her spelling in school.

when i read her writing and her heart, i know that no matter how hard the days can get...i'm doing the thing i need to be doing. i just love reading it. and it's fun to know the things she's thankful for, line up with mine. :) although my teacher is different at church, i'm so very thankful for all of those things as well.

actually exciting things are happening at our church. the church had it's annual business meeting this past sunday (i missed the meeting, but shaun sat in on it, while i taught the toddlers and my sister helped me) an assistant pastor was ordained. actually it was the same person who did evaleigh's baby dedication. i was bummed i missed that! i really am excited for "pastor" kevin. :) he's a great guy and is an awesome teacher. the church also goes over all of the finances during the meeting. i think this is a cool thing, and something we never experienced before, but it's nice to know what's going on with the church and the money it's given. the church is potentially looking at buying a building, right now we lease a building, so that is exciting as well. our church picnic is coming up on memorial day. and i'm in charge of planning that. so i'm excited to get moving on that. we're going to do a carnival "theme". it's going to be a blast!! another thing that looks to be on the horizon is vacation Bible school. in years past our girls have attended another church's vbs, but since we go to a bigger church and have lots more kids...i wanted something at our church. our pastor "okay-d" the idea, so now we get to plan that as well. again...super excited. our church family is so super great and it's so fun to be so involved with everything there. i guess it's nice to have an opportunity to serve. i've always felt led in the area of children's ministry, so it's nice to have the opportunity to serve God and others that way.

yesterday was super busy day. shaun took the day off to go to the 'farm show'. it's roughly an hour away "around the lake". the girls also had dance pictures. so we did the farm show, then my great sister offered up her house to get ready for dance pictures at, then we didn't need to go all the way back home. and it was so nice to have another pair of hands getting the girls ready for their pictures! my sister only lives about 5 minutes from the studio, so it worked great. my boys were in love at the farm show. dustin talked about it all week, and woke up early talking about it yesterday. he's a john deere lover like his daddy. and when he saw where all the john deere stuff was his words were, "JOHN DEERE!!! THIS WAY!!!" and literally went running. i snapped this picture on my phone...

he was so excited. even though we have our own john deere, nothing beats seeing a ton of them in one place. here he is driving his sisters around...

i must add, the girls were equally excited to drive the tractors and play. they all were up and down and up and down all of the equipment.

now, i was excited about the farm show as well...but not for the tractors...for the food...

deep fried cheese curds to be exact. they WERE as delicious as they look. seriously you cannot go wrong with cheese deep fried.

and then we went to my sisters, like i said. it was nice to be able to get the girls dressed and ready so close to the studio. usually i have to get them dressed there, and it's a pain. so i just got them set and then had them put their shoes on, and got their ballet shoes on at the studio. they are the only three in the class. so it was nice to go in. and get in right away not waiting for others in class. when we got back to my sister's house i snapped this picture of them.

their awesome teacher also had three different colors for their costumes. so they get to wear there favorite colors. caitlyn's is a blue-tealy color, amelya is pink and breigh purple. gosh. they are so cute. of course i'm biased. but seriously...they are! and this year they have longer hair that i can style them for pictures and the recital. so it saves me money. last year it was shorter and i wasn't confident in my ability. i've told them they can get haircuts after the recital this year. :) breigh wants to grow her hair long though, so we'll see what she decides.

i've been busy crocheting too. here are a few things i've done.

 this was for a friend who just had a baby girl. :)

 some washcloths for a friend at church. and a hat for a baby girl of another friend.

one of my dear friends is having a baby boy this summer. here is a hat i did for him. i can't wait to see him in it.

 a friend asked for a lamb hat. so here is my first attempt at one. it turned out pretty well, and the yarn is fuzzy like a lamb. so sweet. the other is a bear hat with stripes.

this is a baby girl gift set. i bought the headband at hobby lobby. and made three hair clips for it. and then the hat. i debated doing the flower on the hat as a clip, but decided to just attach it instead.

i also have a panda hat that i'm working on. all i need to do is finish the eyes for it. one nice thing about driving all day yesterday...crocheting. :) i can crochet and talk with shaun as he drives...but i'm not so good about telling him when to turn. ;) oops!

so there's a bit of a catch up. :) hope you're all doing well. i'm getting excited a little less than two weeks and i'll be going to california!! can't wait. my husband is awesome for giving it to me as a birthday present. and hanging out with the five kiddos for five days!! ((we joked the other week that i'm staying a day longer and leaving one more kid at home this year.)) ;)