Slacking in my duties as a blogger!

Hey there,

I can see that I have neglected my duties as a blogger due to the unforseen pleasure of Facebook. I also have been busy with life-school, Robert and school, sports, and church callings. But I am happy to say right now that Robert is off for a week before heading back to school, kids are done with sports and also on spring break, and I will work on church stuff later today. To catch you all up with what's going on I better get started.

We changed our routine at school from school in the morning and YMCA in the afternoon, to YMCA in the Morning and school in the afternoon. That has been working out much better. Still some rough days but not nearly as long. Before January we could easily spend 10-14hours doing school work when it should only take about 4.5 hours. I was not taking time for me because we were doing school all the time. So in Jaurary I decided to do the YMCA in the morning and school from the afternoon to evening when we picked Robert up. This is working out so much better!!!

Robert had his 15 hr review for grad school. We were worried because he didn't have much time to prepare, but he Passed! So now we are looking at him walking in May and being finished by the end of August 2009!
Robert and I went to the Savannah College of Arts and Design Career Fair and he spoke with a few companies. One that seemed particularly interested in him was 1st Playable Productions in Troy, NY. We should be hearing back from them before the end of March. I don't know if anyone else does this but I have been online looking a houses and info about the towns in New York just in case he gets the job--and its fun to see all the snow in the pictures.

Spring is in the air here in Savannah, just this past week we were in the mid 80's, (crazy I know) I have garden fever and want to be planting and getting my hands in the dirt, but with not know what the rest of the year holds, I am resisting and not doing a garden this year. But I have been working on my food storage and so I am canning, drying, and putting up as much as I can (mostly meat right now) so if and when something happens with this unstable economy then I can be a bit more prepared. I am a big fan of Glenn Beck and so our family attended the We The People: We Surround Them party at B&D Burgers. It was packed, but the message was inspiring.

Well it will be just around the corner before I know it when we will have birthdays and our 10th anniversary and Robert's graduation. Looking forward to it all. We will keep you updated as things come along. As for things that have passed, you didn't miss much. We have had our heads to the grind stone and are looking forward to summer! We are working hard now so we can play hard later!

Happy New Year!

Now that we are a few weeks into the new year (its gone by so quickly already) I thought I would take this time to share a few things I am thankful for:

First and for most the gospel of Jesus Christ that has been restored through the prophet Joseph Smith Jr. and the knowledge of the plan of salvation and the gift of the atonement. Without it I would be a lost and miserable person.

I am thankful for my home and the blessing of warmth (mostly air conditioning in Savannah) and the roominess it gives my family so we can participate in homeschool without crowding each other. And to finally have enough room to have company over for some fun entertainment.

I am thankful for my health. I may not be the skinniest (nor the fattest) but I can still run and not be weary, walk and not faint, I can care for myself and my family.

I am thankful for my talents. I love to sing. If I could grow up and be anything I would want to be a performer. I would step out of my shell and sing on stage. But I chose a higher calling. I am more thankful to be a mother who can sing anytime and to anyone who will listen (usually outside the bathroom door as I sing in the shower).

I am thankful for the small stuff....toilet paper, hair gel, etc.

I am thankful for knowledge. Even though I am not in school, I continue to love learning.

I am thankful for my friends. They lift me up and brighten my day.

I am thankful for my family. I have a hard working husband who loves me and 4 great kids who know how to push my buttons, but also know how to melt my heart with their love.

I am thankful for the world and the beauty it brings to my eyes.

I am sure I could go on and on. I made a list a few years ago from a lesson in RS. I found it the other day and have pondered over what I was thankful for then. I look at my life now and there are a few changes, but mostly I see that there is more to be thankful for now than there was before.

So I challenge you to make a list of all the things you are thankful for and keep it. Read it when you are having a bad day. It will help you to cherish what is good in your life. It will help to push the troubles of today into the past and remember what really matters.

This year is going to be a challenging year for our family. Robert is almost done with school. Which means projects, finals, and more reviews. Then graduation, job hunting, hopefully a job, and then moving. I don't look at this time as dreadful, although I know these things will not be easy. But I do look at them as a time to grow and rely on the Lord for guidance. He hasn't let me down yet. He will be there for me now and always.


I know this to be true.

Brian Turns 4!

In my hustle and bustle to update my blog I failed to mention Brian's birthday. So here are just a few pictures to recap.

He got the Transformer Movie with mask. And a new transformer. He sang to himself for about a week,
"Happy burfday to me, happy burfday to me"

Just a joy to have in our family. He told Robert and I that there needs to
be more boys in the house.

I hope someday he is right.
I have all the "girly" hormones
that I can handle.

Little Time for anything else

Well hello all you long lost readers. It has been a while since I have written, because teaching two and caring/entertaining two, and having a husband at school all day (and sometimes all night can be quite a bit of a challenge, let alone keep up with my blog.

But just so you know we are still alive. Here is a little of what is going on.

Elaina turned two on October 23rd. It is amazing how time flies and for the fact that usually by this time I am pregnant with another one or have already had another baby. But not this time. We are trying to hold out till Robert finishes school. (Just in case anyone was wondering).

Anyway, Elaina was trilled to get her dress-up shoes, and purse, but not as thrilled as getting a new baby doll. She squealed like she had just won a beauty contest! It was so cute. What a joy to know that I shopped well to make her happy.

Back on October 24th Robert passed his Review.
That means he is officially in the Masters program
at Savannah College of Arts and Design (aka SCAD). This was quite a large task. He had previously failed two reviews which really destroyed his self esteem. But he is also really lucky because after taking all those classes he should be done in May '09 or Dec '09. There is light at the end of the tunnel!

The kids enjoyed Trunk or Treat at our old Georgetown ward. We got all dressed up. Katie and Samantha also attended a halloween party with a primary teacher. It was nice to see them have a good time. We also attended our halloween ward party where they had a carnival and we all enjoyed it. Needless to say with all the parties we did not go our for Halloween.

The kids and I went on a field trip to Poppell Farm
in Olum or Odum, GA (sorry I just can't remember
how it is spelled.) We took a little friend with us, Pheonix, who is also in the Georgia Virtual Academy. We had a great time feeding the goats and catfish, taking a ride on the cow train, and taking a hay ride to pick out our pumpkins. We also enjoyed the spider slide and jumping in the tweety cage. We even managed to have enough energy to go through the corn maze. It was so refreshing to be out in the country where the sun shines and there is no traffic. It almost makes me like living in Georgia.

We are looking forward to the Holidays where we
can give school a rest. But I am proud of all that
my girls have learned since we have started. We will be driving somewhere and they will look out their windows and tell me what kind of clouds are in the air. We had a thunderstorm yesterday and were able to look outside and count, after we saw lightning, and determine how far away the storm was. Katie is learning multiplication and division as well as cursive handwriting. Samantha is a good reader and doing well. Brian is showing much interest in learning and doing "school work" so I have things for him to do as well. Elaina likes to sit on my lap and color. I posted a picture of our leaf pile. We took a break from school and raked up the leaves and jumped in them! They had a good time.

Now my house is a different story. Since putting all my time
and focus on school and soccer/games, my house has seen
cleaner days. But I make sure that nothing is growing, or roaming the house ready to set up house, but I have had to learn where my priorities lie. I know that these days will soon be over and I will have a clean house again. But for now I am learning patience, learning to listen, and make memories with my children that will last forever. I just hope they are good memories.

What impresses me the most is that we are communicating better, we are more tolerant about the little things and we are a closer family.

Kids and Sports

Here are just a few pictures of Katie, Samantha, and Brian in soccer.

Leslie

Leslie's New look

Hey all,

I got my hair cut....finally. What do you think of it? Let me know.

Leslie

Sorry the pictures are kinda bad, but it has been rough lately.

Homeschooling Begins

For all of you curious at how we are doing with school, let me just tell you that we started out rough, (like anything new and challenging) but we are definitely progressing toward the more positive side of things.

Our first week was awful. 12-14 hour days trying and still not finishing the minimum. Neglecting little ones and frustrated with older ones.

But I tell you Tuesday things really turned around. But before I tell you, I just want you to know that I was crying all day Monday. I was at rock bottom. But, I remembered a story that I had heard on Sunday at church about a mother who had her family to care for plus an additional family to care for and she had to do everything, cleaning, laundry, meals, etc. (and to top it off she lived in the 1800's) Well, as the time progressed she became burdened with her trials and was very down. She went to pray and was visited by an angel who helped her. She did not know that it was an angel, but later found out that it was.

So I was reflecting upon this story so I decided to pray also. I asked Heavenly Father to help me to sustain me in my burdens so that they would become light, so that I may do all that was required of me. I opened my scriptures in the Book of Mormon and read D&C 121:7-10 which reads:

7. My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
8. And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.
9. Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands.
10. Thou art not yet as Job; thy friends do not contend against thee, neither charge thee with transgression, as thy did Job.

Then during our family scripture study I had Katie pick a story from the Friend magazine. She happened to choose a story about the prophet Joseph Smith and read how he is a true prophet of God in these latter days.

This again bore a second witness to me that God does live, He knows me personally. He sent his son here to the earth to establish his gospel and teach me what is true. I know that my prayers have been answered and that I can find those answers in the scriptures, through modern revelation, and through others, even virtual teachers.

On Monday in the early afternoon, the girls teacher called me to ask me some questions. As soon as she asked me how I was doing I began again to cry. I expressed to her my struggles and all the trouble I was having about juggling my schedule with my older kids with my younger kids. She listened to me cry and yell and really listened to me. She was an answer to my prayer, because I was able to get all that tension off my chest and she took no offense to it and was a stepping stone for me to leave all that behind and start again. She helped me change the girls schedules so that I don't have to do everything every single day. She bore my burdens and told me she would research what other moms are doing to balance school kids with non school kids. How awesome is that! A teacher who has time for me and my family.

Let me tell you this has made all the difference in the world. Yesterday, the girls had a dr. appt. so I printed out their worksheets and explained to the girls that we were taking our schooling with us. They were OK with that and so off we went. We finished at the dr.s and had one more appt to go to. Both ended taking up all of our morning. I dropped Robert off at school (where he stayed till 8am the next morning) and headed home to feed the kids. We spent another two hours-3 hours on homework and stopped at 4pm. We went to the YMCA and played. I walked for 1.5 hours and we came home and had dinner. Then took baths and went to bed. I even got to stay up and watch a movie, the one I wanted to watch! (I didn't go to bed till midnight) but that was beside the point I was not bound to my house, I was able to see the sun and daylight. I was able to enjoy me kids. I was free! This is what it is all about! Fitting school into my life--rather my life fitting into school.

I am a new person. I am elaited and ready to begin my quest....again. Renewed and afresh. All thanks be to Heavenly Father.

(By the way for any of you curious, I started school before the K-12 people gave me advice about the first 5 days....to start out slow one subject a day then add to that. I jumped in with both feet and sunk quickly....I won't be doing that again.)

Next week we get to tackle more juggling...three of the four are starting soccer, and the girls are starting girl scouts (maybe). Go Hagen's.