An attempt at catching up!

I am so behind at blogging that it is overwhelming to try to catch up at all!
So, I just am posting this hodge-podge of pictures from the last while, and will try to do better keeping up from now on!















These first pics are from "Legislative Day" when homeschoolers from Illinois travel to the capital to visit their legislators and take them homemade cherry pies, encourage them to vote in favor of homeschooling, and gather to sing on the steps in front of Abe Lincoln, etc. It was so much fun! I used to go back when I was a homeschool kid, but this was the first time I had taken the next generation.


























We also took a weekend trip to Milwaukee to visit our Peruvian friends. These pics are from that visit:











We have been having a lot of fun with Luciana here!


















A couple weeks ago, we had a surprise party for my sil, Amanda, who was turning 30. She was genuinely surprised, so, YAY! We all had a good time!





























We have also been to visit my Grandma Nita and we had some beautiful weather to help her with some yard work. HI, Grandma Nita! (She is a faithful blog reader!) We can't wait to see you next week!!!















While there, I got to meet my cousin Brian's baby Sophia for the first time!


















And we made it to visit my other Grandma Jean and Grandpa Albert as well. I interviewed Grandma Jean, as I had done last year with Grandma Nita and Grandpa Howard, and was able to video tape it as well. I just loved hearing her tell about the "olden days" and other aspects of family history.


This is only a tiny percentage of all that we have been up to lately, which is why it's been so hard to find time to blog about it! I will try to keep up better now. :)

Happy EIGHT Years To Us!

Last week Fabio and I celebrated eight years of marital bliss! It has been an amazing journey and I wouldn't trade it for the whole world!!!



This was in about October of 1999....













This was April of 2001 - tying the knot!!












My favorite wedding picture:












Last week, 2009, celebrating at Red Lobster!

(The crop on this pic was accidental and I nearly cried! It was better before the crop, but I can't undo it now... )





One more shot from RedLobster last week. :)


Fabio is fabulous.
I love you so much, darlin', and it just keeps getting better with time!

Pot-head ??

Sorry for the potty humor, but this was just too funny not to post! Israel took himself to the potty the other day, and thought it would be funny to put the toilet seat over his head. (He is the family ham!) It got stuck there.















Look at those lips!!







I'll post more later. :)

Visitors

Before I begin, PARTS TWO AND THREE of the interview with Mrs. Tripp is online now at www.mamaknowsbest.net.

DONT FORGET TO LEAVE A COMMENT FOR A BOOK!! You don't have to be a member to leave a comment!




Well, we have been busy. Again. Or still. Or whatever! =) This time, we have had visitors. Fabio's sister, Luciana, arrived from Brazil about a week and a half ago, and will be staying here for 3 months.
The same day, a friend of ours from Japan, Eiko-san, arrived to visit for ten days. She knew Luciana, too, when we all lived in Japan, so she wanted to come while Luciana was here.





Luciana was planning to take ESL classes at our local community college starting the Monday after she arrived, so if we were going to do any sight-seeing, we had to do it right away. So, we hit the door running those first few days!









Trips included Fair Oaks Dairy Farm, and Amish Country. It was so fun!



















And a princess party for Priya and Skylar. It was so much fun to see all the little girlies in their fancy dresses....

































































One evening I made a huge "american" dinner and that was fun too! :)

We ate it with Abby, who is living with us from England, and Isaac, my friend's son who is studying Japanese.









Oops, back at Fair Oaks here...












Amish Country.













Johann is starting to crawl!

































Amish restaurant....












And we end with another American experience at McDonalds!



Two bits of bad news. Even though we had a great time for those first few days, after that Eiko-san got sick and ended up going home a few days early. :-(

And, Luciana took tests at school for two days, and in the end, she was told that she could not study there, because her level was too high for the ESL classes, and she doesn't have a SS# for the other classes.....
So... she has become our new student at our homeschool! We had our first school day this morning and it went well. That ESL teaching experience from Japan is coming in handy once again. ;-)

Coming soon: Pictures from Passover and Easter..........

Interview with Mrs. Margy Tripp

INTERVIEW WITH MRS. TRIPP

A very edifying parenting conference at our church in February with Tedd Tripp, who authored Shepherding a Child’s Heart, led us (at MamaKnowsBest) to the opportunity to interview his wife, who also co-authored with him Instructing A Child’s Heart!

Well, the first segment of the interview is now up on MamaKnowsBest! Mrs. Tripp graciously took quite a lot of time writing to us younger mothers and I know you will be blessed by reading what she has to say. Because she took time to really deliver some “meat”, I will be publishing the interview in segments to give us all time to digest well the wisdom of her words.

She has also been kind enough to agree to giving away some of her books to readers of MamaKnowsBest!! Please check the site for information to win your copy!

Avianna Marie and Her Siblings

I'm an auntie again! Here is my oldest brother Scott with his brand newest baby girl, Avianna Marie. She was born last Saturday afternoon and I was privileged to be at her birth. :) She weighed 10lbs even, and was 21 inches long.







She looks so much like Cheyenne when she was born!

Yesterday I had the privilege of having the other four children at my house so their mama could rest up a bit. :)

We had a blast!

The kids played so well together, and it was nice that it was nice enough to play outside for a good while.

I just had to keep counting heads up to seven to make sure I didnt lose anyone!



















Fabio put this chalkboard on the garage wall last Saturday - it was perfect!

Israel in the playhouse.

They all just ran from one activity to the other the whole time- what a lot of energy!

Cheyenne -6yo

Moriah - almost 2yo and not the baby anymore! And Dominique, whose bangs are trying to grow....

Moriah and Johann

Dillon and Joshua - they got along so well and played lots of games together. How fun!

Gabe was too fun to take pictures of!

Dillon is so tall. I can't believe he's going to be 9 soon!

Moriah - what a sweetie!

Gabe and Israel. These two guys remind me so much of each other!

Cheyenne and Dominique - love to play dress-up and get along so well!

Mealtimes were fun! We had, altogether:
an 8yo
2 6yo's
2 4yo's
2 2yo's
a 6mo


:)



Gabe said he wanted to sing us a song: