Introduction to the Family

Since Marshall, Shaylen and I were still on NH time, we woke at 6:15 this morning. Yikes! That's after getting to bed late due to the adrenaline rush of the Big Surprise.

I thought I would start off this stream of posts by introducing you to my four Alaskan nephews and my sister. The last time I saw them, this blog didn't even exist! That was waaaaay back in June of 2005. The twins were 1 1/2 years old. Those boys have grown so much since then.

This is Jared. He'll be 9 in August.This is Caleb. He turned 7 this past February.This is David. He'll be 5 in June. Last time I saw him, he was celebrating his first birthday.This is Ethan. I met him for the first time this trip. He is 18 months old.And this is my beautiful sister, Stephanie, with Ethan. Steph is pregnant with #5 which is finally a GIRL.

The Flight Out

We had told the kids that a big surprise was coming. In order to insure that Steph wouldn't find out about this CO trip, we had to keep the whole thing from two very talkative munchkins: Marshall and Shaylen. They talk to Steph often enough that they would spill the beans. She asks too many questions.

We got the kids up Monday morning and brought them downstairs with their eyes closed. We sat them down in front of their packed suitcases and had them open their eyes. To Shaylen, who was convinced that the surprise was a swingset (or a pool), I'm sure her suitcase was a let down...momentarily. Taigen led them through a series of questions before they finally guessed that we were going to Colorado. Mayhem erupted! They were so excited.

Our flight took off at 4:10, and wouldn't you guess it? Steph called shortly before which made me have to scarf lunch down and then leave. It was so funny talking about all kinds of nebulous things and leading her on. Let the record state though...I never lied. That's what made it all so funny.

After our first flight, Marshall and Shaylen were invited into the cockpit. These pilots were overly gracious and allowed Marshall and Shaylen to actually sit in their chairs. They adjusted them forward and up so that they could sit and hold the steering wheel. They were so excited. They handed them a DC-9 stat card, which to Marshall will probably be equivalent to a baseball trading card for years to come.

It was so much fun to pull the Big Surprise off. We felt so sneaky! More to come...

Surprising Your Sister? Priceless

It's so rare that I get to pull off a big surprise on anyone. However, this week I did...on seven people with a bit of help.

It's been in the works for months. Taigen, Dad, Cathy and I had worked it out that the kids and I would fly out to Colorado and surprise my sister and her four boys when they were out visiting from Alaska. I hadn't seen them in four years and have never met the youngest, Ethan.

I have to give credit where credit is due however. I originally told Dad that there was no way we could make another trip to CO since we had just been here in Oct. Taigen had his own plans though and surprised me in January with the news. He had already booked tickets to make this all happen. Isn't he grand?

Since it was going to be a surprise on Steph and the boys, we did not tell Marshall and Shaylen because they would most definitely spill the beans. They knew a big surprise was in the works, but had no clue. We told them Monday morning. Uh huh...yesterday! They got really excited very fast.

We flew out from NH at 4:10 and got in to the house at about 9:30. Steph had just finished putting the boys in bed. When she marched up the stairs and saw the three of us standing there, she started crying! No surprise there. Needless to say, she got the boys up so they could enjoy the surprise too.

We're having a great time. The weather is perfect and we're enjoying ourselves immensely. The photos will come later, I promise. Thanks Taigen for making this trip possible. I love you.

Happy Birthday Dear Friend!

Anyone who frequents this blog knows how much the Bowmans mean to us. They are like our parents! Whether they adopted us or we adopted them we don't know, but it just happened.

A while back Mike emailed and asked if we could hold a small surprise party at our house for "his bride." She had requested nothing big for her 50th birthday "just to be surrounded by family." Since her kids are down south in SC, the Pileggis and our family had to fill in...and gladly!

Friday was the "big day!" We had Mike sneak in the "steakin" (steak and chicken according to Enzo) that he had marinated at work, Joni brought salad and we also devoured chips and then a chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake that I had made.

Brenda is such a dear, sweet, godly lady and I hope that she had a great time. We would've given her the moon if we could, but she'll have to "settle" for all the love we can give her. Happy Birthday, dear friend. We love you.

A Strange Sort of Field Trip

On Friday, I got a call from our neighbor across the street. She asked if the kids were awake and if we were home. We were so she said to quietly come across the street, creep in the house and take a look at the peacock that was in her backyard. She said she actually called the police and said, "I know this might sound strange, but has anyone reported a missing peacock?" Apparently, the peacock escaped from a farm two cities over! It's been meandering around a farm that is down the road but decided to take a peek at life on our street. It's not every day you see a peacock in a neighborhood! The kids really enjoyed seeing it and loved the turquoise-blue feathers.

Mystery Bird

Any of you bird enthusiasts have a book or the knowledge to help me figure out what this feathered friend is? My guess is either a Brown-Headed Cowbird or possibly a Gray Jay? It doesn't seem dark enough to be a Gray Catbird, nor does the bill seem long enough. He/She was all gray and was content to just sit on the feeder for quite a while. I was never able to see the back feathers. Any suggestions?

Another Type of Graduation

On Tuesday we received a special shipment. The shipment contained two big-kid booster seats that functioned with a regular seat belt for the twins. These not only are easier for Marshall and Shaylen to buckle and unbuckle themselves, but they allow for their clothes to stay nice and neat. The five-point harness was getting to be quite the pain with Shaylen's dresses. What was the point of ironing them if the seat belt was going to just wrinkle it?

Another benefit is that these will be easier to pack when we fly! This way, the Grands don't have to worry about borrowing car seats every time we're in the area. That can be a pain. It'll be good to be able to use them in WA this spring.

The kids were so excited to use them on the way to church on Wednesday evening. They looked so big in those seats.

K-5 Is Done

As predicted, we were able to finish the K-5 program this Friday. I wondered if it was going to get accomplished this week since we didn't have school on Thursday. We had dear friends from Falmouth, ME stop in and visit us. The Gauthiers had planned to see us during their winter break, but the plague (okay, so it was food poisoning or some other such stomach bug) hit their family and they were unable to come down. They joined us at church on Wednesday evening and spent the night at the Joos Bed and Breakfast. We had such a great time with them. Good friends are such a blessing!

Friday morning we went up to the classroom earlier than normal and started plugging away. The last lessons were so cute! I love how they put together video and picture montages (with strains of Pomp and Circumstance in the background) from the year so that the kids could remember all of the fun lessons and neat visitors that had periodically popped into their classroom. Their Hippity-Hop friend "Hopscotch" (a 6' rabbit!) graduated from Kindergarten as well. The kids loved the "Poetry Party." All of their teachers from K-5 Beginnings came and recited their favorite poems.

The blessing of those DVD's is that they have so many more resources than I ever would. The blessing of having home-schooled twins and doing the DVD's is that I can sit right there with them and still play a huge part in their education (remember, I'm a pause button fanatic)...just not have to spend hours in lesson preparation. I am ever so thankful for BJU Press. The program was unbelievably well done.

I am so proud of how hard the kids worked this year. Taigen asked me last night what I loved most about this year and I told him that I loved watching the "light" come on in their heads as they discovered new things.

We celebrated last night by taking the kids to Friendly's after dinner for some ice cream. We wanted to do something special for them to reward them for a year of hard work! I think last night was the beginning of a great end-of-the-school-year tradition. I don't think the kids realize that we're done with school now for about 3 months. Marshall said last night that we're going to take "a little bitty break" from school. Who wants to bet that they will ask if we can "do school" next week?

The Principal of JHSA Substitutes For A Day

I had volunteered a while back to help with the academic testing of some home-schoolers for this week. I'm qualified to do so since I am a certified teacher, so all I needed to do was submit my credentials and acquire a tester number. It worked out really well. There is quite a large group of home-schoolers around here and it's cheaper for them/us to test them as a body rather than individually. Community Baptist Church in Rochester graciously allowed us to use their facilities again this year and I was able to get the K-5 testing group done in a day!

Taigen and I decided that we didn't feel it necessary to test Marshall and Shaylen for K-5 this year, so they got to stay home and do school. Taigen got to try his hand at substituting.

The kids enjoyed having Daddy in for a day and I think Daddy enjoyed it too! This week they've been learning about "What To Do On Vacation." Monday they discussed going out to the west to places like Cheyenne, WY where the indians lived. Can you tell that they loved their project?

A New Kind of Guest

This morning I came downstairs and started opening up the blinds. I drew back the curtains on the patio door and lo and behold! I saw a new friend at our green feeder! I must've startled it when I opened the curtain, but I quickly grabbed the camera and snapped up a picture before it took off.

Camel Caravan

This week the kids have been learning all about the desert. They have really enjoyed it! They got to make a mess with sand (they ran their fingers through it), learn about all of the creatures that live in the desert (scorpions, lizards, cobras, owls, etc.) learn about the Saguaro cactus, and today, they learned about camels.

I absolutely loved the craft they had to go along with today's lesson. I saved out part of an egg carton weeks ago so that I would have it on hand and then spray painted them early this morning so they would be dry by lesson time. The kids had a blast and are currently playing with them during quiet time! (Marshall's is on the left and Shaylen's is on the right.)

We have lesson 155 tomorrow. Do you know what that means? We have six lessons left. If all works out as I've "planned," we should be done by Thursday of next week. Hooray!

First Dentist Appointment

It took us two years to take care of this, but the kids finally had their first dental appointment today. I know we're late in the game. We finally decided to bite the bullet and sign up for a good dental plan for the entire family.

Marshall, I could tell, was nervous. He stayed positive all morning, but at lunch the apprehension was building. Shaylen on the other hand was, well...Shaylen: perky and eager. I promised that there would be no shots today and even told Marshall that I would ask the receptionist if there would be shots just to make sure.

Once we were signed in and had to wait, Marshall's face got red and his ears were hot. He was fighting back those tears and was really and truly trying to be a trooper. I was so proud of him. However, when the dental hygienist called him back, the tears started flowing. He didn't make a fuss, but his eyes were streaming. Poor buddy. Taigen was right with him so everything was fine.

Shaylen got called back minutes later and only then did she say that she was a bit nervous. The hygienist was really good though about showing us around (even allowing us to peek in on Marshall's progress without him knowing) and then showing Shaylen where she would be. She plopped right into the dental chair and was excellent throughout.

I was able to walk over to where Marshall was at one point and check on him. He had been given the option of sitting on Daddy's lap while he had his teeth cleaned and he took it. He was holding a bear and was being shown how to brush his teeth. He was being so good!

Shaylen's teeth looked excellent. No cavities! They told her that she was doing a great job of taking care of her teeth and must be eating lots of fruits and veggies, and drinking lots of water and milk. They loaded her up with a toothbrush, bubble gum flavored toothpaste, a flosser and a toy! Then we were allowed to go over and watch Marshall finishing up. His normal color had come back and he actually smiled a few times. I think he finally figured out that the dentist's wasn't a horrible place. He got loaded up with all the goodies as well. Everything looked great for Marshall too and he had no cavities too! Here's the exciting news though: the dentist found one tooth that had the traces of being wiggly. *Gasp!* Can you believe that?

We are so thankful for the recommendation (thanks Perdues!) of a kid-friendly dentist. The people at this office bent over backwards to make this visit a good one. Now...if I can just get my big-kid husband in soon, we'll be doing great.

A New Feathered Friend

You've got homework! Can you please help?

On Saturday I heard some beautiful chirping outside and looked to see which bird was singing. What I found was a bird that I hadn't seen before. I quickly came downstairs to get the camera and try and snap up a few shots of him. I'm confident that it's a "him" because of his brightly colored feathers. Since I had to take the picture through the window, the picture didn't come out very clear. It didn't help that it was also somewhat dark outside too.I tried to zoom in as much as possible in the picture software. It made the picture fuzzy, but I'm hoping it's enough for you to try and decipher what kind of bird this is. It's either got to be a House Finch or a Purple Finch (why would anyone name a red finch a "purple finch", is beyond me, but I'm not in charge).

Any thoughts? (Remember:You can click on the photo to view it in larger form. Just click the back browser to bring you back to the blog's main page.)

Happy Easter!

We had such a wonderful Easter! We got up early in order to attend our Sunrise service. Thankfully, the kids were excited and not dragging at 6:30am. Grandma Sherry had sent their Easter Sunday duds a couple of weeks ago. They were excited to put them on, Marshall because he would look like Daddy with a tie on and Shaylen because she had a purse to match. We raided the hand-me-down bin and actually found sandals for Shaylen to match. Isn't God good? We didn't even have to buy white shoes for her! (I think those sandals came from Elise McIlwaine. Am I right?)

We had a wonderful Sunrise service. It started at 7:30. There were over 70 people there and the singing was awesome for being that early. Afterwards we had a potluck breakfast. People always talk about Southern cooking, but what I sampled yesterday morning for breakfast would put any southern cook to shame. We have some good cooks in our church.

We enjoyed a time of fellowship and then went up for Sunday school. Our Sunday morning service was wonderful. All of the hymns and other music was centered around the Resurrection and Taigen's sermon was very good. I'm so thankful that he's my pastor.

After our morning service we went over to our friends' house for a wonderful ham dinner. Since we didn't have an evening service, we were able to sit and enjoy a casual meal and then a sweet time of conversation while the kids played. When they finally came in, they had cold cheeks and hands, but were exhausted. The time flew! We didn't leave until about 6 o'clock. It was such a glorious day.

Starting to Wrap Things Up

As of this afternoon, the kids have only 13 lessons left of Kindergarten. We have had so much fun this year and the kids have really worked hard. It's hard to believe that we've so quickly completed almost all of the160 prescribed lessons. I'm so very thankful for the ministry of BJU Press. The kids are getting a quality education and I have the opportunity to sit right with them and encourage them along (while also being a Pause Button fanatic so they have to answer all the questions their teachers ask!).

Some of you might be wondering why we're finishing so early. Well, we started way back in early August, didn't take two weeks at Christmas, a week for "Winter Break" or a week for "Spring Break." We also have the benefit of not having to take snow days when we get dumped on in New England. If you're a frequent reader of this blog, you know this happens frequently during the winter months! Lest you think I'm a slave driver & meanie for pushing them too hard, it's the kids' fault! They have begged me to even do school on Saturdays up until about a month ago when I finally made it clear that we do not do school on Saturdays and Sundays. They have also begged me on regular school days to allow them to do extra lessons (They say, "Can we do another Mrs. White? or Mrs. Lawson?") and often I've complied. It's hard to tell them "no" to learning. We have taken some days off, just not nearly as many as the public schools do.

The kids are itching to get outside and play. Our very last patch of snow melted this morning. It finally feels AND looks like spring. We've been on the lookout for familiar birds at the feeder & flowers poking out of the ground. The crocuses at church have made their appearance and they are a beautiful vibrant purple.

I've put up some pictures from today at school. Yesterday they made a hand wreath that said "I want to serve God." We've been singing "Little Hands to Work for Jesus" so that they realize that they can serve the Lord using those precious little hands. That is our prayer for them. We want them to be used by God no matter what.

Gimme A Deal!

Taigen wasn't the only one busy on Monday. After school and lunch, I went out to run a few errands, one of them being stopping by the local CERV Thrift shop to see if they had any pants in Marshall's size. The knees of his pants are shot!

I personally don't mind thrift stores. It's almost a challenge for me to see what great deals I can find. Maybe PBS needs to come up with a "Thrift Store Road Show." Women from all over the country would line up to brag about their bargains. Now, I'm not The Master Thrift Store Lady. That would be Chris Wheeler, my friend who used to cut my hair. She was amazing! I can still hear her say in her cute New England accent, "It's nahht Salvation Ahhhhmy. It's Goodwill!"

I had never been inside this thrift store, so I didn't know what to expect. The Goodwill in Biddeford was jam-packed with clothing in various sizes, so I was hoping this one would be the same. It wasn't. Either that or every mother in the seacoast area of NH has the same issue with their 5-6 year old boys wearing out the knees of their pants. They have to throw away all pants size 6 because they are "un-donatable!"

Since I had no success in the clothing department, I went looking around so I could see what all they had. I walked away with two very good bargains! First, I found a cake/pie carrier that was brand new, complete with original price tag. Inside was a deviled egg insert, also brand new with price tag. When I lifted out the egg insert, I noticed the receipt from the store it was purchased. The total price for the carrier and egg insert? $14.98. The price I paid for them combined? $2! The lady at the counter told me that they had just gotten that in that morning. Wa Hoo! I'm looking forward to a crumb-less lap when I have to transport cakes & pies in the future.

The other treasure I found was a mini-Dirt Devil. I've been wanting one of these for quite a while now. I had looked for one before Christmas and never found it. I wanted something small but powerful to vacuum all of our stairs. This one will be great because the power cord is very long. It can reach to the top or bottom of the stairs without me having to unplug. I can also get the main floor stairs, the basement stairs and the guest room stairs easily without lugging my huge vacuum everywhere. It's always humorous to try to use the power tools to vacuum while wrestling with the machine itself. It seems bound and determined to catapult down to its death while trying to drag me with it. This Dirt Devil will make life so much easier for me, and hopefully my stairs will stay cleaner too. These retail for about $40 and I got it for $5. It's in almost perfect condition.

Taigen can paint, but I can shop. We make a great team.

Monday's Project

Okay, so Taigen didn't do all of this today. He actually painted every last inch of trim the other day, but the majority of this painting project was done today.

Taigen painted our stairwell and hallway upstairs! Hooray! Why all the excitement? This painting project officially completes the repainting of the main part of the house (excluding the basement and the 1/2 bath. It actually looks nice...the bathroom that is. NOT the basement.).

Here are some before pictures of the area:

Can you see the dirt streaks on the left picture (complete with finger smears)? Ew! Note: You can click on the pictures to see them larger. Just click the "Back" browser button to return to the post. Just for clarification: In case you didn't know, we did not have white walls with blue accents, that's painter's tape.












And some after: (Eeek! Now the dirty carpet really sticks out. I've got to get on the ball and deep clean it!)

Look Who's Learning to Whistle!

I can't tell yet if he is blowing out air or sucking it in, but regardless, the boy has found yet another way to make noise.And I couldn't resist putting in a wonderful shot from Sunday morning of my two favorite guys in their Sunday duds.