Beautiful New England

I absolutely love New England. I think there are parts of each season that are just remarkable. In the fall, nothing quite compares to the color display that we see. In spring, the new flowers bursting with colors and the trees blooming are a sight to behold. Summer brings green trees of every hue, and winter is picture perfect. Here are a few examples of what I mean. On our way home I captured a few pictures of the painting that God gave our eyes to feast on.

Rocky Hill Road (one of our main ways to get to the next town over)

Another view of Rocky Hill Road. I love how the trees overhang the road. Beautiful!

Snow Fun

Of course, you know that homeschoolers really don't get a break for snow. Even though the local school buses cannot safely make it through the snow to pick up the kids at the end of our driveway, WE can still make it up our guest room stairs for school.

After our schoolwork was done in the morning, Taigen and I had a surprise for them in the afternoon. We were going to go sledding! We love going to the local golf course, but since it was still snowing pretty hard and we figured the steep driveway to the golf course wouldn't be plowed yet, we decided to go to the nearby playground where there are some really nice hills down to a ballfield. We had a wonderful time and pretty much had the place to ourselves for the majority of the time.

March Came In Like A...

Our winter here has been so odd. We've hardly gotten any snow at all! Our poor lawn looks so bare. Usually at this time of year, we have several feet of snow. We finally got a big storm today and it made everything look so beautiful and clean.

HBC Homeschool Fine Arts Recital

Well, the big day finally came. All of the hard work and hours of practice on two piano pieces finally got heard tonight. I don't know who was more nervous...the kids or ME. When you have two kids playing a duet, the potential of a domino effect is greater. If one makes a mistake and the other doesn't respond to it properly, you have a piano train wreck. Thankfully, that didn't happen. They didn't play flawlessly, but they certainly did a great job. I was proud as punch!!!

The twins also submitted art work to be displayed downstairs during our reception time. Shaylen chose to draw an ant and Marshall decided on drawing Robert Hooke's microscope. They both got the idea from some art books so there were instructions on how to go about drawing them. They did a great job!

"Consider Her Ways" by Shaylen

"Robert Hooke's Microscope" by Marshall

We had a great time and we loved hearing all of the musical pieces and speeches. Everyone did a fantastic job! Afterwards we all went downstairs for a reception and were able to take our time and examine all of the artwork displayed. Thank you so much, Jane for all of the hard work you put into making this a HUGE success.

On a side note: We were so excited to have the more "formal" occasion in order to use the beautiful, fancy dress that Shaylen has on. It was given to Dad & Cathy by friends and then handed down to us. Shaylen looked beautiful in it! It was perfect. Thank you!

"Higher Ground"

Shaylen's turn to play in church came tonight. She had worked really hard on her hymn arrangement "Higher Ground." I am so thankful that the kids are willing to use their talents for ministry. I'm also thankful that their piano teacher keeps this at the forefront of their lessons and has them continuously working on something they can use in church.

(Sorry the video is slightly burry at the beginning and unsteady. I was videotaping it from the back of the auditorium.)

Working Together

Marshall and Shaylen are so faithful at practicing the piano every day. (Okay, part of that is that we MAKE them, but they are diligent and rarely complain.) The HBC Homeschool Fine Arts Recital is coming up and I chose (with the permission of their piano teacher, Judy) two duets for them to do. They are challenging, but are definitely crowd pleasers. I took this photo the other day of the two of them working together. They are getting so big and will soon outgrown the bench. I hope and pray that they continue to work well together and be each other's best friend.

Valentine's Day Fun

The homeschool kids from our church had a blast at the Meroff's on the Thursday after Valentine's Day. There were lots of games, snacks and laughter. Marshall and Shaylen have so many good friends! I love that all of our kids, no matter the age, get along so well. We don't have any teens that are "too cool" to hang out with the younger ones.

A Creature in the Attic

No, this is NOT the title of the latest Nancy Drew or Hardy Boy book that we are reading. However, it is somewhat mysterious and "creepy" (as the kids would say).

We have a "special" guest in our guest room attic. I've heard him before, especially when I'm up there at night working on cards. I hear him mostly scurrying and digging, but the other day during school, he was VERY active. I had the kids come and stand below the ceiling where he was and listen. He was digging and then started squeaking! I happened to have the camera up in the guest room, so I aimed it at the ceiling in order to capture the noise. I wanted Taigen to hear it too. This would prove that this creature exists and it is not a product of my imagination.

We have no access to the attic above the garage. It's all enclosed because the ceiling is basically the roof. How in the world did he get in, and how are we to kill this thing!?! What could it be? I'm thinking a mouse. Any guesses?

The following video is just of the ceiling, so there's nothing to see. But there is PLENTY to hear.

Superbowl Fun

Once again this year, we got invited over to our friends' house to watch the Superbowl with his TiVo. I love the fact that if I have to watch a sports game, I can at least get it over with faster by eliminating the commercials and half-time. I really don't mind watching sports...it's just not my thing. My motivation to go is to be with friends. Tee hee. Knowing me, I'd probably make some incorrect comment about football during the game that would make me the laughing-stock of the crowd. I've done it before. Just ask Jason Pileggi. Only that time, it was regarding baseball.

To help celebrate, I made football cookies with the Sour Cream Cookie recipe. These are so much fun and the kids were looking forward to eating them! They really could care less about football, but the cookies enticed them.

Unfortunately, the wife got sick...really sick, and so Taigen ended up going by himself. We sent over the cookies anyway. Marshall, Shaylen and I camped out on our bed upstairs and read a few more chapters in a Nancy Drew! Now THAT'S my way to celebrate the Superbowl!

Work For the Night Is Coming

Marshall had the opportunity to play on Wednesday night. I really love that they are willing to do this. They don't appear to be nervous, but I sure am! I love that their piano teacher emphasizes using their talents for the Lord.

Dare To Be Brave

At the end of January, the kids' choir was able to sing in our afternoon service. They did a new hymn that you might not be familiar with.  Here are the lyrics:

Dare to be brave, dare to be true
Strive for the right, for the Lord is with you
Fight with sin bravely, fight and be strong
Christ is your Captain, fear only the wrong

Fight then, good soldiers, fight and be brave
Christ is your Captain, mighty to save

Dare to be brave, dare to be true
God is your Father, He watches o'er you
He knows your trials, when your heart quails
Call Him to rescue, His grace never fails

Fight then, good soldiers, fight and be brave
Christ is your Captain, mighty to save

Dare to be brave, dare to be true
God grant you courage to carry you through
Try to help others, ever be kind
Let the opprest a strong friend in you find

Fight then, good soldiers, fight and be brave
Christ is your Captain, mighty to save

Taigen was able to videotape this for you. It's at a weird angle so you can barely see Marshall (if at all), but I can vouch as the choir director that they ALL did a fabulous job. Not only that, but this is a fantastic group of kids to work with. I am so thankful to be able to work with them in this way.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Mac!

We got a call a while back from Grandpa Mac's son, Mark. He was calling me from Colorado to let us know that he would be in town for Papa Mac's 80th birthday. Would we be able to come up and join them at On The Border for a little celebration? Taigen and I looked at our calendars and saw that our evening was free. This was something we definitely didn't want to miss.

During the day Taigen and I were judges at the New England Association of Christian School Junior High Competition. This was in Merrimack, NH, about 1 hour and 20 minutes away. It's a long day, but we love seeing and hearing what kids are working on. It's a great opportunity. When we finished up in the afternoon, we then came home to freshen up a bit and blitz out the door in order to drive up to Maine for this special occasion.

Can I say that since Taigen has had his restrictions in his diet, I have absolutely missed my Mexican food. He can't have spicy stuff, cheese, pinto beans, or tortillas. So not only was it great to celebrate Papa's birthday, but the fringe benefit was that I got to eat my num num green chile burritos. It was hot and made my nose run, but I loved every morsel. I couldn't finish it all so that meant I got leftovers for lunch the next day too. Boy...I wish we could celebrate birthdays up at On The Border more often!

There were several of us there...enough to fill up a couple of tables. We loved the conversation. It was great to get caught up with Mark too. It's been so long since we saw him. Of course, more than the conversation, we love Papa Mac. He is such a gem of a man and we're so thankful for his godly example and influence on us.

Happy 80th Birthday, Papa Mac! We LOVE you!

Sound Poems

Recently for English class, the kids went through a step-by-step process of writing a sound poem. We had so much fun creating these. Of course, they had to think of things they experienced physically, visually, and by sound. I required them to use all three techniques in their sound poem: alliteration, onomatopoeia, and rhyming words (though not throughout). They really did very well and I loved what they created.

Here's Shaylen's:

The Fourth of July

by Shaylen Joos

Blast! Boom!

The fireworks go!

Hamburgers sizzling.

Ice-cream drizzling.

The people shout, "Look at the flag

Which flies through the skies like a bird!"

Someone smells smoke.

"Look, there's a firework bouncing,

Dancing through the sky!"

BLAST! BOOM!

Here's Marshall's:

Going To the Air Show

by Marshall Joos

"Roar!" went the planes as they

Rushed overhead.

All the people scream and cheer as

The silver planes fly past fast.

Booming and zooming they soar by.

Zooming they fly.

Roar they go.

Zoom! Bang!

Touch down!

Marshall and Shaylen wrote their poems out in their neatest handwriting and then we affixed them to a piece of construction paper. On the other side, we attached a picture that they drew of what's going on in their sound poem. Of course, I couldn't get off the hook. Marshall & Shaylen said that I should also have to do the project. So here are my sound poems. See if you can figure out what I'm talking about:

Shh! There's scarcely a sound.

Pages turning, flipping.

Eyelashes blinking, fluttering.

Soft breathing, sighing.

On any given day you'll find

The evidence of her active mind.

She's scanning, scouring books

On couches, chairs --in little nooks.

Periodicals, paperbacks

Scheming and sleuthing.

Maybe it's a mystery

Or some great person's biography.
Creeping, sleeping

Screams of dread

All go on within her head!

Fables or fiction

Textbook or tome,

Many books will be read

If the Peanut is home.

And here's my other one.

Whooshing, crashing, clopping, thrashing,

Colts, commandoes, crafts colliding.

Battles rage, their courage sure

Pilots, guards in miniature!

Flyers flutter, soar & zoom

To circumnavigate my living room.

Skiffs will sail, majestic, fast

Through carpet oceans wide and vast.

These scenarios are the creation

Of my lad's imagination.

Tea For FOUR?

Kit

If I'm not careful, I'm going to fall behind again in my blogging. To be honest, life is flying by at such a fast rate, I can hardly keep up! Can you believe that February is just around the corner?

Shaylen got an American Girl Doll for Christmas. Someone from our church had handed down quite a few American Girl Doll books. Shaylen devoured them and remarked at how alike she and Kit were. They have the same haircut and neither of them are very "girly." She had asked for Kit for Christmas and Grandma Sherry took great delight in giving her to Shaylen.

One thing that Shaylen was really looking forward to, was giving a "friend" to Baby Shaylen and then all of us "friends" would have a grand tea party. Baby Shaylen was a gift from Grandma Cathy a few years ago. Cathy spent hours sewing different outfits for Baby Shaylen. They even have some of MY grandma's buttons on them. What a treasure! We planned on also using a tea set that Shaylen got from Grammie in Alaska two years ago. I think I can safely say that each grandma contributed to this much-anticipated tea party!

Baby Shaylen

All we needed now was the perfect opportunity. One when the boys weren't around. We planned to have our first-ever tea party on a Saturday when the guys would be at a Men's Breakfast.

Shaylen got everything set up and I baked some cinnamon rolls. We got out the real china, and a teaset that was my mom's from long ago, we mixed lemonade (since Shaylen isn't fond of tea) and took everything up to Shaylen's room.

We had a wonderful time and I think Shaylen got a kick out of my offering refreshments to Baby Shaylen and Kit. It was also a great time to sit and chat and get to know my Peanut a little better.

I know time is flying by. I'm trying to make little investments into her life one moment at a time.




My own "doll"

Finally! Some Snow!

After our little skiff of snow on the 23rd of December, we haven't had any snow. The ground has been so bare and brown. It's rare to not have snow on the ground in winter here in New England. I've missed it and the kids have been longing for it. Their sleds have been beckoning for them!

Finally, today the snow came. We woke up to a fresh, beautiful blanket of it! It snowed for the majority of the day. Since our commute to school (*ahem*) is so short, we don't have "Snow Days" so we trudged up the stairs to put our noses in our books. After a good, warm lunch, I let the kids put on all of their snow gear and head outside for some cold, wet fun.

 After they were outside for nearly an hour and a half, the snow started to turn to harder, frozen pellets, so the kids came in. They stomped off all of the snow, peeled out of their layers, and came in to the warm, cozy house. I had hot cocoa waiting for them. I am all out of marshmallows so I plopped a dollup of Fluff on the top. I enjoyed watching them sip in the warmth. I wanted to gobble up their rosy cheeks and hat head hair! I love my munchkins.

The Last Christmas Visit

Christmas was over and done with. The tree and all of the decorations were gone, but we had one last Christmas visit from dear friends who were in town. Once again, every bed and every pillow was accounted for and, in fact, they had to bring in another bed for a very special guest...their dog Josie! So, for the first time in our marriage, there was a dog in our house. Marshall was loving life!

The visit was all too short, but we're so thankful our dear friends made our house their last stop on their way back to Wisconsin.

An Update on Taigen's Health

I said something about an update on Taigen health after the kids' birthday post. I'm sorry I haven't gotten to that until now. Whether you wanted it or not...here ya go!

Many of you know that Taigen has ulcerative colitis. He started having symptoms for this back when I was pregnant with the twins, so it's been just over eight years of having this disease and its symptoms. Since then, he's had his ups and downs, his on's and off's of meds (including nasty, nasty steroids), and his drastic fluctuations of weight due to those meds or being extremely sick.

This past year Taigen had a rough year. He had been on and off steroids. When we were in Austria, Taigen was feeling great and was on the "weaning off" stage. He was finally off of them just after we got home. We were so excited! However, two weeks after that, Taigen's health took a downward spiral worse than we've ever seen it. He was SO sick. I won't go into detail, but let's just say that we were praying for him to just be able to make it through his sermons every week. The gastroenterologist told him that he had basically become "steroid dependent" and if this next round of steroids didn't help then we would need to start the ball rolling toward him taking a more powerful medicine that would require him to go to the hospital approximately every other month for infusions. This is something we definitely didn't want.

Years ago, dear friends of ours recommended that we see a naturopath. The husband had been diagnosed with a form of colitis, and with a naturopath's help had basically cured himself. This was not your run-of-the-mill colitis either. The doctors were wanting to take his colon OUT and give him a bag. Yes, that kind of bag. 30+ years later, he is still symptom-free. I call that "amazing." We had asked both our gastroenterologist up in Maine and here in NH how we could alter Taigen's diet in order to help alleviate or eliminate the UC symptoms and BOTH of them said there was nothing we could do. It was genetic and only drugs could help. Well, with a horrible diagnosis staring us in the face we decided to bite the bullet and go and see a naturopath. What did we have to lose? Insurance wouldn't cover it, so we knew we had to pay out of pocket, but we really had no other alternative except the infusions. We decided that Taigen's health was worth the sacrifice we needed to make.

Now, I want you to know that we were skeptical. As if you didn't already know, we're not the granola, earth-friendly, yoga, zen type. We knew there were things involved that we wouldn't agree with, but we went to the naturopath doctor with hope in our hearts. Could she help us at all? We found a naturopath right in the Dover area, not five minutes from the church. This was a plus since the next nearest one was almost an hour away! After a half an hour phone call, I was convinced that she could give some relief. We procured a kid-sitter for the twins and went in.

She took over two hours for that first appointment and was a huge encouragement. There was no incense burning, nor did she offer to have us sit down for yoga and green tea, but she did offer some suggestions in altering Taigen's daily habits and then printed off a list (a short one, mind you) of foods that Taigen could eat. It was a little mind-numbing to think through all of what I could cook, or maybe I should say "couldn't" cook for Taigen with that list of ingredients. He couldn't have any dairy, sugar (including honey, syrup, agave nectar or sugar substitute), eggs, pork, fruits (except watermelon and blueberries), most veggies, wheat or oats, and juice. It was a little overwhelming to think that I had to come up with something tasty for him out of that. Some of the things he could eat I knew I could only procure in one of those health food-type stores. There were a couple in Portland, ME, and I would be within about 15 minutes of those when we went up to Maine for the twins' piano lessons, but that would have to wait until Tuesday. This was Thursday. We'd have to do the best we could until then. Taigen cut out what he could, so the first thing to go was all forms of dairy.

I've known children (not mine) that when you've given them some pain relief medicine, they swallow it and say, "Oh! I'm feeling SO much better." You raise an eyebrow & smirk, and think about the validity of how sick they really were. However, don't think that when I say that by Saturday and Sunday Taigen was feeling much better. We were surprised too. In fact, in two week's time, Taigen was UC symptom free...completely and has been that way ever since. No joke.

The diet for the first month was both a wonderful challenge and an extreme frustration at the same time. Either things didn't taste good, were too dry, or were completely flavorless. I was in the kitchen in all of my "free time" pureeing things, steaming things, chopping things, baking things, boiling things, freezing things or looking for recipes online. We learned about things like quinoa (pronounced keen-wa), spelt, millet (Hey! It's not just for birds apparently! Bletch!), hummus and almond butter. Taigen was a trooper through all of this. He was extremely grateful, but after two months & 30 less pounds, Taigen finally had had enough. No, he wasn't ready to quit the diet, but he was ready to stop trying new things. We had a pow-wow and narrowed things down to what he really liked within the limitations and we came to an agreement that this was all that we were going to cook. What a relief! With hope, we forged ahead, eager for the December colonoscopy with his gastroenterologist AND the next appointment with the naturopath where she would start re-introducing foods.

The December 6th colonoscopy couldn't have gone better. The gastro was extremely pleased and was positive about how things are going. In the eight years since diagnosis the UC had gone from left-sided (early stages of UC), to transverse (more extensive & severe), to minimal inflammation in the left side again. Yay! This told us that what we were doing was working!

Our appointment with the naturopath went just as well.  She too was thrilled with the results of the colonoscopy and was ready to give Taigen some more options for diet. (I've never been so excited to get to cook with tomatoes!) The options just that one little thing opened for us was exciting. She allowed Taigen to have another bread option and some fruits and nuts.

Taigen has an appointment with his gastro this coming week and we are eager to find out his next step. He is feeling better now (and over 40 pounds lighter!!!!) than he has in over eight years. I want you to also note that this is the longest he's been off steroids and felt this great.

While seeing a naturopath might not be THE cure for everyone with UC, this is proving to be an excellent option for us. We are rejoicing in the Lord seeing fit to helping Taigen in this way. Continue to pray that he will feel great in the days to come. Our specific prayer for the immediate future is that the gastro will start tapering off the other UC drug that Taigen is taking and that even more foods can be reintroduced in June at the next naturopath appointment.

Rejoice with us!!!

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas!

We got the kids up early this morning so we could still sit down and enjoy our traditional cinnamon sticky buns and still get to church on time.

It's so neat to be able to go to church on Christmas Day! I loved singing songs about the birth of Christ on the day when we celebrate it. Of course, we didn't have as many folks at church in the morning, but it was a nice gathering anyway.

When we came home, we quickly changed into our pj's and ate lunch. I had put a ham in the oven and we enjoyed it with mashed potatoes, corn and bread. Taigen couldn't eat the mashed potatoes or the corn, but he had green beans instead and still seemed to enjoy the meal. It was delcious.

After we cleaned up the lunch mess, it was time to relax and enjoy the rest of the day. Taigen read the Christmas story, we sang, and then started in on opening the lovely gifts from all across the country. We had such an enjoyable Christmas day!

 

A Friends' Christmas

We were so excited to find out that our dear friends Jon & Janelle were going to be in town for Christmas. What a special treat! Of course, this meant that we would get to finally meet their new baby, Nathaniel (I prefer to call him Nate the Great). We invited Jason & Joni & Co. to come up to our house as well so we had every bed & pillow spoken for. We had a wonderful time together. As usual, the house looked like it threw up. There were toys, cameras, children, cups and phones everywhere, but the house is full of laughter and excitement. I loved every moment.


Nate the Great deciding whether he wants to smile or cry. Check out that kissable double chin!

Uncle Jon making wonderful creations out of cardboard.

  

All of the kids. What fun!