Christmas in September

September 14, 2019 | Stacy

The mercury says 80F, but the living room looked deceptively winter-esque as we celebrated Christmas early this year.

We borrowed Nigel’s tree and set it up.

Johanna and Marie made reindeer cupcakes.

And after dinner the girls dug into a scavenger hunt.

Clues pointed us along the way.

When you’re cold and you’re wet,
It is nice to get dry.
When you put this together
Then we can fly.

Their first clue led them to the dryer where they found a glider airplane.

It’s round and it’s orange,
And grows on a tree.
It came from the place
Where I want to be.

Next they located an orange in the pantry with another clue.

Night brings out what’s festive,
Now you can be, too.
We may even see friends
Who are special to you.

Then they found some glow wands and glow sticks nestled under Disney friends.

Clue four led them to Mickey bars in the garage fridge.

If you haven’t guessed it,
Please don’t have fears.
Open the box for your
New pair of ____________

Their last clue led them to sparkly Minnie Mouse ears.

Mama, Marie, Tabitha, Johanna, and Katriel will be heading to Florida this November for a Christmas-season peek at Walt Disney World. Nan and Nene will also be joining us. Stewart, Nigel and John will not be able to fit the trip into their schedules.

Last year Marie mentioned how she would love to see WDW decked out for Christmas. I realized this fall would be the last time she had a flexible schedule; she will most likely be enrolled at FLCC next year. Though nothing about Disney is cheap, we were able to get tickets through Traveling Homeschoolers, and I patiently stalked Southwest until I could get affordable airfare. We rented a lovely four bedroom house near Disney, and God answered my prayer for an affordable rental van.

This will be the first time Johanna and Katriel fly, and the first time Marie and Tab fly since 2007; they were 3 and 1 at that time.

Nigel was in on the secret. He played along as he opened HIS gift.

Raisins and spoons. (It is a LOOOOOONG time Butler joke.)

He and Daddy will likely have a blast having the house to themselves.

Homeschool science be like…

Image | September 4, 2019 | Stacy

A cake of mischief

July 30, 2019 | Stacy

Make no mistake, there was no trickery in this Loki cake.

HOW did MARIE become 15?!

July 13, 2019 | Stacy

I remember so vividly when they said, “It’s a girl.” I was in denial for at least 12 hours afterward. Silly doctors. I am a boy-mama.

And here we are 15 years later. For her birthday she asked for a shopping date. Marie, who doesn’t love shopping wanted a ladies formal suit. So we shopped for one. We DID find one in her perfect size at Goodwill.

We grabbed lunch at Golden Corral buffet, and were home for dinner and guests.

And Oreo cheesecake.

Youth Group worship

June 10, 2019 | Stacy

In the winter, Marie expressed a desire to learn guitar. So she borrowed Nigel’s guitar. And she broke his guitar string…

We shared this story at youth group one night and the next week Mrs. Walter brought her in a guitar to borrow indefinitely. She’s taught herself to play and last night she and Sophia led worship for the group.

♥

Easter 2019

April 21, 2019 | Stacy

The morning started with a basket hunt, as always.
Despite the fact that John and I believed that all the good spots had been overused over the years, it still took the kids a long, long time to find their baskets. WTG Mom and Dad. The big kids didn’t want early morning photos shared of themselves.

Church had the kids join the choir for two songs. Or maybe the choir joined the kids?

We had a family photo in the church lot. I wish I’d had my good camera and not just the phone. I’d blow this up in a heartbeat.

After a scrappy lunch of leftovers we did an outside egg hunt. It was chilly, but after a cold winter it was tolerable for a little while.

Stewart and Marie have a thing going. For the last two years they’ve tried to recreate a pose from 2017.

2017

2018

2019

LOL. I think 2019 came closer.

Easter 2019

April 21, 2019May 8, 2019 | Stacy

Church had the kids join the choir for two songs. Or maybe the choir joined the kids?

We had a family photo in the church lot. I wish I’d had my good camera and not just the phone. I’d blow this up in a heartbeat.

After a scrappy lunch of leftovers we did an outside egg hunt. It was chilly, but after a cold winter it was tolerable for a little while.

Stewart and Marie have a thing going. For the last two years they’ve tried to recreate a pose from 2017.

2017

2018

2019

LOL. I think 2019 came closer.

Flower City Work Camp 2019

April 18, 2019 | Stacy

This was the third year I was involved in Flower City Work Camp (FCWC) as an adult leader on a Sidewalk Club. This was Marie’s second year on a worksite and Tab’s first year on a worksite.

Marie worked on a house in Rochester, laying kitchen tile flooring and doing a lot of painting. Tabitha went to multiple Heritage Christian Home locations doing work on their facilities. She mucked horse stalls, spread mulch, and even went dumpster diving (I still need to get that photo from our Youth Pastor.)

Over 700 students and 1000 adults work within this week-long ministry.

My crew, Sidewalk Club D.

We had locations on Council Street and Woodward Street.

Each morning and evening the students met in the sanctuary for worship, and teaching. This years theme was “The Greatest” meaning the greatest of these is love.

Tabby had her birthday at camp. This was the last time I was going to see her as a 12-year old.

Ta Da! Here she is 13!

By far the best part of Sidewalk Club is telling children how much Jesus loves them and how He has a special plan for their lives. At least three kids made the decision to follow Christ from our club sites this week.