Summer’s Close

Summer is wrapping up for us and with the end of summer came the end of our summer reading challenge.  I wasn’t as organized as I usually am about this year’s reading challenge.  I think I was being a little lazy actually and the library changed their program into something ridiculous so that sort of took the wind out my sails too. Thankfully I managed to think of something and it worked to get my kids reading this summer.  I bought them Sonlight’s summer readers.   Strawberry and Chocolate shared a pack, Bubble Gum and Blue-Raspberry got their own.  It worked out really well.  Sonlight packaged them up so nice, it was like they each got a present!

Anyway, the challenge was to get the books read before the end of July and in return I would take them to Nelson’s and buy them an ice-cream cone!  They all finished the challenge earlier then the date I set, so off we went! 

        

It was a magnificent day!  Warm, bright, not muggy!

         

I was a good girl, I didn’t have any ice-cream.  I was too busy wiping up spills and dolling out the wet wipes! 

Afterward, we decided to surprise the little people by taking them to the most adorable park ever created:  Teddy Bear Park.

I love it that my teens will still be in family photos, and go to the park with us.  lol

   

Isn’t that cool?  The whole park is like a squishy Astroturf, it’s really fun to walk on.

We ended our adventure at the Stillwater Farmer’s Market, which was quaint and delightful.  My husband spoke my love language and paid the big bucks for a gallon of pure maple syrup!  I am one blessed woman!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

The Most Exciting NEWS

This probably won’t be that exciting to YOU necessarily, but it is most definitely the most exciting news about going to the Teach Them Diligently homeschool conference to US.  You probably think I’m going to say that I’m pregnant or something…haha!  Sorry, while that would be exciting that’s NOT it!

While we in Omaha Mr. Taffy got to go to the Men’s Breakfasts, one of the breakfasts was lead by our most favorite Dr. Voddie Baucham.  Well, during that breakfast Voddie announced that he will be taking another trip to Israel and was inviting anybody who wanted to come! 

Hello?! 

Obviously it’s not free.  After the homeschool conference and graduation, Mr. Taffy and I got to go away to celebrate our anniversary.  We didn’t go far, but it was wonderful nonetheless and while we were gone we prayed through and asked, “Could we really go?”

Well the answer is a JOYFILLED Yes!! 

We are going Israel!

If you remember a while back I said one the things we wanted to do for our 20th wedding anniversary was go to Israel, we had pretty much given up on that dream but then this came up and while it’s not on our anniversary, it’s still during our 20th year of marriage!  Oh my!  I still can hardly believe it. 

We booked our spots on the tour!  We bought our plane tickets!  We still have more to pay, obviously we couldn’t pay for everything up front, but we’ll work it out. 

So in light of going to Israel in February, we have a renewed desire to loose weight.  And have I ever found the perfect solution!  (Another Cliff Hanger!)

The Battle is the Lord’s,

Mrs. Taffy

Teach Them Diligently, Omaha NE

In May we were so happy to go on a family vacation to Omaha, Nebraska.  It’s been years since we’ve been on vacation!  It was such a busy time with our 20th wedding anniversary and graduation for Chocolate Taffy, but it all worked out really well.

One significant thing we did while in Nebraska was visit one of the college’s that Chocolate is interested in going to:  University of Nebraska, Lincoln.  It was fascinating to get a tour of the school and talk over things with the head of the Engineering Department.  One of the things we learned is that not many of the college credits Chocolate earned during high school were needed for his Engineering Degree.  That didn’t discourage Chocolate and I too much.  He still needed foreign language and English Comp. for high school and he did get a good two years of learning how to deal with a college level work load. 

Another fun thing we did while in Nebraska was visit their world famous Henry Doorly Zoo.  I had heard plenty of testimony's of the awesomeness of this zoo, we had to check it out.  It was INCREDIBLE!

        

It was incredibly hand’s on.  There weren’t little computer everywhere to play with.  We got to experience the habitats and in some exhibits experience the animals.

There were so many hidden treasures in this zoo.  Bats were flying around freely.  Birds too.  There were rivers to cross and rocks to balance on.

       

The kids could buy food to feed the Koi.  There were hundreds if not thousands of them.  Amazing sight to behold!

Besides all the wonderful encouragement of going to a Homeschool Conference we also learned about something very exciting.  But I’ll save that for another post.  (Gotta love a cliff hanger…)

The Battle is the Lord’s,

Mrs. Taffy

School’s Out!

We have officially completed the 2012/2013 home school year!  What a great accomplishment.  Can I just say that this is probably the first year that I feel like I have been completely faithful to my plan, completed everything and didn’t burn out.  It’s taken 15 years to feel this way.  I wonder how next year will go.

My two oldest sons are graduating.  The oldest is off to a Bible College in Southern Florida come August, the other one is off to the University of Nebraska come fall 2014.  Granted both need to still be accepted into the colleges of their choice, but I’m confident that God will bless their efforts or else lead them elsewhere. 

Our plans for the summer include a summer reading program, beach days, garage sales, gardening, and regrouping for the next school year.

Our family is going to the Teach Them Diligently Conference in Omaha, NE at the end of May.  We’ll visit Chocolate’s school during that time as well.  We’ve got a formal graduation coming up, visits from family, our 20 year anniversary…so many amazing things to look forward too.

May’s Joy Dare:

1) 3 gifts tasted: coffee, tuna with tomatoes and pickles, Salmon on lettuce with lemon juice.

2) 3 gifts flat: garage sale money, curriculum catalogs, toilet paper.

3) 3 gifts found in difficult people: The opportunity to bank grace, practicing humility, lessons in how NOT to be.

Redeeming the time,

Mrs. Taffy

Wordless Wednesday

It’s been too long…

I’m sorry.  I know it’s been so long since I’ve blogged.  I really do have things to share, I just don’t seem to have the gumption to do it.  I see a lot of competition in the bloggy world, I tend to pull away from anything competitive.  I’m happy to let somebody else take the lead! 

Here’s a recap of the last 4 weeks:

                     

We celebrated Easter.  The day started with a nice breakfast and lots of pictures.  Church.  The church we’ve been going to changed their service time from 9:30 to 10:30.  It worked out fine for Easter Sunday but it’s a bad time for us a big family.  Trying to sort through that…

                   

After church we came home and prepared to have dinner at my dad and step-mom’s house.  They live in Florida most of the year but have recently bought a townhouse near us and come up about once a month.  That’s sure a blessing!

A surprise Easter Egg hunt.  We don’t typically do this, the last time we did one was when Bubble Gum was a toddler.  But boy was it fun and the kids were so happy!  It was freezing outside and there was still some snow on the ground, but the sun was shining and hearts were warm.

                

Even the first-born son was there!  That was a real treat.  Though Chocolate Taffy had to work and we missed him immensely!

Mr. Taffy turned 40.  All the pictures from that are on my phone.  We didn’t have a big party or anything, but I did load up the dinning room with star shaped helium balloons and I tied a balloon to his truck while he was at work that said, “You’re HOW old?”  That made him smile.

Our baby turned 2.  Can I still call her my baby?  Interesting thing about this child, her name means Jehovah’s perfection, she is our 7th (perfection) child and she was born on the 7th.  See the pattern?  So bizarre!  I wasn’t induced or anything either, God just worked that out and it took me a while to connect the dots!  ha!

                   

One more birthday and we’re done!  Yay!  I love birthday’s but I enjoy the non-birthday season too!  Because the end of birthday season marks the beginning of garage sale season! Whoop!

Spring is taking forever to land in Minnesota.  This is definitely a trial of patience, but just like before I can still see hints of what is to come.  Hope springs eternal.

Now more than ever we need to stay close to the Father.  Times are uncertain, trials are many and the time is short.  Hold fast dear friends!

The battle is the Lord’s,

Mrs. Taffy

Weekly Wrap-Up #??

It’s been so long since I’ve written one of these that I can’t even figure out what number I’m on.  Well, we are almost done with our 2012/2013 year and that’s all that REALLY matters!

We’ve been doing some interesting things this week…

I put our normal stuff on hold because I found this hidden on my laptop.  My oldest daughter is still VERY much interested in all-things-Irish, so finding this was fun.  Now her little sibs will have something interesting to tell her.

           

Their copy work has been a famous prayer written by St. Patrick and when they finished the tracing and copying portion, I had them highlight all the prepositions, because there were MANY! 

We’ve started our Sonlight History.  I’m not really on any schedule so to speak, but I am going in the order they suggest.  So far the kids LOVE it and during the reading time they are finding interesting things to do.

They took the big markable map and matched up the state pieces from another puzzle.  I didn’t instigate this, they just thought it looked like fun.  This map…for some reason, has become the delight of the school room and somebody is always looking at it or playing with it, or if you are Marshmallow Taffy, rolling up in it like a burrito.

Marshmallow was such a good girl this week.  This is the first week she hasn’t drove me crazy…she was actually content and quiet.  We discovered she can handle dot painting and she LOVED it!  She also discovered she can maneuver the plasma car with great pizazz!

Strawberry Taffy has had a very special week.  My sweet daughter was blessed with a trip to Florida, to see her very best friend. 

Her friend is a snow bird, so she’s only here in the summer and fall.  We don’t normally, or haven’t in the passed let her, or any of our other children do something like this.  When questioned about it by a friend, this is what I said,

I know…it just sort of happened.  I’m so beyond arguing about anything and so desperate to let my children know how much I love them.  Mr. Taffy and I both had peace about it.  Strawberry and Gracie have such a special relationship, it may be a once in a life time opportunity for her.  Gracie’s Dad flew down with her and is flying back up with her too.  I don’t think we would have been okay with it had she been all alone at the airports.  I’m so glad she’s getting a break and having some fun.  She is tireless in her help to me, always cheerful, willing to do anything I ask.  She works so hard at school.  She deserved a GREAT reward.  We even gave her spending money and I bought her some new (Goodwill) clothes too.  We lavished her.  She will not forget this.  She called me Monday night in tears…she NEVER cries.  She’s just not a crier like me…but wow was she having a hard time being away.  She was SO embarrassed to be crying.  She was just homesick.  So sweet.

Obviously I changed some names, but that is what I wrote, and this still pretty much sums up how I feel about it.  She comes home Friday evening.  We can’t wait!  I’ve missed her terribly. She keeps me company during the day.  We are both introverts so we know how to give each other space, but we also know how to be silly and yak, yak, yak and she makes me the BEST smoothies EVERY afternoon!

While she’s been gone we had an epic snowstorm!

School was cancelled for the older two and Mr. Taffy stayed home! Of course, our homeschool went on as usual but they got plenty of time to play out in that delightful white fluff!

I think we got at least a foot of snow.  And, believe it or not, we had our bedroom window open all night during the storm, it was pretty mild out and I KNOW I could smell spring on that back of that storm.  I can still smell it if I breathe deep enough.

Breathing Deeply,

Mrs. Taffy