It's snowing again today. This time a bit more seriously. It must be hard to be a weather person in Colorado Springs. More often than not, they get the weather so totally wrong!

This week they said that we would have rain and it would be cooler (they got that part right). None of the stations said anything about snow. In fact, they said it would be in the 60s all week.

Don't get me wrong. I love it. It helps everyone to focus on school and things that need to be done around the home.

Ha! As I'm writing this the sun came out and I can already hear things melting - just in those few seconds. What a great place to study weather. I think that's what we'll do for science this week: weather.

First Snow!

Today is September 21 and it is snowing. Just shy of the First Day of Autumn it is obvious the season has drastically changed. Yesterday's weather was almost 80 degrees.

I love days like today. It makes me want to watch a British film, drink tea and do a puzzle. We've lit our harvest candles and the house smells delicious. I think I'm going to make cookies and brownies later.

The kids are so excited and can't wait for their favorite time of year to be in full swing. God has truly blessed our school year so far. Every child is learning and enjoying being at home in school. Every once in awhile, Will will ask to return to regular school, but Glen and Ryan did the same their first year.

For today, everyone is in a good mood, helping around the house and getting school work done. It's also nice to have Vance home - even if he has been on the phone all day. This kind of weather puts him in a good mood as well.

Here's a picture of our front yard currently...(it's hard to see, but the snow is almost sideways)

Vance is finally back from his hunting trip. He got back on Thursday night and spent most of the day Friday getting ready for his next hunting adventure and taking Ray to the airport. Saturday he was gone all day hunting antelope. He shot one this morning. Thank you, God! I have to admit I'm already a little weary of hunting season and there's much to go. I'm sure I'll share some pictures soon.

For now, I have a picture of the kids from their second week at AWANA. Kael and Morgan earned their vests and bags by reciting their verses. We worked on them all week. "God loved us...and sent His son." I John 4:10. They also had to remember the Cubbie motto which is "Jesus loves me" and "While we were sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8. Everyone recited all their verses and received their awards. Glen and Ryan are working hard on their own to earn extra awards. Will went even further than we practiced and Rachie didn't clam up this week. I'm so proud of all of them.

I also have a picture of our latest harvest. I made homemade salsa this weekend with our garden fresh tomatoes and onions. This is the first year I've been somewhat successful at gardening. I have a long way to go.

I'm also including a photo from our latest nature study outside. Let me know what you think...:)

Today was full and productive. I started the morning off in the usual way...wishing I had gone to bed earlier, but how is that even possible when Tristan wakes up around midnight...then being greeted by Rachie, Kael and Morgan way before I want to get out of bed...I'm sure I'll miss these days when they're gone...

We started school this morning with music...all seven kids singing away. Yep, even Tristan. I tell ya, that kid loves to sing. When you start to even hum or whistle he breaks out in a long stream of "Ahhhhhs". I've been teaching the kids old hymns and it's surprising, but they don't even know the song "Jesus Loves Me". At our church we're always on to the latest and greatest and we seem to leave behind the old. Vance reminded me recently that we really need to teach our kids not only old hymns, but even the old simple songs we used to sing in Sunday school like "Do Lord"...remember that one?

For a short school day we got a lot done and I was happy with what the kids learned today. I then got half the kids baths and it was off to Grandmas. I had to go to the bank, pay taxes, get payroll done and Will had a testing appointment at the library at 2pm. Grandma and Grandpa were gracious enough to watch the "Littles" while I did all these errands. This made my to do list extremely more successful :).

We got home about 4pm and that was too late to get the kids down for a nap so I started dinner and put in a video we got from the library. For the most part they were good, but still a little cranky from being so tired. I put them down to bed around 7pm and went to my Salsa class. So, everything worked out well...only they'll probably wake me up at 6am instead of 7am this morning.

I'm thinking that Vance should be back tomorrow or Thursday...

Second post for today...

I know I just posted, but I forgot I had some pictures I wanted to share. Some are of our Nature Studies for school and there are some pictures of when Aunt Andrea came over and brought will a birthday pie and some cool "Thing" fists for a birthday present. There's also a cute picture that I took just tonight of the twins sitting peacefully together: a rare occurrence.

Does anyone know what these are? I've been calling them horse's tail, but I'm pretty sure I'm wrong.

On one of our hikes we came across this tree stump with a carved face in it.

Vance's birthday was Saturday. I think this is the first time he's ever been away on his birthday. The kids are really missing him. It's hard not to even hear about where he is and what he's up to. I don't know how those military wives do it.

The weekend went OK. Saturday rained most of the day so we all stayed inside, watched movies, read books and I did a puzzle. I love to sit by the window when it rains and listen and do a puzzle. I think I got in about 2 hours of quiet rain/puzzle time before the "Littles" woke up from their naps.

Sunday was a little bit more busy. Mostly we prepared for the first day of AWANA. This year I have six in AWANA. Everyone is in different classes except for the twins. I'm thankful they're in the same class. Still, drop off and pick up was a little difficult. Tristan was a good boy, though and that helped things. I popped him in a little umbrella stroller and we walked all over the church dropping off people into their different classes. The best part about this was that Tristan fell asleep in the car on the way home and I had a full two hours to clean the house all by myself. I can't remember the last time that happened. I got the surface cleaning done so that when you walk in you get a sense that things are clean and organized. However, there's still a lot more to do.

Sunday evening Grandma and Grandpa came over for dinner. Vance had bought quite a bit of chicken on sale before he left and I gave it a good frying. So, we had fried chicken, mashed potatoes and corn and some chocolate chip ice cream for dessert. The weekend went by fast and I feel good about it.

We all have the sniffles. That's all it really is. My nose is running non-stop, but I feel ok. It's the same story with everyone else.

Today, was also a good day. Monday is a day off of school for Glen and Ryan so I can work personally with Will. We got a lot done in just two hours. I think this is a good strategy. I should pick days where I can work one on one with each of the children. After all, I have seven days a week and seven children. Makes sense...

...so looking forward to Vance getting home...missing him terribly...

I Need to Post More

I know my memory is fading and I need to be more careful with these late hours. There's so much that can be done while everyone is asleep and I tend to waste it. I should blog, I should scrap book, I should journal, do data entry and accounting, return emails (which I do most of the time), study for the next week of schooling, write songs...there are a million things I could be doing - why is that I want to spend these valuable minutes either watching T.V. or reading blogs and Facebook?

Today was the first full day of Vance being gone - oh, I hope and pray that he and Ray get their elk - Please, God!!! I know it won't stop him from going on his big trip in October, but at least he'll be happy for a year and he'll cut his hair and beard :).

Anyway, we started off the day by going shopping. I thought if we went early enough the kids would be in a good mood. Our first stop was Hobby Lobby. I wanted to pick up some more Autumn decorations and maybe some fabric for some easy sewing projects for me and the boys. The minute we walked in disaster struck. I put Tristan's carrier on the shopping cart and turned for a split second and Morgan got on the side of the cart and knocked it over throwing Tristan and his carrier and piling the cart on herself. Screams ensued. Thank you, God no one was seriously injured. In fact, I see now that those carriers are ingenious inventions. Tristan didn't get a bang or a scratch. He was just scared out of his wits.

As I tried to go down the aisle where the items I wanted were, there were two ladies who looked like they were going to spend their entire day in that aisle. Don't people know they need to get out of the way when they see a woman with seven children in tow. I can just imagine what people must think.

So, I finally get my decorations and head down to the opposite end of the store where the fabric is located. I must have said "Hold on to the cart" and "Don't touch!" about a million times. In the fabric dept. Rachie pulled a marble table top on top of herself. That was it. To the check out counter we went.

As we began to leave the building, I found it hard to believe so many cars would not stop to let us cross the parking lot. Again, if you see a woman with seven children standing at a curb - stop! But, I guess it was a good thing we didn't cross because just as we were about to, the lady from the check out counter came out and said, "Do you have another little girl?" I had forgotten to count...Morgan was still inside - rrrgghh.

Off to Sam's. Incredibly, Sam's was a much easier adventure. The geniuses that the people at Sam's are...they set up a seating area that looks like a living room where a T.V. plays a kid's movie all day long. Today it happened to be the new Curious George movie and the kids haven't seen that yet. I left all of them there except for Tristan and they didn't move an inch the whole time I shopped.

I got everything I needed from Sam's loaded all the kiddos in the car and went to Wendy's - drive thru, of course. After home and lunch and unloading it was nap time for "the littles" and time to start school for the three boys. It went well - so far, school this year has been wonderfully successful.

I have no idea what I did from the time school was over and 5pm, but before I knew it it was off to the gym. My 5:30 spin class went well and I had just enough energy to come home, make dinner, watch a short Disney flick with the kiddos and then it was off to bed for the younger five. Glen and Ryan stayed up with me until about 9:30 and even did a few little chores so they could have some ice cream...I've been killing time ever since.

GO TO BED, RACHEL!!!! and that's what I'm gonna do....Good night!

Update

I finally got around to editing some of the pictures we took for our little August birthday get together. Grandma and Grandpa came over and brought...you guessed it...the Terry family favorite and now traditional ice cream birthday cake. It said "Happy Birthday August" for all the August birthdays: Pops/Poppa/Grandpa, Will, Kael, Morgan and Tristan.

Grandma and Grandpa brought toys and clothes and books...such great gifts. Will got a special gift from Grandpa...his own fishing pole. As you can see in the pictures, he could barely contain himself. The kids were really excited and it was a great night. It's hard to believe that Tristan is one (I've said that before). It still hasn't sunk in that I no longer have a little baby. I'm learning to enjoy all the stages of my children's lives, though. Good stuff. Lord, help me remember that when I feel like my head is going to explode with frustration. :)

Enjoy the pictures. Love to all...