Renee Takes Dance

Again. A Crazy Week. I feel like I say that all the time. I am starting to question if that is the norm now days.

We have changed our schedule around and we are still trying to get in the swing of things. It is so hard changing a schedule that worked and finding a new one. The kids are in speech therapy and they had to change the schedule since school has started back. Now we take therapy in the mornings and in the afternoon we do homeschool. We use to do it in the morning so now we are having to adjust. And it isn't happening as fast as I would have hoped.

Anyway, Renee started dance. She really didn't want to take it. I told her she would love it and she should try it. She has a couple of friends signed up, Gray, Audrey, and Amelia. She kept saying "I wanna play basketball". I am trying so hard to make her a girl. :) For those of you that know me well know that I LOVE all things girly. And would like for her to share in that. We agreed that she would take it for a month and reevaluate and if she don't like it then she can play basketball. She has signed up for 2 classes; ballet and jazz. After ballet she came out with a huge smile. I asked her if she had fun and she said "YES". So I continued on to say "Do you want to keep taking dance" her response was short and to the point "Yes, I love it"... I knew she would.  :)

Gray

Renee

Audrey

Amelia

Gator Day and First day of School

Gator Day is a big event at our church. Since we live in Gainesville the college starting back school changes our whole town. Roads get busy. Mall is always packed. Restaurants are full. And sports will be played. :) Gator Day began as a welcome back to our college students from summer break. It has grown to become the launch of our church new year. On Gator Day we started 24 new Sunday school classes, changed all of our worship times, and added a second location. Mike is the worship leader for the new location.

The dress for morning services on Gator Day is more relaxed. Usually Mike would wear a suit and tie. I would wear a skirt or slacks. Kids in the same kind of attire. Although yesterday we all got to wear khaki's and polo's. All gator colored of course. Renee was in a dress but it was blue and had little cheer girls on the front. How could I pass that up. It was so cute. Of course Sunday mornings are crazy and I forgot to take a picture. :(

For the evening service it is always low key. We have a comedian in last night. The boys really wanted to wear there gator jerseys but I didn't want them to wear it in the morning so they wore them last night. Then Renee wore a little cheer top with some jeans. I did get a picture of that.

Justin is a friend of ours and he was in the bathroom Renee was waiting on. She told me she wanted to tell him she could hear him in the bathroom. So I got a video. I think we caught him a little of guard, what do you think?

Today is Renee's official first day of school. When we started homeschool with the boys in January, I went ahead and started her on the curriculum. We moved fast through it since they were older and were able to grasp it much easier. She would still try to draw the letters and like to cut and paste certain pages together but it was a little to fast pace for her to "get" it.

We teach the boys 2-3 days worth of work in one day. (We are trying to catch them up to the grade they are suppose to be in). Like I said, we started in January and they are almost done with Kindergarten. So we have done a whole years worth of work in about 7 months. They will start on 1st grade work soon. They are really excited about that.

Renee will not need to catch up so we will be able to spend a little more time on her work. This week we are learning the letter "S". Here is a video taken of her today during the craft portion of school.

Here is a video of last week during homeschool. The boys are on the letter "R". The curriculum we use has a lot of activities and different ways to learn the letters. One of the ways is with shaving cream. Well I can't stand a mess. So I taped foil to the table and let them play on that so it was an easy clean up. Remove tape, ball up, and throw away. How much easier could that be. Love it!!!

Hope you have a great Media Monday!

What a Year!!

So, today was the day!

I want to start off by telling everyone thank you for sending the sweet congrats. We have had a very fun day.

We started the day the same as usual. Wake-up, eat breakfast, homeschool, lunch with daddy, and mommy time (nap or quite time). Then today Jon had an eye doctor appointment. We went to that and rushed home for dinner. Who would have thought it would take an hour and a half for a six month check-up. Well, it did. And with three kids who just woke up from nap and was ready to GO it was quite exhausting.

After we got home we finished up our dinner which had been working for about 6 hours in the crockpot. Crushed pineapple and paprika pork-chops. YUM. Mike made coleslaw last night while I did my nightly cleaning of the kitchen. We had that as a side. The kids started off by not liking the coleslaw until Mike made it a competition. Then after the competition was over and the coleslaw was gone on all of there plates Renee said "Daddy, I liked that cough-slawff". Success!!!

After dinner we had a surprise cake and everyone (except mommy) got a corner. At our house you get the corner on your birthday. :) It was chocolate with Publix buttercream...is there anything better?!?

Then off to church we went. Continued on our Wednesday night routine. On Wednesday nights during the summer we have what is called "Imagine". The kids are able to learn about different forms of art. Sunday nights they have painting, sign language, and dance. Wednesday nights you choose between drama and music. Yes, you guessed it...mine wanted drama. Tonight was the last night of the program since school starts next week. The kids had their end of the year play time in the gym and got to run around and get all of their energy out. YAY!!! We have been waiting since nap to do that. :) It was cute seeing all the kids talk to people about today. They kept telling everyone "Our whole family is one today". That was fun to see.

Came home, kids got in pj's, brushed teeth (after a quick cheese stick and a couple sips of milk), then we were off to pray and sleep.



I had a lot of people recognize the day and tell us congratulations. Although, I had one that I remember distinctly, he asked "What have you learned during the year?" That made me think. My first response was "how I need more patience". His answer "That is a fruit of the spirit". Huh, guess I need to work on that one. :) Then I thought a little longer and said "how much longer it takes me to do things, I just can't hop in the car and go. Now I have to make sure everyone has shoes on, that we all go to the bathroom before leaving because if not as soon as we start backing out of the driveway someone will need to go". :) But thinking more about that question the one thing that I learned this year is how God answers prayer. "Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4) How true that is. We have been praying for more than five years for the desire of our heart. One day hoping that he would answer. And boy did he. So if I had a second chance to answer that question I would have said "How great is our God, and how faithful He is to His Word" So if I can encourage you today, don't give up but instead give it up...to Him. He knows what keeps you up at night, He knows what is always on your mind, and He knows the desires of your heart. There were many nights that I wasn't sure if God was going to fulfill what we were asking for. I know...how human am I to quit on God. Thankfully he didn't quit on me and tonight I can sit here and type about how faithful He is.

Thank you Lord for answering my prayers. May I remember how great and mighty You are.

Happy Birthday to the Ricks Family

August 15, this Wednesday we will be celebrating one year as a family. WOW...it has flown by. It's so crazy to believe just a year ago we had no children. Laying in bed praying for the Lord to bless us. And here we are wrapping up our first year together. God is so good.

It honor of our family birthday I have some pictures of our first weekend together. And a few from recently so you can see how much things have changed.

THEN:

Renee the first night we met her.

Wesley the first night we met him.

Jon the first night we met him.

This was the first weekend they were in our home.

We had a campout in the living room in case they were scared.

Jon playing with his new dog "The Big One". We have 2 dogs, Lucy and Layla, they look a lot alike so the kids have problems with who is who. So they call Lucy "The Big One" and Layla "The Lil' One"

Renee playing doctor and looking in Papa Santa's ears.

Daddy and Renee.

The boys sitting on their new bunk beds. Playing with all the great stuff everyone got them.

Waiting to go outside and play in the water. Lucy and Layla waiting too.

First Sunday morning. Dressed and ready for what will begin a whole new life.

Our first Sunday lunch around the table.

NOW:

Making banana chips. Good thing we got to eat some before they were done because when they were finished they were gross. We will stick to fresh bananas. :)

Our family. 

I would like to take this time and tell everyone who has helped out in so many ways thank you. There is no way to ever pay you back for all the special things that you have done. All the many prayers. All the things that have been donated to us. We did not know what to expect as we embarked this new life together but we knew we had an army behind us. Thank you for all that you have done and still continue to do. May your prayers still be with us. :)

The last 6 photos were taken by Lyndsay at pinkcoffeephoto.com. If you ever need pictures taken she rocks. Plus she is really fun to hang out with. :) Thanks Lyndsay for the pics. We love them.

 I love to hear your comments. So post and let me know what you are thinking. :)

Introducing...Jose and Arianna

I recently did photography for a wedding. Here is the sneak peek of the happy couple.

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Gardening 101

Mike and I have tried to have a garden 2 summers/falls in a row and have had no success. We either go out of town for 2 weeks and forget to water them, or just didn't remember. So I had the brilliant idea to grow a garden for the 3rd year. :) My excuse "This will be different"..."We can use it to teach in homeschool"..."The kids will love to help." So here we are trying again.

We have the perfect location for it. Right outside of the homeschool/play room is a planters box that goes the entire length of the room. It was full of some kind of fern thing that we had to pull up. So last Friday we spent about 2 hours...or more...pulling all that up and trying to get all the roots out. Saturday morning we woke up and went to the store to get some top soil and seeds. We came home, ate lunch, and started planting. After a day of gardening the kids decided to have a little fun with the wheelbarrow. 

By the way I don't think we will have a chance to forget to water it. Everyday the kids ask to go and look at it to see if anything has changed. :)

Pulling roots

End of Day 1!

I went ahead and placed the bags where they should go. Then ripped them open. I let them pour the soil out. They did it as fast as they could and would run to the next one.

I think Renee worked on this one the entire time. :)

We have planted: Red, Green, and Yellow Bell Pepper. Beefsteak and Roma Tomatoes. Iceberg Lettuce. Cucumber. Carrots. Onion. Broccoli. Summer Squash. Cantaloupe. Pumpkin.

We planted the pumpkin in time for Halloween. YAY!

Do you have a garden? What works for you? What doesn't? Anything I should know? Leave a comment.