Pictures from Mother's Day 2012

Went out for a nice lunch after picking up Nanny.  Grandma spent the day before with us at Eppley.

His Little Feet and Cousin Kourtny

This is The Little Feet orphan choir that K.P. travels with.  We went to see their presentation a couple of weeks ago.  If was very tear producing, made you want to take one home. 

The kids with cousin K.P., which we had not seen in years!

another shot, so you could see a cheezy grin on each of them

Bruce and me with niece.  Not a bad picture.  Might have to crop you out Kourtny, along with my gut.

Breakdown or Blessing?

Life is busy for us.  I, the mom, now work.  I used to stay at home serving only MY FAMILY.  MY husband, MY kids; that was all I had to concern myself with. (Our kids are now 13, 16, 18 and 20) We are also involved with an organization that works with youth 2 nights a week, another new endeavor. Sometimes it seems like there isn't a spare moment to even think.  Life has changed!  As you can imagine, this has rearranged how I approach home schooling.  There is a lot of stop and go and not a lot of smoothness, one day flowing nicely into the next.  This has really put many hurdles in my path, I've needed the grace of God in ways I've never needed before.  This is always good though. 

When I plan my home school year, I always over plan.  I set the bar so high, with so many expectations and things to get done, books to make it through.  I've always had this "disease".  I set myself up for a sort of "failure".  In the end, I find that it's really not a failure at all.  The fact is, I succumb to the pressure that comes with rules set by others.  Some of them are necessary, some of them are foolish and unreasonable.  My homeschool year many times only resembles that plan of action I submit at the beginning of each year.  This is all ok, trust me.  They always make more progress than I "planned".  God is a much better planner.

Are you wondering what's up with the title?  Well, we've had a lot of BREAKDOWNS and I'm seeing them as a home school BLESSING, maybe even a PROVISION.  Totally NOT in the lesson plan, but priceless!  Valuable hands on learning!

This is a clutch

this is a rear end

I think Sam is in here waiting for the action on this job.

Bryan is in a tractor here, new for him.

This isn't a breakdown, but a jobsite that dad needed help with.  So Andy is in the ditch putting pipe together.

This is a ring and pinion, which goes in the rear differential.  Did you know that?

Here it is up close, you can see that this in not normal.

Here is another shot of the rear differential, or rear end, or rear "diff".

Andy says in the last 6 months they have put in :

• 3 clutches
• 2 head gaskets
• 2 transmissions
• 2 rear ends
• 2 sets of ball joints
• 1 turbo
• 2 alternaters
• 1 voltage regulator
• 1 water pump  
• trouble shooting battery problems

I don't think this even begins to cover the great hands on learning that has come up with all these breakdowns and business work!  It's been great.  This is shop class on steroids! 

These boys are going to know how to fix anything!



THE END

Here we are

I think his is the meanest I've ever looked.  You've heard by now about our joining the Civil Air Patrol.  If you would like to know more you can go here:  http://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/  The kids have gotten to fly twice now, taking the controls in their own hands at times.  Here are some pictures we took with our own camera!

hanging out on the tarmac learning about marshalling in planes and safety

Andy getting ready to have an orientaion flight

:

Here's Sam all large and in charge at his first activity:  on lost child duty at the airshow

Abigail in an airplane seat at the air show before she joined

flying over the Platte River.  This was taken by Abigail before she puked in the back seat.  She's always been a little bothered by the back seat, she did fine when it was her turn in the front.

over the city

the airport from above after takeoff

Life as been pretty exciting these days.

Birthdays and the first day of school

July and August is loaded up with birthdays for us!  (translate=expensive & fattening).  Always glad when it's over.  On Monday, our "baby" turned 13! 

Nice broom in the backround.  Grampa has a tradition of giving out 2 dollar bills.

Grandma and Grampa came over.

and the birthday girl requested french silk pie.  It was good.  And then, for the second year in a row, I started school early.  Today, we got out the math books.  Aaahh....routine.

garage sale coming up!!!!

It seems like I've said more than once, "I'm never having a garage sale ever again!"  But.....our small town is having a city-wide one and I think that will be my best chance at having a semi-successful one!  We'll see....Last time I had one, I made enough to order pizza-since I was too busy to cook, you know!

Big bummer (not the same one) and yes, some blessings too.

Yes, two weeks ago I did post about another big bummer.  Yesterday our plumbing really gave us some big grief! I left the house with a clogged kitchen drain and came home to the sink filled to the brim with black water.  ew.  We then went out to eat because the kitchen was well, not very usable at the moment.  When we came back an hour or two later, there was water all over the floor because it had back down through the dishwasher.  (which is still broken) So, as things would be, I took a little breather from the great whole house makeover this fine Saturday morning (interrumpted by plumbing troubles) to tell the world about our woas and the neighbor shouts over the fence that she has another lamp for me!  Oh, and it's the cutest one yet.  You see she has given me  five lamps now!  I'm really rich with lamps.  She's de-junking her house and I'm re-junking  benefiting.  The flashligh in the first picture means it was almost time for bed. The other small one shows a very clogged pipe, which explains why our sink has drained VERY slow for years now.  I guess it was just a matter of time....

  

Now for those little blessings........the top photo is the latest lamp gift.  The others are ones I have gotten from the same neighbor in the past week or so.  I'll be hunting for a shade for that one.  I have been wanting a stand lamp for a while now, so I was especially thrilled about that one.  The others need a makeover.  Share any ideas.  I think the tall, skinny, plain one could be a really big candle stick.

and the others....................

ok, now back to work.  Focus......

big accomplishments

After months (or was it years) of planning, working and collecting materials- Sam has finally finished his canvas canoe. Yesterday was the big launch. All the kids tried it out on the water and nobody sunk. It is truly quite an accomplishment. Bravo to Sam! Go HERE to see video clips, what I was able to take before the camera's batteries died on us. It was a big day and a testament to what can come out of one boy's dreams. (Mothers: despise not small beginnings)Now, if I can just get him in the driver's seat.

busy times/catch-all post

Just a little country decoration (weeds)

The past couple of weeks have been pretty busy. We started school on a small scale. Still painting the neighbors house, though we have had several days of rain. We have done a little more minor work on the COUNTRY PLACE, you'll have to check that out. Have done a little canning and cooking of special things, in other words, homeschool home-ec. I'll let Abigail tell you about that. It is feeling very fall like here, fall like with rain, if that could be a description of the weather. But the sun is coming out today and should be nice for a whole week! Andy finally got his remote control airplane replaced. It took us a while to get around to taking it back, clear to the big city you know. We are lucky they even took it back! whew! Bryan is making progress on his wheels and coincidentally talks a lot about tires and trucks and anything remotely related ALL THE TIME. Sam is continually honing his blacksmithing skills and researching about new ways and products to use in that. We have had way too many birthdays in August. Speaking of birthdays, happy birthday to Diane P., I tried to text you this morning but you must not have texting. We still need to get together you know. Just name the day, I can be pretty flexible. *grin. I think* Well, that wraps it up for now. catch ya later people.

LOOKING GOOD

"It'll get worse before it gets better" seems to fit this scenario well. But things are looking pretty good as long as you keep your eyes up and not on the ground at all the trash and debri. So, in a couple more days guess what, it will be back to painting!!!!