The camera has been found!!

I don't know why but I really have an aversion to posting without pictures. Thankfully our camera has been found with all pictures safe and sound. So now to get updating you all on what has been going on. I think I will start with the cutest pictures.....

This past weekend, Esther had a dance recital. We had decided to take Esther to dance lessons during the winter. The purpose was to give her an outlet for all of her energy. Family, you know what I'm talking about. She can be quite a handful on certain days. Here she is in her costume in our front yard.
While taking pictures she became infatuated with looking for bugs, all while mom, (that's me) is frantically running araound trying to keep her costume clean.
Before the show she was backstage getting ready. She loved watching the older girls in their beautiful costumes.
Then came the time for the show. I would like to say that she stole the show with her beautiful dancing. Well... she did steal the show, by twirling. That's all she did. Twirl. Over and over and over again. The audience was laughing so hard that it encouraged her to do it even more. Sigh...at least she didn't run off the stage crying.

Here she is in mid twirl
Every once and a while she realized everyone else was doing the dance and she would join in for a few moments, then back to twirling she went!

It was a great day and Esther had lot's of fun. She is definitely not afraid of the stage!

Anyone seen a camera?

Well, it seems that our camera has gone missing. I have been taking lots of pictures and I had been waiting for my husband to move the pictures onto the computer for me and when he was able to...the camera is gone. We have been doing some great school work as well as some great outdoor adventures, unfortunatley it would be no fun to share without pictures. So.. unitl we find our camera I have some other pictures to share. Taylor, my sister-in-law who is living with us currently, is a photographer. She just gave us some pictures that she had taken of the kids over the past few moths, so I thought I could at least share those.

Last bits of winter...



Playing with water....


Spring in the Arb (arboretum)....


HAPPY SPRING!!

Gone Private

Well, I did it. (I think) I am officially private. Please let me know if you are receiving my posts so that I know everything is working right.

Today is the Day

Is it really Wednesday already!! Wow, time flies by when you're not looking. I will be putting my blog to private this evening. If you e-mailed me I tried to respond back to each one. I will make sure you all are added. After making the switch I will write a post. If you are unable to receive my post for some reason please feel free to e-mail me and I will try to fix it.

To the rest of you, its been fun and I am glad that we have been able to share this little part of our life with you.

Blessings!!!

Tot school Catch up

As I was going through the pictures on my camera I realized that here were several that I took with intentions on blogging, but it never happened. So here, in no particular order is my catch up post.

Read the Gingerbread man and made one out of a paper bag.

Little man colored his own


Matching lowercase letters to uppercase letters


Putting bottle caps in an empty wipes container
Playing with the new island and lake landforms I made.


Playing with water


I also put together this fun play set using the North American Animal Toob, glass beads and rocks.


Esther has been extremely interested in sewing since I have had my machine out. As I sew, her job is to pull the pins out, which she loves. Sometimes I let her help me guide the fabric.


In honor of her interest in sewing I made her a swing box. It has needles, yarn, needle threader, hoop, and a piece of fabric that I punched holes in.

To say that she was excited would be an understatement!
Well, that's it for catch up. I'm leaving tomorrow for a women's conference. Hopefully I will get one more post before I go private. Have a great weekend!

Hello World!

Well hey there. It's been a while. Life has been quite full and blessed. I hope the same is for you as well. I have been away for quite a while, I know. I've decided to make a change. I love to blog. I enjoy the creativity of writing my thoughts. I really enjoy the fact that it keeps a record of my time with my kids. I also know that this is the best way for my family to stay connected with us since we live so far away.

The down side has been the pressure i feel to blog every week and to make it a great post. I am fully aware that it is just my own mind putting this pressure on myself. But as those of you who have been with me for a while this has been a struggle I have had for a while and I just can't seem to overcome it. I don't want to give up the blog completely so....

I am going to make my blog private. This way I can still keep a record and share with my family, but there is no pressure.

What I will blog about will not change, although it may not be as frequently as I used to. (I will at least blog every month unlike the past few :) ) I will continue to show the activities I do with my children, as well as our outdoor adventures, which we have re-started. I also will continue to write about our change in lifestyle mostly to remind myself of the changes we have made.

If you are following me now and would like to continue to do so please let me know I will happily add you to my list. If you would like to continue to receive my post though a RSS feed I believe that you need subscribe by e-mail. I just added the button on my sidebar.

I will wait about a week and then I will go private. I have enjoyed my time sharing with you all, and maybe one day in the future when I have a better handle over my own emotions, I will go public again.

Blessings to you all.

Quick Tid BIt

We've been busy as usual here, but I wanted to poke my head quickly into blog land to share this link with you. I just found the Educators Outlet and I am really excited about some of the things in their catalog. But the most exciting thing is the sale they are having now.

Their clearance is 80% off list price. Plus on top of that they are offering an additional 50% off until tomorrow(you will see this discount when you check out). The prices are unbelievable. You need to go. Even if you are not homeshcooling they have some great games and puzzles perfect for birthday gifts.

Happy shopping!