Mom of the Family turns ?

February 23rd was my mom's birthday, and to celebrate, she thought it'd be fun to go shopping. She had a gold necklace that was bought at a garage sale for 25 cents, so she exchanged it at a place that buys gold and silver and got over $100!!! So she had fun using that money to buy some new clothes for the upcoming convention. :-)

On her actual birthday she chose omelets and monkey bread for breakfast, and frozen pizza and cheescake for supper (healthy, I know, but we all tend to pick those kinds of foods for our birthdays because we usually don't eat them!!). She had a fairly relaxing day sleeping in, reading, talking on the phone, and watching Tim Hawkins, Fireproof and some of the Olympics. And she had to work on the convention, since it's coming up here in just a few weeks!

So here's some pictures of mom growing up, getting married, having kids, but staying young!!

Mom as a baby with her family - mom, dad, and five older brothers!

 

Mom and dad got married in '86, and they still look very young, don't you think?! Mom was 19 years old (not in the picture below, but at her wedding!). :-)

 

Happy Birthday Mom!! I love you!!

ND Homeschool Convention

Coming up on March 18-20 is the annual North Dakota Homeschool Convention. As most of you know, my mom is the coordinator, so around this time of year we are very busy preparing for it!! I would like to encourage all of you (who live at least within 5 hours!!) to come to the convention. This year our keynote speaker is Kevin Swanson, and Buddy Davis is our guest speaker and musician. We also have a purity conference going on during the convention (I'm in charge of registration so all you girls who are reading this better be coming!!) with Amy Vest and Loving the Lord Ministries. I'm am really looking forward to everything going on this year, and I can't wait to see y'all there!!! :-)

To find out more, visit the ND Home School Association website: http://www.ndhsa.org/.

By the way, check back soon for a post about mom's birthday!! :-)

Baby of the Family Turns 8!!

That makes ME feel old!!! :-) I can still remember the sweet little Native American/Hispanic baby we got eight years ago as a foster child, and now he's growing up (but he's still sweet . . . well, most of the time anyway)! God worked a miracle and we were able to adopt him and he's been such a blessing to us! He's the funny one, always saying something to make us laugh, like the time we were at a friends' house, eating really cold ice cream . . . "I've got an ice brain!!" he exclaimed after taking a few bites. Or the time he was trying to count in Spanish . . . "Uno, Dos, Tres, Squanto . . ." (he must have Indian blood in him). Or when I ask him to identify a dime, he says it's a "Diamond!" And the list goes on . . .

Here's some pictures of Ethan, from baby to big boy. :-)

Isn't he adorable?!

 

Funny little guy!

Ethan and I at a waterfall in Wisconsin probably 6 or 7 years ago

Yes, his hair stuck STRAIGHT up when he was little!! :-)

Our family in 2002

After a meal at the Golden Corral a couple weeks ago . . . why don't we ever learn? Every time we go there, we can hardly walk out!

Ethan with his "twin," Aaron, who came over the other night and celebrated Ethan's birthday with him. :-)

Opening cards and gifts . . .

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ETHAN!!

The Boys' Cabin

Back in the spring, Caleb and Daniel started work on building a cabin in our backyard! They thought it would be a fun project, and they might even put some beds out there and move in . . . we'll see. :-) Anyway, they learned a lot while building, and it was really neat how the Lord provided good materials for them to use. For example, a neighbor of ours was getting all new windows, but the old ones were still in good condition. So dad asked if the boys could have them, and she said yes! They also got the wood, sheet metal, and shingles for very good prices. Here's some pictures, starting in the spring/early summer:

The frame

Putting up the walls

The windows

Up goes the roof!

The shingles are on . . .

 . . . and the sheet metal.

The inside of the cabin . . .

The loft

A job well done!

All that's left now is for them to finish some details on the inside - they hope to insulate the walls and put paneling up. They did a GREAT job, don't you think?! :-)

Coming soon . . .

Sorry I haven't been updating lately! I don't really have a good excuse (I guess I could say I've been too busy reading other people's blogs to write on my own!!). :-) We have a really busy weekend coming up, but check back soon for pictures and the story of something my brothers made last year . . . I'll give you a clue - it's made of sheet metal, plywood, two-by-fours and . . . well, you'll just have to wait to find out!! :-)

Promotional Video

This is a video I made for the Triple L Band using Adobe Premiere Elements. If you want to see it bigger, click on the button to view my photoshop gallery. Enjoy!

Could it be . . . Global Warming?!!

Just two weeks ago, at the beginning of January, the temperatures dipped to -33F (well, actually, fifty-five below zero was the predicted windchill). Brrrrr . . . that was cold. Even for us Minnesotans. As you can see, I had to dress very warmly if I wanted to be outside at all - any less than this, and I most surely would have frozen stiff. Yes, I know I look like an Eskimo, but in spite of all those layers I still got icicles on my eyelashes. (by the way - for you southerners, those are black snow bibs I'm wearing, and the thing around my face is called a scarf - we don't wear them for fashion up here)

But then, this week, the weather surprisingly warmed up to THIRTY DEGREES ABOVE ZERO!!!!! My mom nearly fainted just hearing that the temp was going to be over 0. We prepared for this heat wave by getting out all our summer clothing and buying lemonade. We even set up our pool (but when we filled it up, the water froze - funny, because I thought water froze at ten degrees in MN . . . guess I was wrong) Yeah, I know there's still snow on the ground, but who cares? It's global warming in action!!