Spring Break 2018

Ram's parents visited during Ram's spring break so we let the Lambs also take spring break. I'll try to briefly say what we did while they visited.

They arrived on a Saturday and we went out to eat for sushi. The Lambs had piano contest that morning before they arrived and everyone was tired so we called it an early night.
Sunday we all went to church and then ate at Blaze pizza.
Monday we did some shopping including looking at iPads for Lamb 1-that is a requirement for his high school next year. We took Lamb 2 and 3 swimming. We ate lunch at a chain restaurant and supper at a wonderful local fish restaurant.
Tuesday we did some house shopping with our realtor, but none of the houses that we looked at were right for us. We ate a small lunch at a chain restaurant, mainly to feed the Lambs after house shopping. We went to the art museum since the Lambs had never been there and there was also an exhibit of high school artwork. That evening we took the Lambs to my parents and just the adults went out for a nice prime rib dinner. After that we went to another restaurant for drinks and dessert so we had more time to talk without the Lambs. I really enjoyed our adult night out.
Wednesday we made Paleo pancakes with coconut milk whipped cream and lingonberries. I took Lamb 2 to vision therapy. Ram and his dad did a few handyman tasks that I have wanted to do for a long time and was afraid if we didn't set a day for that, they wouldn't get done for several more months. I was very excited to get all that done. I had planned on cooking supper, but we went out again, this time to BJs Brewhouse.
Thursday we went to the Botanical Conservatory to take some family pictures since the weather didn't cooperate to take them outside. Then we went to see Black Panther, Lamb 2 wanted to see it the most and we had heard good reviews. The movie was so loud and I haven't been to the movies for a long time. I couldn't really tell you very much about the movie because it was so loud. Lamb 2 and 3 loved it though. Then we ate supper at a steak restaurant.

As you can see, they spoil us when they come to town, and Ram and I both had a spring break from cooking too. Their visit went too fast and it was time for them to head to visit some other relatives in MI. ID is just too far from IN and we have to fit a lot into seeing them one week a year. They left on Friday so it was nice to have a couple more days of spring break before Ram had to return to classes. We were all pretty worn out after all those fun days! Ram doesn't have another school break until Thanksgiving so we made the most of this break.

January 2018

Finally everyone was healthy so my parents watched the Lambs so Ram and Ewe could go out for their anniversary (a couple of weeks late). We went during Savor Fort Wayne to a fancy restaurant after asking friends for a recommendation. We went on a Thursday so we got all our stamps for our 2 dinners so we could get entered into the drawing. It was a great meal and worth the bargain price of Savor Fort Wayne. 

Photo Credit: Steve Blakey
It was rainy and cold for March for Life, drastically different than last year in t-shirts. We marched with several friends from church and then went to my parents church for cookies and hot cocoa. We had a chance to wear our new hats. Our deaconess student is on the right in her hat from the Washington D.C. March for Life.

One day I worked on cleaning out the basement. I asked a Lamb to bring me my slippers while I was working. I kept noticing pieces of plastic on the basement floor and couldn't figure out where that was coming from. Finally I realized my slipper was breaking! These were a Christmas present about 8 years old. Both slippers went in the trash because what would I do with one slipper and how long would it be until the other one broke too?

We took the Lambs to Debrand chocolate for their Savor Fort Wayne deal for a big treat one day before Ram  returned to classes. It was so good and enough to share with 5 people-I can't imagine 2 sharing it although Ram and Ewe got the drinks and we all shared the chocolate. There were other SAHM doing the same thing with their kids that afternoon.

When Ram was on school vacation we didn't use both of our vehicles very much, but Ram did make sure to go out and run the car that was in the garage a couple of times during his vacation. It wasn't enough and the battery on our Camry died. After trying to get it to go for a day, we were happy when AAA came and towed it and we were back to having both vehicles available shortly after Ram began classes again.

I used some credit to get some Snipp, Snapp, Snurr books from Hyde Brothers before Christmas at about $8 each, but they didn't have very many Flicka, Ricka, Dicka books in stock. I was so excited when this book was on the 20 cent shelf at the public library. I am keeping it for my collection. Since then I keep looking for more Lindman books, but this is the only one I have found. The cover wasn't in the greatest shape, but the pages are clean.

Our church youth group went outdoor ice skating one day. Last year I really wanted to take the Lambs, but we never found time in our schedule. None of the Lambs were very excited about going, but they tolerated it for a couple of hours. I promised Lamb 1 I wouldn't post pictures of him ice skating, but here are the other Lambs. It was cooler, but not freezing the day that we went. I took pictures this time, but next time I want to join them. Lamb 1 took off his coat and when we got home he asked where his coat was? I went back and it was right where he left it! By then it was much more crowded and I was glad we had gone when we did.

I really wanted to see Goodbye Christopher Robin in the theater, but they never came to Fort Wayne theaters. I was #3 on the library hold list and the library ordered 19 copies, so I picked it up the day after it was released on DVD. I have read a lot about A.A. Milne, so I was looking forward to this movie. My dad borrowed it before it was due, I watched it, and the Lambs watched it. Ram didn't have any interest in watching it! Even after reading several reviews, it was different than I expected. If you are going to watch it, read his poem Vespers first and you might want to have tissues handy, but you might not need those tissues depending on your stage of life. I won't give any more spoilers nor any more recommendations. Personally I'm glad I have both read his autobiography and that I saw this movie.

Year in Review-December 2017 Part 1

We took a lot of pictures in December, so I'll post a few at a time.

Photo Credit: Meghan Schultz
The Lambs favorite art class so far was the day they used clay to make boats.

Photo Credit: Meghan Schultz
I ordered a print to remember our babies. Row one is our 3 Lambs birthstones. Row two is the birthstones of our miscarried babies. I got it here. Her work is beautiful and I am so glad to have this to remember all our children. I would like to order more prints from her, but was so pleased to get this one for our family. I framed it and it is one of the few pieces of artwork on display in our rental home instead of still packed after moving.

Our city had a tour of churches night. The first 3 photos are the church where my parents got married. They did extensive remodeling recently to restore it closer to the original. It is beautiful!

This is the church where Ram and Ewe got married 16 years ago. We have so many fond memories of this church.

This is the church that we attend now. It was still Advent so we did not decorate for Christmas yet. We went to a few more churches that night, but I didn't take any more pictures.

The Lambs went to a Science Central class and dissected frogs.

Trying to identify if it is a male or female frog.

I used coupons to get 5 nice greeting cards for $1.56 total including tax.

I bought a necklace/keychain for my sister for Christmas from here. I bought myself one a few years ago. My sister's was larger than mine and it was not her favorite gift. I don't know this etsy shop owner, but I love her items made out of postage stamps and she has wonderful fast service.

This was her favorite gift. I bought it here. I bought her the set of 3 prints from the Anthems of Zion. I also used some of my birthday money to get a set for myself. It was so interesting because they are hand lettered, both sets were different. When these arrived I wrapped and finished shipping all our gifts to far away family. It was so good to have that done early this year and not worry about it near Christmas.

Year in Review-November 2017

While celebrating Reformation 500, we didn't carve pumpkins until November.  Sorry for the poor picture quality. Lamb 2 and 3 each carved a jack-o-lantern, Lamb 1 thinks he is too old to carve pumpkins.

Our church celebrated their 125th anniversary. I made cake toppers and chocolate favors. This is the dessert table with my decorations and other dessert too.

Chocolate Bible favors. Idea was here. The anniversary was really a fun day with both friends that are members and some visitors that day too.

Photo Credit: CLHS Facebook Page
Lamb 1 attended Concordia Day. He wants to be in JROTC now.

Lamb 1 won a t-shirt at Concordia Day. It was perfect for him since he wants to do cross country next year.

I met my mug swap partner. Everyone that sees the necklace she made compliments it.

Only Lutheran homeschooled boys would practice a hymn for Sunday School choir during a play date.

Everyone on Facebook was doing a black and white photo post. I didn't do 7 days of posts, but I did post a photo of our mailbox at our rental house. A delivery man complimented it a few days before I took the photo.

Our public library had an author visit, Laura Numeroff. I was at the end of the line, but she stayed past library closing time and signed everyone's books that were in line. The Lambs came and listened to her talk before signing, but Ram took them home while I waited in line to get my book signed. 

I sold more books to Hyde Brothers. This one surprised me and was worth about $100.

This is the book that got me started on buying books at the library book sale. I thought it would be valuable with the prints inside. It was worth about $25.

I read this biography of Tasha Tudor before I sold it to Hyde Brothers. It is more recent but was still worth about $20. All these books I sold were 20 cents each at the library book sale.

Lamb 1 needed a new coat. I really didn't have time to shop for one and was unsure what size to buy him or where in Fort Wayne to shop for one. A friend messaged me and asked me if we could use a coat that they found when cleaning out their closet. It was Lamb 1's size AND his favorite team is the Seahawks and it was their colors. I am just amazed at when God provides for us, not only just what we need, when we need it, but also when it is absolutely perfect for us! I couldn't have gone to the store and found a more perfect coat for him. Another example of a blessing while Ram is a student!

 

My sister came for Thanksgiving and we remembered to take a picture in our Harvest Raise t-shirts. It didn't turn out the greatest so we'll have to try again next time she visits. I was noticing how much my sister and I look alike in this picture. I have never noticed that before, we used to be so different that I wondered if we were really sisters!

I wanted to buy Lamb 2 a dressy coat for church. When I measured him he needed a men's size M! The sleeves are a little long, but the coat is not that big on him. He loves to dress up for church and was happy to get this coat. I used several coupons to buy it and I think it will fit him for a couple of years.

The pastor asked a question in Bible class about what was on our pulpit. I sit in the front row almost every Sunday and I was drawing a blank when he asked the question. Ram went upstairs and took a picture for me to jog my memory. (John 14:6)

We went to Christmas in the Park which used to be called the Christ Child Festival. The Lambs were a little old for it so we didn't stay long. I just wanted to know what they did. I had grand plans to take a family photo for Christmas, but there was too much in the background that disqualified this photo without a lot of photo editing.

January Family Update

Lamb 1 was sick on Sunday so I took Lamb 2 and 3 to church by myself while Ram stayed home with Lamb 1 and watched our church service online. It is so different that Ram now stays home from church with sick Lambs after many years of me staying home with sick Lambs while he was the pastor.

Sunday afternoon we took our Christmas tree down and put it in storage. Monday the weather wasn't too good and my mom and our family all had chiropractor appointments so we gave her a ride, had our adjustments, and took her home.

Ram, Lamb 1, and Lamb 3 were sick at the beginning of the week. It wasn't too bad, it was mostly a frog in their throat, but not sore throats or fevers. We took lots of vitamins and ran humidifiers in the Lambs rooms. We're not completely over it, but much better. I spent more time with the Lambs going through stuff in their room and getting more stuff ready for give away. We got back to our routine of practicing piano, the Lambs did their piano theory, and we got back to a little homeschool. I did some school planning, especially planning what I want Lamb 1 to do with me this last semester before high school.

On Thursday Ram and I finally had our anniversary date. Fort Wayne has a local restaurant deal so for one price we got appetizer, salad, entree, and dessert. It was really good food. We had been given some money for Christmas for us to go out on a date and with this deal we didn't even spend all that money. The Lambs were glad to go over to my parents while we went out, it had been a while since my mom was healthy enough to watch them. I was so glad everyone was healthy and Ram and I made it out on a date before his school vacation ended.

On Friday there was ice and a couple of inches of snow so most schools in the area canceled. Lamb 2 had a vision therapy evaluation so we braved the roads in the early afternoon and by then it wasn't too bad. This was the first exam so he has an appointment for a longer exam in a few weeks. It is looking like he will need to do more VT. I'm excited for him to have a chance to work with a different doctor/therapists when he is a couple of years older. I don't regret him doing VT in ID in 2014, it just wasn't enough. His eyes are still having a lot of trouble focusing on the page to read. In ID, VT was very close to our house, here VT will be a little drive. But if he can benefit from this then we are willing to drive.

Today I will go to church and Ladies Aid while the Lambs stay home one last Saturday to hopefully get a little more healthy, but also because we will be back to full routine next week.

Next week Ram returns to class, piano lessons begin again, there is a conference at the Seminary so many friends will be in town, and we will try to get back to our full homeschool schedule. For Ram to have a month off of school for Christmas was wonderful, but it went all too quickly.

My plan is to finish the year in review posts and then attempt to blog 2-3 times a week with at least one of those being a weekly family update.

Year in Review-September 2017

We participated in a tour your own hometown day. The Lambs were not happy to spend a Sunday afternoon going to local places, but Ram and Ewe appreciated the chance to see inside buildings that we always drive by.

Usually no cellphones or cameras are allowed inside the courthouse so it was a special treat to be able to take photos inside the courthouse. I wish I would have brought a better camera as there was too much sunlight.

We took a similar picture when we toured the ID state capital, so we needed to take this one at the courthouse.

Allen County courthouse did some restoration a few years ago and it is so beautiful.

After touring the hometown, the Tincaps concessions were open for some discounted  snacks. The Lambs were disappointed to go to the field when there wasn't a game, but they liked the snacks.

Photo Credit: Redeemer Classical School
Lamb 2 and 3 began an art class. They took advantage of the nice September weather and went outside to draw.

Before we moved I gave away a castle toy that we had gotten at a thrift store and I thought that the Lambs outgrew. Almost as soon as we moved in, Lamb 3 started asking where the castle was. At first I told him we weren't finished unpacking and maybe it would turn up, thinking he would find other toys and forget about the castle. When we began studying medieval times in homeschool he really wanted his castle. We looked for something similar at several thrift stores, but you know when you are looking for something thrift stores don't have it. I finally gave in and bought him a Playmobil castle at a discount store. A few weeks after I bought this one I saw a better castle at Costco. Lamb 3 was thrilled especially because he likes Playmobil and we don't own very much.

Ram had a tour of several buildings on his college campus as part of one of his classes. I'm not posting all the pictures he took, but I thought how they hang pictures and artwork is a great idea for our future house.

Our bank had a customer appreciation day and so we ate a free junk food lunch one day. I was glad we homeschool and the Lambs could attend too.

There was a Saturday cross country meet and the weather was pretty nice. Lamb 1 got 8th place boys. The course had a hill at the end of the race, which made the finish exciting for several racers.

My sister came home for our high school homecoming because my brother-in-law had a big class reunion. I knew several people at the football game, but my sister didn't see anyone she knew besides one teacher and me. We did more that weekend, but I (gasp)  didn't take any photos. We all went out to eat that weekend to celebrate my mom's 75th birthday.

My mom's cousin visited and we had dinner at my mom's house one night.

There was a weekday cross country meet when Ram had class. I didn't plan enough time for this out of town meet and we were a little late. They had all the girls race and then all the boys race. Just before the boys race started it started pouring rain. They still raced and most parents of boys went back to their cars to sit during the race and most of the girls went home. As soon as the race was over the rain let up and this beautiful rainbow came out.

We attended an outdoor Reformation church service out in the country organized by several country churches. Rev. Harrison preached and I would estimate at least 1500 attended.  

After the service they organized a Reformation Walk. It was very well planned and educational, but it got to be a little long for the Lambs because it was after the service. 

The Lambs had to "work" in the Printer's Shop.

We didn't stay to watch the video.

By the time we got to the Marketplace, most of the Reformation merchandise was sold out. We already owned Reformation 500 shirts, so we weren't disappointed.

Martin and Katie Luther

Lamb 3's godfather has a new daughter. We went to the baptism. This is his godfather with his wife, daughter, and two of his godsons. (Lamb 3 has another godfather not pictured too.)

We put an offer on this house because we thought it just needed some good cleaning and some interior decorating. We had a house inspection and found out that in addition to a lot of other repairs it needed it had a drain held up by a Lego. After we were done laughing at the inspector's report, we got out of our offer. Ram's dad told us to run from that house and was very surprised that we got our earnest money back pretty quickly. We are still renting and still looking for that perfect house to buy.

A weekday track meet where I took the Lambs because Ram had class. Beautiful weather and a fun day.

Lamb 2's godfather was installed at a new church closer to us than he used to be. We made a road trip one Sunday arriving in time for his installation service. It was a busy day and not very many pastors attended so I was glad Ram could be there to support him.

My friend Joelle's parents attend this church. We had a nice visit after the service.

They have two adorable daughters. We hadn't met the "baby" before this day.

The Lambs had a Saturday cross country meet at Culver, IN. We left before 5am and when we arrived the campus was still dark. We had never been there before and weren't sure where to go. The weather was beautiful and they were done competing and we left around 10am. One advantage of early morning meets is you get home early! It was hot that day so we were glad they competed in the morning and we could get into the air conditioned car.

One of the other Lutherun moms was my high school classmate. If you would have told me 25 years ago that we would have boys on a team together today, I would have thought you were crazy! It was helpful to know someone (even though I had not kept in contact with her after high school) for our first year of cross country.

The CLHS team arrived after we did because high school competed later in the day. Wondering if Lamb 1 will be part of this team next year?

The military academy campus is beautiful.

I participated in a Lutheran women mug swap and this is what I sent to my mug partner.

And this is what I received from my talented and awesome mug partner. I got lots of compliments when I wore the necklace she made. (The one I sent to is different than the one than sent to me.)This year I didn't know either of the mug partners so it was fun to "meet" 2 new friends.

I presented at a Lutheran teacher conference. My session was popular and all these chairs were filled and many more sat in the back. I hadn't done anything like this for 14 years and it was so fun. Afterwards I was asked why I'm not teaching in the classroom. 

My session was about gross motor skills and I talked about what I learned from Lamb 2's vision therapy exercises. During question and answer time at the end several teachers were encouraging to other teachers to have lots of movement in the classroom and to do what I talked about. 

We participated in the last mile of Fort4Fitness together as a family.

Compared to cross country, this was very babyish and too easy for Lamb 1. They got participation medals and begged to not do this next year. We might sign Lamb 1 up for an adult race, but I think we are done with the kid races.

The last cross country meet was unbelievable weather for the end of September. I wore my sweatshirt because I was trying to prevent a sunburn. I hadn't brought sunscreen, just hats, as usually this time of year you are bundled up. Lamb 2 got pretty sunburned in his cross country tank top and the rest of us got pink that day. It was crazy for the end of September.

I don't have a picture, but the end of September we went swimming at a friend's house and then stopped for ice cream at Zesto before the season ended. Some other homeschool friends joined us that afternoon. I was glad to take the opportunity when we had a rare end of September day to go swimming. I want the Lambs to have homeschooling memories like this, especially because Lamb 1 is going to high school next year.