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.

Year in Review-August 2017

Photo Credit: Jane Casey
Our church hosted a 3 day Family Retreat. I love this photo ready for the processional. We had several joyous church services, sectionals, and lots of fellowship time where I was able to see many friends.

Melrose and I have been online friends for years, but finally got to meet at Family Retreat.  We both have had several moves and life changes since we first "met" and we have a lot in common.

Photo Credit: Jane Casey
For this church service, Lamb 1 and 2 were scheduled to acolyte. Ram had class and Lamb 3 went and sat in our regular seat for church. I was in the middle of a conversation right before church where it was getting pretty emotional for all of us in the conversation and I really did not want to interrupt the conversation. I ended up skipping the service and half way through I remembered that Lamb 3 was probably in church by himself. I was so proud of him for attending church all by himself in the pew. 

Lamb 2 surprised us by being in the Talent show. Our church  members had never seen the humorous side of him. He was a hit and everyone said it will be hard to beat his act next year.

My Aunt Lorene and Uncle Jim visited and we all went out to dinner one night. I hadn't seen her since Lamb 1 was a newborn.

I bought some books from the library for 20 cents and sold this one to Hyde Brothers that was worth $100 and some other ones that were also valuable, but not worth as much as this one. We ended up with a lot of credit at Hyde Brothers after spending a couple of dollars at the library sale. I kept many more books than I sold to Hyde Brothers though!

We went to my parents house on eclipse day. We had the right glasses, but it was not a total eclipse. I was appreciated seeing even the partial eclipse.

My dad had planned to watch the eclipse on TV so we only got him to come outside for a little bit. The Lambs watched some TV and came outside too.

We did the old fashioned way to see the eclipse. I remember as a child doing the same thing with my dad during a partial eclipse and I was not impressed at all. But this time I thought it was very cool.

I was so glad Ram's mom sent us the correct glasses. The Lambs were a little timid, but  all of them used them for a short time. I would rather they be timid and safe.

We used our sun plate for tortilla chips and our planet plates for snacks.

We also used the planet bowls for dessert. I had not done any cooking or planning for snacks, which is unusual for me, but we just stopped at the grocery store and bought some fruit, chips, dip, bakery angel food cake, etc. I tried not to think about how much snacks cost and focused on food that we could use our plates and our bowls and memories on this special day. Everyone loved the snacks!

One of my high school friends invited us to go to the zoo with her while she was home visiting her family. It ended up being a couple of high school friends and all of our children. She was younger than me in school and I think Lamb 3 was older than all of the other children. Lamb 1 did not want to go so I took Lamb 2 and 3.

We ended up having a great time without Lamb 1 bugging us that we were taking too long at some exhibits.  It was rainy so we only stayed a couple of hours, which was fine for the ages of children there.

Going to the zoo brought back a lot of childhood memories for all the moms even though the zoo has changed a lot since we were children.

Penguins will always be my favorite!

One camera was used to take a group photo and unfortunately it didn't turn out that great. At least we have memories from the day!

I got up early and stood in line twice at the teacher store this summer for a chance at a gift certificate. The first time I got $5 and the second time I got $20. It was worth the time I spent in line (reading a book). I used the gift certificates later for door prizes for a presentation that I made.

We were supposed to take a Sweetwater tour with Ram's parents when they visited in May, but the Lambs got sick. We finally got to Sweetwater in August to play video games, go down the slide, and get a treat from the cafe. So glad they are in Fort Wayne and so generous to the public!

Lamb 2 and 3 had got a gift certificate for the music store from choir camp so they had fun picking out some treats.

We attended a Sunday Tincaps game as a prize from the library summer reading program. The Lambs were excited that they gave autographs after the game. Although they are older and able to get their own autographs without help, it was challenging for me to have 3 Lambs getting autographs and only two parents to take their picture. We did get a couple of good pictures though. 

Finally in August, Fort Wayne got a Blaze Pizza. We went to the grand opening and all of us got our own free pizza. It was totally worth waiting in line. We read our science book while we were in line to finish homeschooling that day.

Lamb 1 and 2 had their first cross country meet. It was a huge meet with boys and girls divided by grade and kids came from all over Northeast IN. They started late because some schools couldn't get there that early. Then it took hours to have each race.  All runners are supposed to stay and cheer on their teammates, but some of our team left early this time as it was just taking so long and it was a school night. But we couldn't because Lamb 1 had the last race with 8th grade boys. It was unusually cool for August and I hadn't brought very many warm clothes for Lamb 3 and myself. Ram had class that night. We made it through. Each team gets in a huddle before their race. Our team prayed together during huddle time. Seeing this made it worth the hassle of that day.

I love that they participated in cross country with other Lutheran schools.

Lamb 3 chose not to do cross country so he spent many hours on the playground while they had practice several times each week.

Lamb 1 won this Illuminated Catechism as part of CPH's summer reading program.

My sister had a friend that lived in Fort Wayne that was moving so she connected us and they gave us some of the stuff that wouldn't fit on their moving truck including these chairs. I can't wait to get some pillows for the chairs for our porch for next summer. Getting stuff from them reminded me of what we did just a year before- giving away stuff before we moved.

Photo Credit: Robin Muench
One day we had a whirlwind trip to Kentucky for Winston's ordination. We went to early service at our church and then drove down. The ordination service was beautiful, then the best reception I have ever had at an ordination, and then we drove home and got home late. I was so glad we went. There were also many friends from church that attended. I know Winston appreciated all the support from friends and family.