Breaking in on the series for a blog on current life!

As much as I've enjoyed sharing our story, I've missed the regular blogging about present life in our house. It's been a happen'in place!

The end of July I went to PA to visit my mom and dad. Mom was having a pretty rough time and I was thankful for the chance to see her again. My advice if you have unspoken words that need to be said....say them. I have no regrets in my relationship with my mother but I wish I had expressed appreciation more. Watching she and dad walk the most difficult path a couple can face has made me so proud of both of them! Watching dad carefully change her leg dressings and make sure she had things in close reach and watching mom continue to live life to the fullest makes me so very grateful that God chose them as my parents. Being in the country and seeing mom's flowers and dad's garden were good for me too.

I got to meet Kaylynn Renae Slagenweit - the first girl grandchild to join the family! Bless her little heart. She's as cute as a button and I even got to keep her Sunday afternoon. She's now already six weeks old - and will be so different at Thanksgiving :o( Makes me wish I lived closer to PA.

Philip attended a week-long program in Fresno, CA on teaching Greek using the communicative approach. He came home fired up and we've all been learning some Greek (particularly the boys) as he shares what he's learned. If you're interested in seeing more what he's doing check out his Facebook page.



Allan got his first loose tooth! I can't believe the thing is still hanging
on....it's been three weeks now and he still has it. Stubborn. BTW - the tooth is under his finger hanging on for dear life.

Stephen has learned how to do a summersault. He also had an incident that involved spurting blood but I still get sick to my stomach thinking about it. Thank the Lord for guardian angels and an RN who "happened" to be standing on my front porch.

Daniel found two kittens under our van in the driveway. They were between 4 and 6 weeks old - very hissy! But they finally got to the point where I could pick them up without them fussing. Daniel on the other hand came in very discouraged the other day saying that he didn't think the kittens liked him. "Mommy, don't they like being thrown in the air?" hmmmmm......We kept them fenced in a little pen in our back yard for a week and then my wonderful father-in-law who loves animals offered to take them. So they have joined the "Brown Farm" in KY. The boys shed many tears but at least they'll be able to see them.

I grabbed a towel the other morning and when I unfolded it found TWO towels. Since Allan's in charge of folding the bath towels I asked him why there were two together. He said, "I can fold them faster that way." And sure enough....there's a whole stack of folded double towels. Interesting.....

We started school again! Whew.....mommy's expectations weren't even in the ballpark of what happened the first week but that's okay. I'd never homeschooled two children before. Since Daniel is in Kindergarten, he needs almost constant direction to finish his work. Allan got used to having a teacher push him last year and so has very little self motivation which will take a little while to get kicked fully into gear. By the end of the week he was doing much better. I'm enjoying helping Daniel learn how to hold a pencil, draw lines and circles and recognize characters of the alphabet. Allan's learning perennial, annual, bi-annual plants, what addends are, how to recognize the subject of a sentence, and have very definate ideas about particular subjects. He loves spelling, reading, science, and math but does not enjoy English, or handwriting.

We're working on having a divider made for between the desks because they enjoy watching each other's classes too much. They don't seem to understand that if they watch their own classes plus their siblings classes, that they're in school double the time. I think when that sinks in , they'll be a little more focused on their own work.

I've been wondering where my Hershey's chocolate syrup has been disappearing - I need wonder no longer!

Corn! :o)

Daniel and I took a trip to Holmes county to pick up some furniture and we had a lovely time! He talked non-stop about everything from the depths of his imagination to reality. "mommy did you know planes should never fly backwards? It's too dangerous. They can't see where they are going. What is that growing in that field? Oh, look a falcon. Why do falcons have such sharp claws mommy? Keep watch for the horse and 'boogies' mom and give me a heads up if you see any more. There's some big horses mommy! Oh, what are those hills (corn shocks)in the field mommy? Do you ever think I'll get to Narnia mommy? When I get there I'm going to kill the white witch! Hiiyaahhhhh puhchuuuuuuu" This went on....and on......and on..... There wasn't anything I had to say! After a bit he said, "Mommy, you need to be quiet so I can take my nap." ummmmmmmmm....okay!

We got to see the Longaberger Offices which was a first for me. Very neat!

I just enjoyed the clotheslines, the horse and "buddies" (we've finally got the word 'buggies' into his vocabulary :o) the lawns and beautiful flowers.

I was also thrilled to find peaches for $12/half bushel - Red Haven no less! Thank the Lord for little blessings!

WELLLLL......I wrote what you just read last week. Since then - Allan has lost his tooth - pulled it himself!

And Stephen got stitches again! He fell on the concrete steps leading up to our house. So three stitches later - he's growing back together. When we arrived back from the hospital and Daniel asked him, "Stephen did you cry?" Stephen said, "No, me screamed." Truer words have not been spoken.

So there's just a few snippets! And the next installment of "Our Story" will be out hopefully by Saturday evening barring any more ER trips, or garden coming in. Blessings!