Tonight at our house

Tonight at our house, Caeden read his homework story to me...Frog and Toad...


He brought home this poster from a sorting/counting project his class did today.

Sylvia helped sort, match, and fold socks.

Caeden and Sylvia played a game of Topple.

Here ya go, Mom.

I promised my mom I'd post pictures of my new (month-old, now) haircut.  In order for me to do that, I actually wanted to DO my hair and makeup, which I do not take much time to very often anymore.  (I know...I've let myself go...blah-blah-blah.  If you knew how many hours of my life I wasted on my hair and makeup in my teens and 20's, you'd be absolutely amazed that I've finally gotten to the point where it's not an obsession anymore!)  Anyway...

Here it is...

Here is the picture I showed my stylist:

(I wish my nose was as small as hers.  My stylist didn't know how to do that, though. ;)

Obviously, I straightened mine today, instead of going curly.  I like it pretty well so far, except I'm not totally sure about the short bangs.  I might let them grow out, because it feels like my 8th grade haircut sometimes.  Haha!  I've even gotten out the curling iron and was really afraid to use it on my bangs for fear they'd look like my 80's bangs! ;)

It is quick, easy, and versatile, so I'm glad.

him singing

I *LOVE* that after we tuck our kids in for the night and come downstairs or get in bed ourselves, we can hear our little boy singing his heart out.  Every night.  I love that he sings.  All the time.  I don't think he even realizes he's doing it half the time.  I think most of the time he is making songs up as he goes too.  And I'll often hear him in the middle of the night, singing in his sleep.  I love that song and rhythm are comforting and familiar to him.  I love to hear him sing.

As we pulled out of the driveway an onto the road this morning, the skyline to the north was like I'd never seen!  There was a huge horizontal cloud sitting on the ground, and I said to Jeremy, "Why does it look like there are mountains over there!?!"  There was a break in the skyline above the low cloud and then the whole sky above us was cloudy too.  It was the strangest thing!  

As we were driving along, I tried to get a picture through the window with the iPad...

After church today, we had a special potluck and prayer meeting.  We are going to be electing a new District Superintendent this spring.  The kids sat in the meeting, and were very quiet.  They played games and took these silly pictures with PhotoBooth effects on the iPad.

Are you sabotaging me?

This morning I went into Caeden's room to wake him to get ready for church.  He was lying on his stomach, so I started rubbing his back.  He said, "Mom, are you sabotaging me?"  I assured him that "sabotage" did not mean "massage."  Heeheehee!

ISU game

We've lived here for over 10 years now, and have never attended a sporting event at I.S.U. until today. It turned out to be a fun time, so maybe we will do it again!

walking from the public parking lot, over the bridge, to the arena...

ISU Redbirds vs. Southern Illinois Salukis

This crazy lady was great halftime entertainment, flipping bowls off her feet onto her head while gracefully riding an insanely tall unicycle!

We went to the game with the Goodrich family.  Jeremy has worked with Dustin for years, and this is the first time we've managed to get our families together!  

Caeden and Jackson jumped and danced to try to get free t-shirts and mini basketballs, but our seats were up a little high for the cheerleaders to throw them to us.

Amanda and Dustin, enjoying the game

ornery sisters

Oh my!

Sylvia's teacher has season tickets, so Jeremy and Sylvia went to visit Mrs. House at her seat during halftime.

After the game we went to T.G.I. Friday's, but the wait was over an hour for 8 of us.  So, we went to Avanti's, where the wait was over half an hour.  We crammed into a booth and enjoyed good food though.  

We had a great time!  Thanks to the Goodrich family for organizing the adventure!

Pekin Quiz

We drove to Pekin, IL today for the second Children's Bible Quiz of the season, at Pekin 1st Church of the Nazarene.    We have studied the first 25 chapters of Matthew, and have worked very hard!  

We had fun with our friends at the quiz.

The Pekin church is very nice.  (This was painted on a hallway wall.)  I was touched by their children's pastor's encouraging words to the kids as she welcomed them.  She reminded them that what they are doing in quizzing, studying God's word and hiding it in their heart is so important and worthwhile and will stick with them their entire lives.  She encouraged them that they are all doing a great job at a great thing, no matter how many questions they answer right or wrong.  Praise and glory to God!

Jeremy went with Caeden to the Red level Quiz, but I snuck in to get a picture during a break in the Blue level.

Our boy did so well!  He was the only Red quizzer not to miss any of the 45 questions.  His goal is not to miss any all year.

I was helping keep score during the Blue level Quiz, and sat where I could see our girls.  Sylvia missed one in the first round and Annah missed one in the second.  So each got 59 out of 60 questions correct. And there were a lot of tough questions!

Top 10 Red level quizzers:  3 of them from our church!

We were so happy to watch Wyatt's excitement as he got his first 1st place!!

And we were proud of the 2 Lopshire girls in the top 10 Blue level quizzers too, of course!

For me, it is not about the ribbons, medals, or trophies.  I love how the kids are understanding the will of God more each time we open the Bible because of Quizzing!!

A little video including some clips from the Quiz and the Awards Ceremony...

Green Braces!

Sylvia got her braces adjusted and colors changed a couple weeks ago.  She told me she was going to choose pink and red for Valentine's Day, but couldn't find the right colors when it was time to choose.  So, she chose 2 shades of green instead.

I love this face!  

Project Life and why it is perfect for me

I'm all excited about memory keeping again, thanks to Project Life!  I've kind of run the gamut with pictures and recording moments and memories, as far as doing it creatively versus just getting them down in the books.  

I love taking pictures.  Sometimes I like to do it just for the artsy-ness off it, and get excited about a really nicely composed shot.  Sometimes I am excited about a blurry picture that looks terrible but is the only one I have that captures a special moment.  

I do like to do crafts.  Scrapbooking is really fun and rewarding for me.  But, trying to scrapbook the 100 pictures (on average) I print each month would just be frustrating because I would never feel close to keeping up.  

It's all about balance.  (I am still figuring this out in life, so please stand by while I have this epiphany.)

I do pretty well with keeping my photos organized and archived.  Each month I save them all to DVD and upload and print my favorites.  I blog regularly, so stories are saved to go along with photos too.  

But, I believe there should be a place for printed photos to go along with memorabilia and stories too.  That is the part that has become overwhelming for me as our lives get fuller.  A few weeks ago, I really started to pay attention to the thought of doing Project Life.  I've known about it, but never thought it was right for me until now.  Now, I am so excited and on a roll with it!  I purchased a few supplies and in the past few days I have put over 4 months of 2011 photos, stories, and memories in a great album the kids are excited to look through!

I'm still a messy crafter...

But, I'm loving the format and the process!

Thank you, Becky Higgins!

100 Day

As the kids were getting ready for school this morning, Caeden realized and announced that it was the 100th day of school!  The younger grades usually do special activities on 100 day, so I'm sure he was excited for it.  

But, Caeden he was happily thinking about it, Annah got a shocked look on her face and then started to tear up!  It took her a minute before she was able to voice the fact that she was surprised the school year is already more than half over.  She is sad time is passing so quickly, and that she is almost done with 5th grade.  That means she is almost finished with elementary school!  That means she will be starting middle school in the fall!  All those thoughts seemed to be hitting her all at that moment and she couldn't contain them.  

I was surprised she felt that way, but I'm very glad she doesn't wish her childhood away.  Precious girl, stay little as long as you can!!

Retro-Cool

I was using my old PWP3 word processor today to type on small cards.  The kids each came into the den at different times and asked, "Ooh, what is that!?"  They thought it was some kind of cool new piece of technology until I explained that my parents bought it when I was in junior high or high school.  (In their eyes, apparently that is "the olden days!")  Still, they all thought it was "SO cool!!"

Annah wanted me to show her how a typewriter works, so I did.  (I didn't bother showing her how the word processing part of it works, beyond verbally explaining.)  

She still thought it was really cool, and amazing how the ribbon and correcting ribbon work.  She wanted to try typing, and did a few random sentences.  She still thought it was pretty cool, except that you can't change the font. 

Big Bang Theory

When Jeremy and I first got married, I told him we should never have a tv in our bedroom.  For a long time, we didn't.  For years, even.  Then, at some point, I think my parents gave us a tv and we put one in our bedroom because we had two.  

I didn't want to form the habit of watching TV to fall asleep at night, but it happened somewhere along the way.  Usually, I watch FRIENDS, as we have all 10 seasons on dvd.  They help me fall asleep laughing.

A few weeks ago, though, I got the first disc of The Big Bang Theory on dvd from Netflix.  I liked it right off, and now am working my way through all 4 seasons that are on dvd so far.  To me, it is something that's unlike everything else on tv, in that the characters are so genius yet so real.  It makes me laugh too.  Although, I have trouble falling asleep because I'm so into it!

More Weird Winter

The weather continues to be a bit unusual for January in central Illinois.  It was normal and cold for a few days last week, and even snowed a little bit.  Then, yesterday morning as we left for church, we found icy trees with frosty limbs and needles.  A little bit of snow had fallen in the night and was blowing around in the high winds.  The temperature was rising though, so roads were slippery, slushy, and nasty.  And, there was a terribly thick fog.

It did look pretty though.

Yesterday, it was blustery and wet all day.  We heard ice falling off the house and being blown up against the living room window all afternoon.

At bedtime, thunder and lightning storms began, and it rained enough in the night to melt nearly all the snow.  Now it is windy again.  

It is a different kind of winter here this year!

Ladies' Trip to Mackinaw Depot

I had the pleasure of joining some of Jeremy's lovely co-workers today for a trip to Mackinaw, Illinois.  We had such a nice time having lunch and tea at the Tea Room at the Depot, and shopping afterward at the Porcelain Berry.

Several of us shared a teapot of the popular Aspen tea, which was a yummy cinnamon spice.  Lunches were served on a pretty tier--one for each of us!  My lunch included tomato florentine soup, chicken salad on a green salad, and warm apple berry pie.  It was all very good.

The building itself was fascinating and full of art, home decor, gifts, and other items for sale.  We enjoyed shopping around while waiting for our table and after eating as well.

Thank you to my hubby for taking me to Nancy's house, picking me up, and entertaining the kids all afternoon.  Thank you to Nancy for organizing the day and driving us all there.  Thank you to Jamie, Leanne and Lauren, and Julie as well.  It was such a lovely, relaxing afternoon full of laughs.

Random New Stuff

So, I think this post will be pretty random.  It's okay, right?  

My hubby bought me new boots last weekend.  I admire the ladies that can wear the tall boots up to or past their knees, but I am too short and fat for that.  But, I finally found some that were taller than the short boots!  These mid-calf boots were on sale at Macy's.  (I normally don't even like to go in there, but Jeremy made me.  And he was right.)  They are pretty comfy too, actually, and don't make my entire body hurt from wearing them!  Yay!

I got a new mirror to put in the music room where I teach!  I like for my students to be able to watch themselves so we can correct certain postures and things when they sing.  It's a cheapy mirror I got on Amazon, but it looks much nicer and is much more functional than the unmounted flat wall-mount mirror I've had since my parents bought it for me from K-Mart the day I moved into my college freshman dorm! ;)  (No offense to my parents or K-Mart!)  

Oh, you can also see the nifty wall clock (behind my head) that I bought myself in November 50% off for $25 at Hobby Lobby.  It doesn't really even look like a clock, which is a plus.  And, it matches the chandelier and curtain rods and holdbacks.  It's been really nice to have right over the piano, and helps me stay on time with each lesson better.

 I took all these pictures trying to get a decent one of the purple poncho I'm wearing.  I made it for myself, which is new!  It's new that I crocheted for myself, and new that I tried making a poncho.  

Michaels had tons of this great chunky yarn on sale after the holidays.  It was $2.50 a skein, and it took me 4 1/2 skeins to make the poncho...much cheaper than I could have bought one in a store!  And, this pattern was free and so easy I even got a little bored making it.  But, I like wearing it!  It's so warm and cozy!  It's kinda like a homemade Snuggie.  Haha...okay, don't make fun!

I was thinking about taking a closer up photo of my hair to show my new haircut, but it's kind of a bad hair day.  So that will have to wait.

End randomness here.  

Fishtail Braid

 Addie came for her lessons tonight and put this cute fishtail braid in Sylvia's hair in just a few minutes while Dawn and I chatted after the lesson.  I've always thought it looks like it must be complicated, but Addie showed me that you actually use 2 main strands of hair.  So maybe it's easy; I will have to try myself soon.  Sylvie's hair looked so cute with it in...

Mr. Miggle-Muggle

When it snowed last Thursday, Sylvia was disappointed that it wasn't the packing kind of snow so she could make a snowman.  It was powdery and sparkly at the time.  But today, it is warming up past freezing quite quickly, and the snow is nice and wet and sticky.

 The kiddos played in the backyard all morning, digging burrows in the drift.  There was no snow left in the front yard, but they wanted to put the snowman out there.  So they rolled each snowball over the grass to get it there.  (Hence the mud and pine needles all over him.)  The snowballs were so big and heavy they couldn't lift them [even all 3 working together] once they got them to the front yard!  I was still in my pajamas inside the house, but thankfully our neighbor friend Andrew saw that they were having troubles.  He came outside with no coat, but gloves, and lifted the top two snowballs onto the snowman.  So thoughtful.  Then he went back inside to get his coat, when the kids invited him to stay and play.  

Sylvia named him Mr. Miggle-Muggle.  He will probably be almost gone by the end of the day, as it is going to be in the 40's.  But, he made some kids pretty happy today.  :)