Where to Begin.......

So much has happened since I last wrote here.  We had a beautiful memorial service for my mom and we are all trying to move on without her here with us.  Definitely not an easy task.  My Dad is doing well and has taken up cooking.  He even made a lemon meringue pie the other night.  I'm so proud of him, his meringue turned out great! Life goes on, that's how my mom would want it.

We have had several birthdays over the last few months which makes us have 4 teenagers for a while.  Well, until Zach turns 20 in October.  Garrett entered the teen world last month while we were camping at the beach for a much needed family get away.  We rented a trailer and had a wonderful time.  Paige turned 8 in July which makes her and Levi the same age until he turns nine in October. 

Tyler turned 18 in August.  He was suppose to finish up high school by attending the Junior College this year, however, our state has decided that due to budget cuts High School students can no longer attend the JC.  After much prayer and talking we decided to graduate him a year early and send him to the JC.  He had met all his requirements for graduation, however, I told him that in my heart he is a senior in High School and no graduation presents will be given until the end of this year.  I'm just mean like that.  He's taking a fun computer class this semester and is really in his element.  I'm thinking it was the right decision.  Wow, this parenting thing is hard sometimes:)

After taking a year off after high school and working full time Zach left for college in August.  He is about 90 minutes away and sharing an apartment with a friend.  He is a Finance major and loving every minute of this experience.  This mama is happy that he still comes home every other weekend and emails and texts me.  It's so hard to let them go, but so fun to watch them soar!

We started school last week and all the kids are excited to be back to learning.  This will be our 4th year of home schooling and I think I finally have hit my stride.  I am so much more confident and am having a lot more fun.  It really helps once you see that your children WILL learn even if you aren't the perfect teacher.  I'm even teaching a class at our co-op.  I'm using the Apologia Science Zoology 1 course I did with Samantha and Garrett the first year we were home together.  I have such wonderful memories of our time together learning about God's amazing flying creatures, and am excited to get to share the same experience with Levi and Paige.  I ordered the lap book CD from Live and Learn press and we are having so much fun putting our books together.  If your child likes to do art I highly recommend their lap books to aide in the learning process.  My kids love them!