How I Spent My Halloween

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Sheila

I was actually able to make it home early from work today! So we headed to Sonic and used some of our slush fund to buy the 0.50 corn dogs that were on special, we even took drinks for the kids. Amanda decided she would like to join us tonight; so Matt stayed home to answer the door. We ventured out to 2 Trunk or Treat and Paw Paws & Granny’s of course. The first Trunk or Treat was at a church and it was AWESOME! The second at the local Fire Station. We actually spent about 2 hours out, we hit the neighbors on both sides when we returned home. I actually can say it was fun!
Here are the kids….

More Pictures to follow on Wednesday hopefully!

Staying Busy

Posted on October 8, 2011 by Sheila

I was so excited to exceed my blogging goal in September, that I honestly thought it would continue over in October. Well today is October the 8th and this is my first post. So I seriously have my doubts now.

The biggest item on the calender for this week has been a Bible Quiz meet. Matt and I spent about 2 hours last Sunday and another 2-3 hours on Tuesday working on questions. Haley and I attended the quiz today in Winston for half the day. The last remaining part will be an hour of tabulating score on Sunday. I always say I am not going to wait till the last minute to start working on this each month but I am going to definitely add it to my goals for next year. Finding a scheduled time each week to work on quizzing so it doesn’t ended up consuming a week.

Lily is currently on a cheerleading squad that is starting to practice 2 nights a week. So with Kid’s club this a a total of 3 nights a week she has something going on.

Kendall is going to a Tumble class on Tuesdays which is great for her as well as Zach who gets some “Daddy time.” Both Kendall and Zach have a school readiness person who is coming out 2x a month to make sure they stay on track. Kendall completed her annual testing this past Friday and to our surprise she is scoring on the high end! YAY Kendall. Zach will be tested next week and I hope to post the results as well.

Haley is enjoying school and doing well. Amanda is currently splitting her time between school and work with as much social life as she can squeeze in.

To add to the schedule this week, both Kendall and Lily had eye appointment in Charlotte. Both have increased their vision. Kendall is only patching now 3 days a week for one hour. Lily will continue to patch for 4 hours a day for at least another 6 months. After their appointments we headed to Cracker Barrel and IKEA. I hope to post pictures tomorrow of the purchases.

So if you are keeping count then we are home as a family on Tuesday nights. No wonder I don’t have time to blog much.

The Great Clothes Swap

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Sheila

That is what Matt and I managed to do today in little over 2 hours. The temperature has taken a giant nose dive from 88 to 58 as highs. I knew that we needed to go through all the little kids clothes and decided what needed to be purchased for this season, in fact it was on my to do list in the next 2 or 3 weeks. However with the temperature change even if only for a couple of days and the fact Lily had to try on 3 shirts this morning, it became more important.
I am actually really blessed after all is said and done. Between clearance and awesome yard sale finds that I always store and gifts/hand me downs from several friends we actually have a very short “needs” list. Zach is currently wearing 18 month shirts and pants, I did find a couple of 24 month outfits that will also fit just fine. My plan is to buy 24 months for him. He needs pjs, socks, a new winter coat and a couple of shirts. Kendall, currently wears size 3T, I know she will move into 4Ts before the winter is finished but I also know we have enough of those that she should not need anything besides pajamas for this winter. Lily she is currently in a size 6 shirt which may be a 5 depending on sleeve length and size 5-6 pants with adjustable waist. If it does not have an adjustable waist, she can’t wear it. Lily needs pjs, socks and a 4-5 long sleeves shirts.

I am so glad to have this behind me. It is more of a headache than anything else so to say I am finished makes this weekend half as stressful for me!

The Good, the Bad , the Crazy Week in Review

Posted on September 12, 2011 by Sheila

I knew that this past week would be busy as normal and so when I thought about posting for this week, I came up with this list format. Hope you enjoy…

The Good

-Lily has had a blue or purple light/dot all week, so she got a prize. I had lunch with Lily on Thursday and Matt meet briefly with her teacher Thursday night. Lily is very well-behavior and is exceeding in reading and writing! We don’t have a good reading level on her yet but at the end of first grade, all students should be reading on a Level I, currently Lily has passed Level E with plans to test at Level F this week.
– I got to have a meeting with my supervisor at work this week, so I am feeling alot more at ease about my position and there is a chance that by the end of the year, I may only be working 1 job which still will keep us on track financially.
-After a somewhat rough start to the Bible Quizzing year, Haley has joined a team from the church in Greensboro. We had our first competition on Saturday. Haley did awesome and is currently 6 out of 27 quizzers. This also was an awesome event for me. I came home not exhausted and I really enjoyed interacting with the quizzers.
– We are still gathering peppers from our Square Foot Garden
-I was able to make several good trips to CVS this week, including today (Sunday) where I spent $10 and saved $36 or 78%. I was also able to bring home 3ECB which is only 1 less than what I started with. I hopefully will be able to do the same transactions on Amanda’s card later on in the week. One of the big sale item is Diet Coke cans!
-Kendall and Zach are both enjoying “preschool” at least once a week!
-God has supplied all our needs. See the bad to understand more.

THE BAD

– Haley is currently grounded from the computer and the phone.
-On Wednesday night our dryer developed a sound that could give anyone a headache and it sound like it could stop at any moment, add to this it was taking 2 hours or more per load. We knew we needed to buy a replacement. Matt was able to locate and purchase a dryer for $150. After bringing it home it is much better than we expected. It is a higher end “digtal” dryer that is quiet and dries even a full load of towels in an hour. This was a huge answer to prayer so that we can hopefully purchase the new windows and start our debt snowball next month.
– On Saturday, about an hour prior to leaving for Greensboro, we discovered a flat tire on my car. Thankfully, my parents came over and help Matt with the little ones so he could get the tire fixed and back on the car.
– We discovered late Friday night that “Angel Food Ministries” will not be disturbing food in September. This is one of the main ways we have been purchasing meat over the past year. We are both shocked that after 17 years that have stopped. Our prayer is that they will be able to reorganize and begin again before the end of the year but we have no information to go on so at this point it is very doubtful.

The Crazy Hairstyle

Haley is entering the Crazy Hairstyle contest at Youth tonight and she really wanted to win and to have it posted here! This leaves a smile on my face after a long week!

Priates and Princess

Posted on September 11, 2011 by Sheila

Wednesday night was the beginning of “Kids Club” at church. We are excited because Kendall is old enough for the preschool group this year. The kick-off night include a magic show with “Captain Jim”. Zach was able to go and actually sat through the entire show and enjoyed it. Here are a couple of pictures of the “Pirate and Princess”.
Lily is always ready to pose for a picture
This is a picture to give you an idea of the size of the boat. Matt spent last Saturday working on it. It is HUGE!
Zach’s shirt says “Dude” and he was so excited to be able to wear a patch!

After the show minus a patch and with a pacifer.

Wordless Wednesday-Dedication at our new church Building

Posted on September 7, 2011 by Sheila

The Mime team performed one song at the regular worship service, Haley is in the middle.

Our friend Pastor Pete Brokopp, a missionary who currently is working to bring clean drinking water and food to Burkina Faso Africa. Pete is often know for his zest and honesty.

The Mime team performing, Haley is on the end to the right.

Lily and her BFF Izzy, during the welcome breakfast.

Matt really enjoyed face painting.

First Day of School 8/25/2011

Posted on August 25, 2011 by Sheila

Lily and Haley started school today. Haley came home with a headache and homework. Lily is still excited!

Zach really missed Lily today and asked about her more than Kendall. However, Kendall tried to convince her to “never go back to school” at snack this afternoon because she missed her!

Disney World- Never forget Rapunzel

Posted on August 6, 2011 by Sheila

I am having a lazy Saturday today and enjoyed looking again at our Disney World Pictures. One of the memories that I don’t want to forget is how we got to meet Rapunzel, who is Lily’s favorite princess. We found out by chance that our first day was also the last day of a very special meet and greet with Rapunzel. The story of my wait is posted earlier but what I didn’t share then was the wonderful pictures we got so here are 5 of my favorite!

Lily actually gave her picture that she colored to Flynn Rider who put it in his bag!

Vacation Bible School

Posted on July 31, 2011 by Sheila

This is one of the most looked forward and exciting weeks around our house especially for Lily. This year it also marked the one year anniversary of Matt becoming unemployed…we have survived and are actually enjoying more time as a family and even being able to splurge a little. After a year of construction, our new church facility is almost complete, so much so that VBS was held at the building while last minute construction, painting and staining were occuring. Matt volunteered to help “where-ever needed.” He ended up in charge of games, the best news is that was only 3 days. I had hoped to arrange my schedule to be able to spend a little time each day at VBS, but that was not to happen. I have worked around 38 hours this week. I was able to sneak away at lunch on Friday and watch the closing program. Lily was so excited that I made it.

The week of VBS is also one of the most busiest for us as a family. We spent last Sunday evening helping prepare crafts and doing some last minute moving of things to the new facility. Each morning I left for work at around 8:15am. VBS starts at 9:20 with all workers set to arrive at 9:00am. For us this means that EVERYONE must be feed and dressed with hair and teeth brushed. This served as an awesome reminder of how blessed we are not to have to attempt to get this accomplished every morning to take the kids to daycare. I honestly don’t know how anyone with more than one small child makes it anywher before 9 any morning.

The week ended with a couple of bangs as well. We decided after the pool on Saturday (today) to head to Salisbury for Chinese and Shushi. We made several discoveries on this trip. First Zach is allergic to shrimp. At least that is what we are thinking. His face, arms and body broke out in a itchy rash after 6-8 shrimp. While waiting to pay, I looked over and noticed Lily’s ear was black around her earring. So I have to remove, clean her ears and we bought her some sensitive earrings to wear. While at Walmart, getting Lily’s earrings, Kendall decided she wanted her ears pierced. After several minutes we agreed and she is wearing the most adorable rainbow flowers I have seen. She changed her mind after I had already paid for the new earrings, and she even cried when they pierced both ears but now she is excited to look at them in the mirror. Wow what a week. Now back to our regular not quite so busy lives!