Welcome Home Harper!

Merry Christmas to my Husband, Hope you enjoy your christmas present.




She is a 9 week old Border Collie/Lab mix I adopted from the local humane society. The girls and I went out and picked her out. They did such a good job keeping her a secret.
Daddy loves her and she has been alot of fun and a great addition to the family.

Homemade Christmas

This year I decided to slow things down in the gift-giving department. Seems like financially we cannot keep up with our normal holiday budget. So with three daughters and my love for sewing and crafts we have decided that the majority of the gifts will be mommy made. This year that has been a huge success. Lots of late nights for mom, but even above the stress I have enjoyed each and every project. Here is what they are getting from mom/dad this year.

*I made them each a shepra/faux winter jackets
* DS travel cases
* PJ sets with American girl matching pjs and sleep masks
* covered bulletin boards
* sock monkeys
* bike baskets
* soft cover books and a blanket for the baby
* winter hats
* Holiday dresses
* magnetic doll dress ups

There was SO much more I wanted to make them this year, but after seeing all these gifts x3 daughters, the tree is very plentiful already.

Homeschool adventure.

Homechooling Adventure.
We are 7 whole weeks into the homeschooling adventure here.
After a hard time with the public school system here in El Paso, I have been forced to make the call. Continue them in the schools and catch them up in the summers, or just make the call and take the plunge.
Not that it has been the easiest transition, however I can see that given the crappy public school option here in this sub-par city--I have noticed a huge change.
One I have seen where they are and are-not when it comes to national standards. Having a mother that has been a teacher for over 40 years is also an amazing help. I have noticed that they are learned so very much in the last 7 weeks. Not only learned it, but know it well.
I get a little attitude from my 3rd grader. Mostly cause school was a cake-walk for her and now I am challenging her to push herself, esp in math skills.
My little ADD 1st grader has been the most adjustment in the curriculum. As her reading is soo far behind where it could be, yet she is so much farther ahead in her math, Using reward charts and anything set to music she has been making amazing strides.
The biggest adjustment has been for me, mom....my daily doings has been completely uprooted. But for the sake of my wonderful daughters it is well worth the late night housework.
Even the toddler gets into the spirit....We have her at the table with us and I work on colors, shapes, ect with her. For her, this is "big-girl" stuff and right up her alley.
In a nutshell I am overjoyed with the choice we made. It may not be forever, but at least till we get out of this duty station.

Our Jennifer

When Brianna was 3 year old we lived with my parents. In the late summer nights out on Grandpa's front porch we would often see this huge toad. "She" came so often that Grandpa and Brianna named her Jennifer. We literally saw her every night for an entire summer. Since then our animal lover Brianna has often said a prayer for her Jennifer or asked if anyone has seen her. Brianna talks about her beloved Jennifer all the time.

This summer we are spending the summer visiting my parents again, And wouldn't you know it but we have spotted our Jennifer again,. Brianna couldn't be more elated to see her again. After all, she is a part of our family in her eyes.

Now the adults know this is most likely not the same Jennifer at each spotting, esp after 3 whole years, but to Brianna's soft heart, it most certainly is. How could we ever break her heart with any other possibility.

So for the joy of a childhood summer Brianna and I take night time walks around the yard. We make soft beds for Jennifer, we leave her notes and food. We also play flashlight hide-and-seek with her. Funny how Jennifer always wins. It warms my heart to play these childhood games with my Brianna for her deep hearted love for nature and all animals in it. We love our Jennifer and the joy she brings to my children.

Sammy's Excavator

Daddy finally got him a tomboy. Even though Sam adores her high heels and baby dolls. Her first love is anything with 4 wheels, and the faster it goes or the more dirt it digs the better. Today she found an excavator in Papa's backyard.

Love for our Libby

We just adore our Liberty "Libby" Lab. She has been vacationing at my parents house until we got settled at the new post. Now that we are all settled, and missing her like crazy, she is finally coming home with us at the end of the summer. Here is some recent photos of our 4 legged daughter.

A Perfect Day for a Conoe Trip.

Since being in the great lakes land of Minnesota this summer we have taken full advantage of the outdoors. Today my brother Matt took off work so we could take the older kids out canoeing. We are blessed to have a number of lakes and county beaches withing 10 miles of our home. We first rented a kayak so my nephew and Alexa could kayak around the first lake. Meanwhile my brother and I had Brianna in our canoe and showed her how to row us around. We did this for about an hour and Brianna was very pleased to earn her girl scout badge in the process. Then we returned the kids kayak and everyone jumped into the canoe and off we went. This time we planned to take a 2 hour trek thru 4 portages and 3 more lakes. This was my girls first experience with the canoeing, get out and haul the canoe thru hiking trails, then re=enter the canoe and continue on, They did so great and were awesome sports-helping all along the way. The only downfall was all the millions on lily pads. At first we thought how neat to row thru them and watch the toads jump. Well, not so much when lake after lake is covered in them and impossible to row thru without ALOT of strength. All in all, it was an amazing day. No cellphones, no computers, not even a watch. Once we were all done with our long voyage we took a dunk in the lakes beach/swimming area. This area is a place I have swam every summer of my entire life. Showing the kids to look down for sunnie fish. We even got to encounter a huge (and I mean huge) snapping turtle right there int he roped off swimming area. It was so neat to get to close to one, that wasnt in captivity of course. All in all a fantastic day.

Nickelodeon Universe

Everytime we come "home" the kids beg to go to the mall of america to go on the rides. This is the HUGE indoor theme park right inside the huge-huge mall. We always have such a blast. It is days like today that I get to be a kid too and just enjoy them as kids.

Welcome to the New Blog Along....All about my little Ladies...

If I didn't know better, Id swear they are fish!

Summer Fun in the Sun, Our summer spent in Minnesota.