Soccer and Football

This year, for the first time, my children are both on a school sport's team. The girls are playing soccer and the boys are playing flag football at our school. Homeschoolers get to play, too. Since our school is part of our church, I think it's great that those who choose to homeschool are participating. Both my oldest son and daughter love to play sports. This they do NOT get from me. I only like to go to sporting events because of the junk food I can eat, but I have had a great time watching the games.


Below are some pictures taken over the "season". The quality is not good, but I haven't read the manual that came with my camera, yet. Sorry, Amy.




Brianna - Ok, she wasn't playing, but she wanted me to take her picture.





David - He almost looks like he knows what he's doing.

Our girls are in the blue shirt. Here's Katelyn with the ball.

The younger kids played in the field behind the game. Here's Robert showing the skill he inherited from me. Notice that he has kicked, but the ball did not move.

If you look really carefully you can see the ball in flight.

A pep talk from our coach (and Pastor).

Man At Work

This is my husband hard at work fixing our dining room table. One more thing he can check off the "honey do" list. I love watching my husband fix things. He's usually outside, weather permitting, but on this day the table was top priority. (I think he finally noticed it was still sagging in the middle!)

I'm so happy that my table is mended that I won't tell you that the table has been broken for 1 1/2 years, and HE'S the one that broke it! The table was broken as he was playing with (chasing) the children around the house. He tried to jump over the table while the kids ran around it. The kids were all very thankful that they didn't break the table and have to suffer the wrath of Mom. As for their father, well, why do you think he needed back and knee surgery in the same year? Actually, I thought it was kind of funny to think of the table collapsing underneath him. That's a little mean, isn't it?

IT IS FINISHED!.........(finally)

Ever done a time consuming project with no visible changes. I mean, it looks like nothing was done. I just completed one of those projects. Last December, we had 600 sq. feet of tile installed in our newly remodeled kitchen. The grout should have been sealed soon after installation, but I never got around to it. I have a million excuses, none of them very good.

With school starting, I could not, in good conscience, put this project off any longer. It's not hard work, just time consuming. I did it over a few days because of drying time between coats, moving furniture, etc. Doesn't it look nice?







BEFORE




AFTER

Notice any difference? Me, neither! It's finished and no one will appreciate but me. (Any one else hear a sorrowful violin playing in the background?)

Note: I highly recommend tile if you can afford it (it's pricey). It hides a lot and cleans up nicely if you pick the right color grout and SEAL it. Downside...if you drop a plate, glass, or jar it will not only break, it will SHATTER into tiny pieces and spread all over the floor. This is a sore topic for me. I just shattered a glass jar last night. What a mess! I'm still finding little shards of glass.

PROOF

Ladies, when you do a project, the project isn't finished until you clean up the mess and put away your tools, right? Men don't always have the same idea. I know I'm generalizing here, but in my experience my man does a project and he's done when the object is put up, put together or fixed. This does not include picking up and putting his tools away.
We have a beautiful bay window that was covered with a big, huge curtain. We have finally replaced the curtain with cordless cellular shades (love them). I caught my man cleaning up after he put 2 of the shades up (the other 2 were on order).



So , now, I have proof that it's possible for him to actually finish a project..including clean up. This was his mistake because now I will expect it every time.

Note: Please don't think I'm being disrespectful or mean. I'm just teasing him!

Rainy Day

Ok, I admit it. Most of the time I won't let my kids play outside in the rain or mud because I don't want to deal with the mess afterward. This day was different. I made myself let them play outside in the rain. Aren't you proud of me, Julia?

Veggies

Ever since we've had a yard, we've had a vegetable garden. I say we, but it's really my husband who's had a garden. He does all the planting, the weeding and the picking. Occasionally, I will make my way out to the garden for a needed veggie, but the bulk of the work is his, by his own choice and my laziness!



Just some of the fruits of my husband's labor.





The fruits of my labor.

My job is to preserve the fruits (or veggies) of labor through canning and freezing. This empty basket reflects a couple hours of canning tomatoes.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

Believe it or not, I really was not ready for school to start this year....



and neither were the kids.




Generally, I know children say they don't like school. I think they enjoy the routine and , yes even the work, that comes with school.




See, they're happy to be going to school.

Brianna started school this year. She's very excited. Her kindergarten is 3 full days a week, and I'm thankful for that fact. I'm not ready for my youngest to be gone 5 days a week.

Here she is getting on the bus. Isn't she cute?