Short and Sweet

We are wrapping up the month of February with melting snow, a few days of warmer temperatures, and lots of rain! Know what that means? Lots of MUD! This week was bit rough as we navigated back into school schedules and routines! Our kids are early risers, but cutting back to only two snacks and one meal during school...whoa!

Lunch Date

Homemade jerky 

A muddy run!

100th day at school 

A special snack for 100th day

Family time last week

Emma at L.L. Bean

Ice Skating last week. 

We did get away for a night last week to Portland. We stayed in a hotel with a swimming pool, and spent some much needed time as a family. All of our kids enjoy water, and of course, no trip to the city would be complete without a stop at Sams Club!

The boys ice rink has not faired well with all this warm weather and rain, so it might be the end of the ice skating adventures for this year. Roger did get a jerky making kit with a gift card he was given to Cabela’s, so they enjoyed making that this week! And actually, the jerky turned out really well. Now the task has been dividing up the jerky equally! We also put our kids on a media “fast”, so no Wii, no you tube, nothing electronic. I don’t think our kids spend a lot of time on devices anyways, but with last week being break, they did spend more time than normal. We are only putting them on a five day media “fast”, but its helped boosted their creativity and reading time.

It was nice that Roger was able to have off a few days in a row last week, so that we could spend time together. Once we spring forward in our clock schedules and the days continue to get longer, our time becomes more limited. I’m not complaining...I’m very thankful for Roger’s job and his boss. We are planning to have Roger’s boss and wife over for lunch on Sunday, so I’m looking forward to that.

This week we celebrated the 100th day of school...finally! I spend some time on Sunday afternoon preparing for 100th day on Monday, but it was a fun day. I printed off random facts about 100; we had a little contest to guess which container had 100 of something, and we had a special 100th day snack. I think the students had a good time with it, and its good to have special times every once in a while. While time flies for me...I don’t think the students always feel that way!

Emma enjoyed a play date with a friend this week, and Roger and I were able to get away for a lunch date...hooray! Emma has been trying to have a play date with her friends Ryan and Lucy for the entire month of February. The first two weeks in February we had snow days. The next week was winter break, and finally this week, the play date happened!

I have so much more that I planned to write, but this is just a short and sweet update on our family adventures this week.

Out of curiosity, how many of you are concerned about the Coronavirus? How many of you have kids that attend a school that does NOT have a winter break? What are your favorite winter activities to do as a family? There’s some of my random thoughts fo the week! :)

We are preparing for our Haiti trip, and our first payment for the missions trip is due next week! It’s becoming real. Please pray that we will be able to get good prices on our airline tickets. It takes a while to get anywhere from Maine, and we would love to see God provide tickets that are not high in price. The cheaper the airline tickets, the more money we have to leave for the ministries there in Haiti.

We had a devotional on encouragement this week. It was pouring down rain this morning, and Travis managed to find this umbrella in the closet. He was so sweet to meet me at the door of our house to walk me to the van this morning. I was so encouraged by his sweetness. However, the way he was holding the umbrella was causing the water to drip right down my neck! It was a bit chilly, but I just told him to hold the umbrella over me and we would run to the car! I don’t want to discourage his thoughtfulness!

God is good and faithful, and while I am sometimes weary in well-doing, our God is never weary! Now thats an amazingly encouraging thought!

Love, Sarah

Valentine’s Day! Winter Break Chaos!

Winter break is here! We survived the last crazy week of school before break with a delayed start day, a snow day, and Valentine’s Day chaos! I’m not a huge fan of winter break simply because I’d rather be done earlier in the summer. But...since its not optional, we might as well make the most of it! Roger has scheduled a few consecutive days off for the week of winter break, so we are hoping to get away for a bit of a family adventure.

Delivering Roses on Valentine’s Day

Breakfast on our Snow Day from School! 

Sweet Baby Ruth- We are so excited she is here! 

Chocolate covered strawberries for our teachers and staff

Roger’s Valentine’s gift to Emma 

Last week we had a snow day on Thursday. Originally, Roger and I had planned to go on a lunch date on Thursday as Emma was going to be going on a play date with a friend from school. However, then we had a snow day! There is a local diner that was hosting their “Founders Week” specials and that included 30% off the menu prices. So we decided to take the family out for brunch on our snow day. The kids were excited as we don’t often go to sit-down restaurants, and we were all able to go. Probably due to the snow, but the restaurant was not crowded at all! There were only a few booths being used and mostly by other folks. We took our family picture and posted it to social media in hopes of winning a $50.00 gift certificate. I figured our chances might be better at winning on Thursday as not very many people were at the restaurant. Guess what!? The restaurant contacted me on Saturday afternoon to inform us that we had won the $50.00 gift certificate! Hooray! It was a fun morning as a family, and even though it was not a date with Roger, it was a fun date with our family.

The snow day on Thursday also provided us with an opportunity to have the kids finish their valentines for their classmates, make valentines for their teachers, and of course have a lot of outside time! With having our kids in every classroom in the elementary school, its a lot of Valentine’s parties and things to remember! Sometimes I try to bring the same thing for all the classroom parties as it’s less to remember. But this time, we had Chex mix for one class, chips and salsa for another, jello jigglers, and donuts to remember! Travis specifically asked me to make jello jigglers for his classroom party. Not because he is especially fond of jello, but because he knew there was a student in his class that would enjoy jello jigglers. I was happy to make jello jigglers, but I was even more touched by the fact that Travis was looking out for this student. Some times, I am amazed by his thought process!

On Friday after school, I took the boys (and Emma) to deliver roses to some of the shut-ins in our church family. We have quite a few older ladys and widows, so I had purchased a dozen roses and some greenery for the boys to had out. We went to nine different places, and the boys hopped out of the car to give the shut-ins a rose, a hug and a “Happy Valentine’s Day” greeting. The kids had such good attitudes about it, and I was quite touched by their willingness to try to help brighten these ladies day. Of course, at each stop, we were invited in for a visit and each one wanted us to stay. However, Chandler was getting a migraine (probably from all the sugar from the party) so I knew we needed to make each stop a short one. I think it is so important that we teach our boys (and Emma) to take care of the older generation. It is one thing to tell our children that they need to love and appreciate the older generation, but its another thing entirely to TEACH them that. Is it important that our children see me write notes and interact with older folks? Absolutely! But its also important that we teach them to do it on their own. Roger has been teaching the boys on Sunday mornings to open the door for the older folks and to walk them to and from their cars. I wish I had taken pictures on Sunday morning of the boys walking the older ladies to and from their cars. Our hearts desire is to raise our children to love and serve the Lord, and seeing our boys serve on Sunday brought tears to my eyes. They are far from perfect, and I get annoyed and irritated with them far more often than I should, and they can drive each other crazy, but I truly hope and pray that they can see Christ in me.

It would’ve been lovely to go on a date with Roger for Valentine’s Day, but we just aren’t quite there yet. Garett is getting older, but we aren’t quite the stage where they can be left alone for an entire evening. Too bad my sister, Jenn, doesn’t live out here! I know that she would love to take them, and our kids would enjoy the time with her also. But the time for evening dates will come again, and then I’ll be crying because all the kids are all grown up! I’m just working at enjoying the season of life that we are in.

On Saturday Roger had to work, so the kids and I spent the day at home. The boys worked on the ice skating rink, and then spend time ice skating for much of the day. I worked on many projects, but unfortunately drawers and closets aren’t things that make it look like I was working on something! But the drawers are cleaned out, and another bag of stuff to be donated is ready to go.

Sunday was a busy day with church, youth group, and then a special youth gathering with youth from area churches. Our pastor had arranged for the speaker from the Maine Christian Civic League to speak to the youth, and it was a good challenge for our young people. As Christians we can not sit by idly on the sidelines and complain about the situation in our nation without being active and doing our part. While most of the youth is too young to vote, the time to prepare them to vote is not when they are 18. Teens do not turn 18 years old and magically become mature, responsible adults! We can not be slack concerning our children and youth. Roger and I were able to have a little bit of a discussion with the director and that was encouraging for both of us. While it made for a bit of a late evening for us, I’m glad that our children had the opportunity to attend this local youth gathering.

Roger has not been feeling well lately, so that has made for some long work days for him. The rest of us have currently been able to escape the winter colds, coughs, and flues that seem to be affecting many people. Lord willing, it will stay that way...but often times the sickness slowly makes its way through our family...one person at a time! As a whole, we are a fairly healthy family, and I’m sure that has to do in part with the large amounts of time that the kids spend outside every day. And while I’m not outside as much, the constant revolving of the door exchanges the air often! Winter blues and blahs are pretty common in a lot of people this time of year, so I’m hoping that we can get away as a family for a day to do something out of the ordinary! The boys would like to use their Christmas present from Mr. Kevin and Mrs. Terri this week which includes a snow tubing adventure and a one night hotel stay. I’ve been trying to coordinate a date for this week, but its a challenge with all the rest of the east Coast also on Winter break!

God is good, and He blesses us with far more than we deserve. Our love to you,
Sarah

Snow Day...and Again...and

Snow  day, snow day, weekend, delayed start...and back to school we go!! What a weird feeling to have so much time off from school! We have five days of school this week, and then it’s winter break! We have not had a great winter this year, so the skating and sledding have been minimal. My boys have been disappointed in that but that’s life!

Roger worked on both Thursday and Friday when we had snow days, so that was a bit of a bummer. On Thursday the snow was beautiful, and all the kids were in and out of the house all day long. Roger came home to plow the driveway, and he took Garett and Chandler back to the airport with him to clean out airplanes and other jobs. The boys were happy to go along with Roger, and it does mean less conflict if all the kids aren’t on top of each other all day long!  I caught up on laundry (well, I tried anyways!), cleaned out a closet, and worked on a few other projects.

Friday saw the transition of the snow to a bit of icy conditions. However, with having the kids home from school, we also were out of milk by Friday afternoon. I went and ran a few errands before the roads became too icy. I’d definitely prefer to drive the suburban in the snow, but we have a minivan this winter, and that’s fine too!

Saturday afternoon found us with a house full of boys! Chandler’s twelfth birthday party was on Saturday afternoon, and we had nine boys out in the yard! Saturday was a crisp and cold day, so the ice skating rink was useable. I plan very low key birthday parties...no Pinterest parties here (I have no problem if you do -go for it!) We have always had birthday parties for our kids where we expect them to entertain themselves. I’ve found that kids often really enjoy unstructured play time with their friends, and it makes for a fun party. I’ve also learned to have plenty, plenty of food! Chandler asked me to make enchiladas and quesadillas for his party. The boys certainly seemed to enjoy the food, and they washed it down with slabs of ice cream birthday cake! We have a Dairy Queen that offers 1/2 price ice cream cakes on Tuesdays. Guess which day I bought the cake on? Yup....Tuesday! Chandler’s favorite kind of cake is ice cream cake, and it was a nice treat for his birthday party. Even though the temperature was about 22 degrees  with the real feel colder than that, the boys seemed to enjoy the party....Emma, not so much! She kept asking when the party was going to start, and when I told her that it had started she asked, “You mean, only boys are coming, Mom?!” Oh well, such is the life of one girl among four brothers!

I had a good talk with my parents this past week, which was nice for me. I’m pretty sure that they know it’s me when the phone rings at 6:30 am! I kinda forgot that they were an hour behind me, and by that time the phone was already ringing! Oh well, they seemed happy to talk to me!

Roger and I planned a human hungry hippo game for youth group on Sunday night, and that was a lot of fun to watch and to play! We used scooters that the teen had to lay down on and then the other teen had to steer them using their legs! The teen on the scooter had to use a laundry basket to collect balloons, and the team that collect their color of balloons first won. It was very fun to watch the kids have a good time playing the game, and no one got hurt!  We’ve had a lot of fun getting to know these teens and working with them. I asked Garett what was his opinion of his parents helping with teen group, and he replied, “I think it’s awesome. I love having you and dad there.” Well! Those words certainly warmed my heart right up. Sometimes this boy seems sour and grumpy, so it’s nice to know that he does love us! I sure do love this boy, even when he can quite literally drive me batty faster than I can blink an eye!


Chandler was reading some nutritional labels this week. While reading a creamer container, he remarked, “Mom, this one doesn’t say anything about having OMGs” I was like, “What in the world?” Then I realized he meant “GMOs”! He had the right letters, but in the wrong order! I laughed, and Chandler had a good laugh too. It’s refreshing to hear my kids laugh, and I realize that I need to help us all do that more often. Sometimes I get caught up in the seriousness of something or a situation, but sometimes I just fail to see delight and to laugh easily.

We have been preparing for our 100th day of school...which keeps getting moved out later and later! Roger helped me make a gumball machine (a paper one). I punched out 100 circles and the students wrote things that they were thankful for on the circles. So along with 100 days smarter, we are also focusing on 100 gumballs of thanks. It was fun to see what the students are thankful for, and the youngest ones are so endearing. One wrote “Me”, and another wrote, “Money”. Many gumballs stated mom or dad or siblings. Some were thankful for their Christian school, and many other things. God is so good! I’m thankful that Roger was able to help me with the gum ball machine, as Art is not my forte!

We are still planning on going to Haiti, and I’ve been keeping my eyes open for good bargains on things to bring. If you’d like to buy a tshirt, we are running a fundraiser to help offset the cost of the missions trip.  You can browse our T-shirt fundraiser here I’m excited to have the opportunity to go, and both of my sisters are tentatively planning to go also, as well as possibly my dad. Chandler has already said that he thinks that he would prefer to go on a missions trip with Aunt Jen as she usually  helps  coordinate the Vacation Bible School mission trips. We are praying about when Chandler should plan to go on that trip.  Missions trips are important, and I think they can be especially important for our youth. It’s so easy to be self absorbed. A missions trip can be a great way to see the world around us, and to realize that so many people live in a completely different way. Yet all around the world, the need remains the same and that need is Jesus Christ. We can serve some the practical needs of others, but we need to be fervent  about pointing them to Jesus. And not just on a missions trip!

Roger has had the opportunity to play hockey again, and I am so thankful for this opportunity for him! He hasn’t played on a team in over twelve years, but the winter he has had the opportunity to play some for a pickup league. He already had all the goalie gear, and goalies get to play free. It’s about once a week and it’s in the evenings...but after the kids are already in bed. It has provided exercise, friendships, and an outlet for him. God always provides what we need right on time, and this has been so fun for Roger. He has enjoyed the opportunity to play again, but yet it’s not interfering with our family time which we have to guard so closely. God is so good.

Well, that about wraps up another week on the blog! I always think of more things I could or should’ve added after I’m done, but enough is enough. Our love to you, Sarah

Recitals and Moments

And just like the snap of our fingers, the month of February is here! This month we will have a birthday party for Chandler, enjoy winter break from school, and hopefully,  sneak in a winter getaway as a family to go snow tubing. We will also have our 100th day of school celebration, and lots of classroom Valentine parties! Roger and I were discussing that our family gives a valentine to every student in our school and to one classroom twice!! Since I help in the preschool classroom, I’ll give those students a Valentine, and then each of our kids will give valentines to their classmates. Since Travis and Wyatt are in the same classroom, we will give those students a Valentine twice! I’ll be having simple valentines this year! But having mostly boys in our family, it’ll be a food Valentine. Travis says all the valentine cards are dumb, and  he just plans to give food to his friends...no note or card, just food! Sounds like a boy, right?

Last Thursday night, we went to a piano recital for Wyatt and Garett. They were by far the most inexperienced piano players at the recital, and they were the first on the program. Garett gave a huge grin of relief when he finished up his songs, and Wyatt was relieved too. They’ve worked hard this past semester, and we were thrilled to go to their recital. The rest of the recital was a bit long and uninteresting to the kids, but they had good manners. I had warned the boys that there would be some voice performances at the recital and to not making any faces! They did very well, but Chandler  let out a huge sigh when we made it back to our vehicle! He said, “English is a hard enough language to speak and understand, why on earth would anyone want to sing in Latin or German or some other  language that no one has any idea what they are singing?!” Well, I don’t know, but he does have a point. Of course, to be honest, I feel that way about some Christian music. Honestly, if I can’t understand the words that they are singing to “praise and worship the Lord”, I’m not too interested in listening  to the song again. I totally realize that not everyone has that opinion, and that’s okay too!

On Friday afternoon my friend, Allison, and I were able to get away to the hospital to visit a brand new baby! You forget how tiny they start out!!! Baby Ruth is an adorable little squish, and it was so nice to see her and her mama for a few minutes. We did not stay long as Claire wasn’t feeling well, and she needed to rest. Allison and I were able to have a quick lunch together before the afternoon was practically over. I’m thankful for Allison as this year has been full of changes and transitions for me, and she has provided a listening ear or a hug on more than one occasion!

By Friday evening, Roger and I were both emotionally drained. We had gone to a meeting earlier in the week, that had left us with quite a bit of information to process. With Rogers work schedule and having our children getting older, it’s harder to find moments when no one is around to overhear our conversations! As my dad used to tell my mom, “I’d tell you something, but the ears are in the cornfield.” Meaning, us kids were around and listening! We really needed to have a date, but that just wasn’t an option. We were able to have a few moments of conversation early on Saturday morning before Roger left for work.

I had a wonderful conversation with one of my dear friends from Wisconsin last week, and it was so good to have a deep conversation about things on my heart. Jenna and I have a friendship that is one that can be picked back up whenever we both have moment. We might go weeks....or even months, without really corresponding, but then when we do it really is an “iron sharpenth iron” friendship. I am very thankful for her.

Roger worked on Saturday, but Garett was able to spend part of the day with him. We are so thankful for a job that provides an opportunity for our kids to spend time with Roger. Roger was done a bit early due to the weather and a slow schedule, so we went bowling on Saturday evening. The bowling alley wasn’t too crowded, and it was fun to bowl with our kids. They have the opportunity to go bowling through the school, so they are all better bowlers than I am! Chandler was in the lead for most of the game, but Garett managed to pull off a win in the last frame. Chandler tends to be a methodical and smooth bowler, while Garett puts a lot of power behind his ball. They are such different bowlers, but yet they managed to stay within a few points of each other. It was a fun night, and fairly cheap family fun!

Travis was having a rough time in school, but then his teacher gave her students a “fun” learning day! They were still learning but they didn’t realize that they were learning. She played learning games with her classroom, did her teaching a bit different, and that seems to have helped Travis out tremendously! He seems to have turned a corner, and he is back to enjoying school again. I am so thankful for teachers that are willing to “think outside the box”! Travis and Wyatt have a great teacher who works very hard to teach her students, but yet sometimes uses different approaches to learning. We are so blessed to have our children attend such a great school.

Life is full of mountain too experiences and valleys. These opportunities are each designed to draw us ever closer toward our Heavenly Father. I might not always appreciate the challenges as they come, but I know that Gods ways are not my ways. Emma’s Bible verse this week is Psalm 103:14 “For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.” I’m so thankful for mercy!

Love, Sarah