Spring

It has been over a year since my last post.  Life has been a little rough, but things are looking better now.  A lot has happened in our lives.  We went to Regionals and Talents for Christ, both competitions in fine arts and academics.  The kids did great, and qualified for Internationals, which we are not participating in this year for a couple of reasons.  Right after all that competition I ended up having emergency surgery to have my gall bladder out, which was a mess.  I am still recovering from that, and can't do anything fun like horse back riding, volleyball, or jogging.  And I've been ordered by the doctor to not lift anything heavy until the end of June.  He jokingly said, "No moving furniture around," which made me look at him funny.  You see, one of the reasons why the kids aren't going to Internationals, is because we are moving again.  We will be in the throes of crunch time soon, and will need everyone doing their part.  We aren't going far from here, only about a half an hour to a little farming community in a place called Andrew's Settlement.  Dale will be pastoring there.  The parsonage is a farmhouse, which is a little smaller than we have gotten used to, so we are going to have a few challenges getting organized and getting rid of what doesn't fit.

I am still teaching at the small Christian school.  This is my second year, and the children continue to excel in their studies and activities.

We are almost done with what I call "birthday season" around here.  The twins turned 17, Benjamin turned 19, and Caleb is about to turn 13.  After next Saturday I will have 5... that's FIVE teenagers in the house!  Another milestone we reached last Friday night was Isaac graduating from Kindergarten.  He is officially a big first grader now!

Happy Birthday Esther and Elizabeth!  (The cake is two horse shoes over lapped on a base of 9 by 13.  One says "Squeak" the other says "Liz", and there is a 17 at the bottom where the horse shoes overlap.)

Happy Birthday Benjamin!  This was my first attempt at using fondant on a cake.  Not too bad!

Congratulation to Isaac!  The class and I made these cupcakes for after the graduation ceremony last Friday night.  They were good helpers!

Every year the school has a pie sale to help with some of the expenses at school.  Isaac helped me to make a blueberry and an apple.  Of course, I had to then make one for Dale, who was looking over my shoulder and laying some not so subtle hints about having one with dinner.

A couple of weeks ago all the students went on a field trip to Miracle Mountain.  It was a lot of fun. Isaac loved riding the horse, Tinker.  I think we have yet another child bit by the horseback riding bug!  He even trotted (with some help from the friendly counselor behind the horse in the picture.)

This is Creamsicle.  He isn't ours, but was visiting during Ben's birthday dinner party.  He is about 5 weeks old.  Such a cutie!  He is asleep here with Josiah.

I hope this post finds everyone well, and I hope to be able to post on a more regular basis now.