Pensacola Beach 2012

I realized it has been a long time since I have updated the blog; so here it goes!!  We recently finished school and we decided to go on a family vacation before my pregnancy got too far along.  So a couple of weeks ago we went down to Pensacola Beach, Florida and stayed a week.  Our family really needed the time away to just relax and enjoy each other.  I think it will be easiest to "tell" you about our trip through pictures!!

View from the condo

Fort Pickens

National Aviation Museum

Ryan caught a crab on the beach

In a Jam

Today we decided to make strawberry freezer jam.  Last year in May we made some and it has lasted us all year; I just finished the last bottle yesterday.  They kids always enjoy helping, although they usually end up deserting me half way through the project!!

We bought two flats of strawberries.  I thought that might be a little ambitious but it didn't make as much as I thought.

The "fruits" of our labor!!

18 week update

I needed to give a little update just for my own record keeping!!  Right now I am 18 weeks pregnant and all is well, as of Monday.  Everyone keeps asking me if I feel like I'm over the hurdle.  Pretty sure that I won't feel completely calm until I am holding that crying, little boy in my arms.  Though overall, I feel calm and peaceful.  The Lord has given me an overwhelming sense of well-being.  I know that no matter what happens I will make it with His help and that He has it all planned out!!  Monday I will have another ultrasound to check heartbeat and then the following Monday will be the big anatomy ultrasound!  Keep praying that all goes well!!

One another note, we are almost done with school.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I told the kids last week that we had about 5 weeks of school left and they have started doing extra work every day trying to get done sooner.  With all of their hard work, I am pretty sure that by the end of next week all they will have left is math and their online history course!!!

Chore charts and a clean dog

I cannot take credit for this idea, but this week I started using a chore/school chart for the kids.  They were really wanting more independence in their school work and I needed their consistent help around the house.  Don't get me wrong; both big kids are most often willing to help with anything I ask of them, but I get lazy and don't really ask for help.  I am one of those perfectionist moms that if the house can't be cleaned right and all at the same time then I'd rather not do it at all.  When I'm pregnant it's even worse; my motivation is almost completely gone!!  Still, I love a clean house.  To my surprise they have loved having the days work laid out before them in the morning and they are doing a great job keeping up with it all.  My only complaint is I feel like I don't know what's going on each day with their schoolwork.  I'll just have to be more diligent to check their work each day since they want to be independent.

  So this is what the chart looks like for one day.  The schoolwork is listed on the upper left with chores that must be done every day underneath.  On the right side is the "special" chores of the day.  I change these daily so I can have them help me hit the "hotspots" of the house.  On the bottom right I am planning on choosing a character quality of the week, with definition and Bible verse included.  My hope is that by the end of the week they can recite the verse by memory and tell me the meaning of the character quality. ( I got the list of 49 character qualities off the Duggar's website)

In other news, Scout went to the groomer for the first time yesterday.  He looks so much better.  We can actually see his eyes now!!  This trip was in preparation for his surgery tomorrow!!  That's right, it's time for the big snip, snip for Scout!  To bad he has no idea what's coming his way!!!

All of me