Here goes:
- January 2010: I injured my foot and spent a while on crutches. Nothing else exciting.
- February 2010: Enjoyed time with friends and family over fun game nights, Valentine's dinner and more.
- March 2010: Zachary turned 15 years old! He also had major surgery on his knee. He did well, but it wasn't without lots of pain and lots of physical therapy after. I'm happy to say that his knee is perfectly fine today and he's not had a problem since.
- April 2010: Rob celebrated another birthday. Zachary got to put his Biology tools to good use as he dissected a few specimens, and Hannah and I got to meet some great skaters face to face after seeing the Stars on Ice performance. Here she is with one of them...Sasha Cohen.
- May 2010: The definite highlight of our year...a 2 week vacation in Walt Disney World!! We saved up for years just to go on this trip. It wasn't the first time I'd been there (my parents brought us several times while growing up) but Rob and I had never been together, and the kids had never been at all. It was so exciting experiencing it through their eyes. We had a blast! Soon after coming home, Rob and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary too. =)
- June 2010: This month was when Zachary made the decision to take flying lessons. He is now pursuing his dream of flying planes with the hopes of eventually going to the Air Force Academy in Colorado. Lord willing he will!! We are so very excited for him! He also went to Ohio this month with the youth group (and our church's Bible quiz team - who won 1st place!) for a National Conference. He came back a changed young man, and we were so very proud of him.
- July 2010: Hannaah turned 9 this month! She celebrated by having an American Girl slumber party...her first one. The girls had a great time together. I also got to spend a "sister's weekend" with my older sister. We hadn't talked in almost 2 years, so we took the time to reconnect, heal and move forward. It was the best thing we did and I am so thankful to God for the opportunity! I'm going again next month for another great weekend away with her...can't wait. Here we are posing for a funny photo together just to laugh about how silly it was to waste those 2 years apart (I'm the one on the right with the knife!! Ha ha!)
- August 2010: My sister and her family (all 6 of them) came up to spend a few days with us. We had an awesome visit with them all, and the cousins were so excited to finally spend quality time together. I also got to go up to Camp-of-the-Woods with a friend (and my 2 kids) for a day, just to take photos and walk around. I worked there for 10 years as a teen and loved every minute of it. Such a great place! The highlight of this month...Zachary officially started his flying lessons!!
- September 2010: Homeschooling had already begun in August, but we activities resumed with the homeschool group that I lead, with a family picnic, great boating field trip around the local islands and more! We did a few family hikes up to Kent Falls, and enjoyed the cooler weather. Hannah also continued her skating and Zachary resumed his violin lessons after a short break. Life was back in full-swing after a nice relaxing summer.
- October 2010: Autumn is the best time of year! We took a few nice family day trips to some of our favorite places....Sturbridge Village, Yankee Candle, Deerfield and more. We truly enjoy being together as a family and we take advantage of it every minute we can. I'm so thankful for children and a husband who love family, field trips, and travel as much as I do!!
- November 2010: We enjoyed the first snow of the year in early November. I had yet another birthday (right on Thanksgiving Day)....goodness, they just keep popping up every year! =) I turned the big 45 in 2010....does that mean I've reached the top of the hill, or is that at 50? Either way, you're only as old as you feel and I don't feel a day over 100. Ha ha Actually I don't feel old at all...I'm enjoying life and aside from a few signs of wear and tear on my body, I still feel rather young. Thanksgiving was rather dull aside from my birthday. It was the first one we spent all alone - just the 4 of us. To be honest, it was kind of sad. All my life I had huge family Thanksgivings, but this year it was not meant to be. Sigh...
- December 2010: We had a homeschool-free month this year! No schooling at all...just for fun. We started extra early this year, so we enjoyed a guilt-free holiday that lasted for 5 weeks! We baked, decorated, baked, cleaned, baked, visited with friends and oh yeah...we baked! ha ha! Christmas was wonderful. We had the in-laws over and we celebrated with lots of fun, family and food!
- January 2011: New Year's Day was SO MUCH FUN!! We had an Open House for family and friends. It was so much fun, that we can't wait until New Year's Day 2012 to do it all over again. It was also a NYC month for us. Zachary flew he and I over NYC. All I can say is "WOW!" If you ever get the chance to go over the city in a plane (only 1,000 ft up) then do it!!! I also got to spend a day in the city with Rob as we went to see the Phantom of the Opera, my absolute favorite Broadway Musical!! We had a great day and enjoyed the city while snow fell on us.
One of the photos I took while flying over NYC:
Waiting for the Phantom to begin!
- February 2011: SNOW!!! To say we got a lot of snow this winter would be an understatement. It snowed long and hard. Know what though? I loved it! I enjoyed every minute of it, even the shoveling. Watching the snow get higher and higher was a riot. At one point we had to walk through a narrow path about 3 1/2' high just to get to our front door. We haven't had snow like that in years. Zachary also started to make progress on his HUGE Lionel train layout. Photos coming in a later post I'm sure. Here I am standing in the snow...barely!
- March 2011: Tea parties, flying, Play Doh, museums, photography, and field trips sums up the bulk of March. Zachary turned 16 this year which was very exciting!! We celebrated big and he got to open up his Time Capsule that we had stored away from when he was 1 year old. Inside were letters from my parents (both deceased), Rob's parents, Rob and I. Also included was a letter written to him from our Pastor from the day he was dedicated to the Lord. It was a very tearful afternoon, especially when he read the letters from my parents and from our pastor. Pastor Dave passed away only 1 week earlier after a long battle with cancer. These letters will always be precious to Lionel, I'm sure.
Getting a little emotional while listening to the letters being read out loud to him. He started to read them but couldn't make it through...not that it was easier for us either. =)
- April 2011:Hannah and I got to go meet more skaters at the Stars On Ice show once again. This year was better than last! We got there early, talked to several of them and got to watch the show from the front row, right in the center of the rink. The only better place to be would've been right on the ice with the skaters! Rob celebrated his birthday this month, Zachary had his 16th birthday party (a couple weeks after his actual birthday) with friends, and we had our big homeschool Literature Fair, where both our kids brought home 1st place trophies for their work!! What a great month!
Sweet-Pea and Kurt Browning!!
Zachary as 'Sherlock Holmes'
Hannah as 'Jane Austen'
I made this dress for her too! First time sewing like that ever!!
- May 2011: May flew by, mainly because we went away for a couple weeks down to Virginia. What a great trip! We went to Williamsburg, Newport News and Virginia Beach/Chesapeake Bay areas. We enjoyed seeing the many places full of history, before heading home via Charlottesville where we stopped in to see the Waltons Mountain Museum...such a fun place! When we got home, we had our homeschool group graduation and before we knew it, June and the heat of summer arrived!
Phew! That pretty much brings the blog up-to-date...sort of. I took you on the turbo tour of my life from the past year and a half. Lord willing I won't ever let time go by again like I did. Now...on to our regularly scheduled posts.... thanks for being so patient with me and sorry for such a long post.
I'm trying to find a great curriculum that incorporates the wonderful classic Jane Austen novels with school. If anyone knows of anything, please post a comment. I'd love to read through them all with Sweet-Pea and use them as a learning tool. I've got unit studies for three other great series of books....Little House on the Prairie, The Chronicles of Narnia and Anne of Green Gables. I think a Jane Austen one is in order, don't you!?!
This means they have re-done the original movies once again. I'm not going to pass on this wonderful opportunity to see them portrayed in a different way.