Equal time

Since I have written quite a bit about Sweet-Pea lately, I decided to post a sequel to Lionel's "Boys and their Toys" post. He has been building planes for a while now, but they seem to be getting bigger. That last post showed the smaller planes...here are some of his larger ones.


Sopwith Camel













F6F Hellcat










Brewster Buffalo














Messerschmitt ME109












Focke Wulf FW190










So there you have it...more planes in Lionel's ever growing collection. His next venture is to built wooden model planes with Grandpa. Some day I'll snap a photo of Grandpa's garage - the ceiling is literally FILLED with models that he built himself. I think the two of them will have a great time building a model together. You can be sure I'll add more photos of the process...Lionel will see to it!! (I apologize for the swastika symbols in this post, but those German planes are the real deal and there's no avoiding it...it's history...unfortunately!)

Dancin' Diva!

The other night Lionel and Edward went to rehearsal at church for orchestra, so Sweet-Pea and I decided we'd have a bit of fun in her room. I was ready to pull out a game or play with her American Girl dolls, but no...we had to dance! Oh my....what a night we had! She did most of the dancing - thank goodness, it's what she does best. Me? I sat and took tons of photos...what I do best!

Here are a few...



Of course Cody thought we were crazy...but he just ignored us most of the time and chewed his bone. Once in a while though we'd get this look....










She's a trip isn't she? Well, if any of you have boys that would like to marry her in the future...this is about the size ring we'd expect them to buy her...


....we'll settle for nothing less...she's simply worth every penny!!!

We're getting there...

As you probably know from my previous post, we are getting our home ready to sell. This market is not the best time to be selling, but we are totally trusting in God about it, but I must admit...it hasn't been easy. We found a home that we truly fell in love with. It's a new house, but we're not sure if the builder would be willing to sell it to us with a contingency...that we sell our home within a certain period of time. Most people would think it's a crazy idea, but we have complete trust that this is God-lead. If God wants us to have that house, He will sell ours in that time period. We're walking out in total faith.

In the mean time, a Realtor came to our home, gave us the price we should begin with, and then told us they'd be back Monday afternoon to snap photos for the listing. We have been going CRAZY trying to de-clutter, clean and paint for tomorrow. What I want to know is:

"WHERE DID ALL THIS STUFF COME FROM AND WHY IS IT IN MY HOUSE?!?!?!?"

Seriously...we have way too much stuff. We've made several trips to the dump and have given away a ton of stuff. Ah...the urge to purge! I can't even begin to tell you how good awesome it feels to be rid of the clutter and junk. We took many of our own family photos down (as suggested by the Realtor) as well as a few decorative items.Most of the painting jobs have been simple touch-ups, but our kitchen was only half painted. It's been that way for almost a year now...yeah, pretty pathetic, huh? It just goes to show how busy life gets lazy we are. One project gets started and then something gets in the way and it's forgotten about.

Well, today we finished painting the kitchen. Yahoo!!! Now that it looks nice, we have to leave it...how sad though, huh? Here it is...what do you think?


A few of the other rooms we've completed are:

The dining room (we never did finish that fireplace...it looks so ugly!)...


...the music room (Dad's old bedroom in the in-law section of our home)...




...and the family room (Dad's old living room in the in-law section.


Once we're ready for things in the morning, I'll snap a few more photos. I can't wait to get this house listed. Now that our minds are pretty set on it and we're used to the idea, we are excited about the new changes that are around the corner...we think. It's all bittersweet!

Please pray for us and with us. Pray that the house would sell quickly and that the house we found will be available for us to purchase. If that house sells in the mean time, we have to start looking all over again and I know it'll be a BIG disappointment for us all, especially the kids.

Thanks and I'll keep you posted.

No wonder this country is a mess...

...they'll let ANYONE vote...even bears wearing boxers!!



Seriously though, I hope you took the time to vote today! Every voice counts and goodness knows we need Christians out there to support and uphold what morals are left in this country! We need to be the salt and light. We need to support the sanctity of life, marriage as God intended it to be, and many other issues that are slowly being corrupted in this country.

Most importantly, pray!! Pray for the incoming president, for this country, and for all the US Citizens who live here. The presidents always say "May God bless America"...but I say "May God have mercy on America"...because I have a feeling that things are only going to get worse.

From Norland Park to Barton Cottage...

...or something like that!

What do I mean by that, you ask? Well, just like Elinor and her sisters in Sense & Sensibility had to move from their beautiful estate at Norland Park to the more humble abode of Barton Cottage...we too must move.

NORLAND PARK:


BARTON COTTAGE:


Get the picture?

You read it correctly...we are moving. After living here for almost 14 years, we are packing up and are moving. To us it's a sad day. We always said that when my Dad passed away, we would head out to where we truly want to live...Colorado. We are free to move out there now except for one major thing...Edward's job. He cannot get the job transfer he thought he'd easily get because at the moment they have put a stop to all transfers since the economy is so horrible. The unfortunate part is that we can no longer afford to stay in our home and wait for the economy to improve...we need to sell now.

Our home is nothing like Norland Park, but it's not as bad as Barton Cottage either. When my Dad decided to move in with us back in 2005, we put a large in-law addition on the house for him, and rearranged a few of our other rooms to accommodate his part of the house. It was a great decision since he needed to be taken care of, only the town we live in decided to re-evaluate all the homes just after we completed rennovations! Nice timing huh? Well, that wasn't all...on top of that, they also added a HUGE increase in taxes...they nearly doubled!!! We were able to keep our heads above water while my Dad was living here since he paid for his part of the addition expenses, but as soon as he moved to the nursing home the bill was completely ours. It wasn't a major problem at first, but the longer we sat here in this house with that extra space and expenses to maintain it, the more it hit us in the wallet! So...we are selling our beautiful Norland Park and will be purchasing another home locally...more like Barton Cottage.

So, if you can pray for us, we sure would appreciate it! We will find out this week what our home is worth and will then list it - probably within the next week or two...not the best time of year to be doing this, but we honestly don't have a choice. We are living on a one income homeschooling family budget which is NOT easy as I'm sure many of you know.

Please pray:

• That our home would be worth more than we anticipate.
• That our home would sell for a decent price.
• For God to provide the perfect home for our family.
• For the perfect timing in selling/buying at the same time.
• That the distance for our home is close enough to work & church.
• For the kids...that they are accepting of this move. We all have been through so much the past few years...we all just need a break!!! Moving for these reasons, and moving during the holidays is difficult for us all.
  

It is very difficult for us to move right now for a few reasons. This home holds many memories for us...raising our children here, caring for my Dad here, plus it was also my grandmother's house. It is a cape cod style home, but with the big addition, so we have 11 rooms! There's no way we'll find another home with as many rooms as this for a good price. We would love to have at least 8 rooms, so pray that God opens the door (literally) to a home that is not only suitable for us, but one that truly feels like home!!

Thank you all so much for praying!!

Photo Hunt #132 - Blue

Pretty blue flowers - taken this past May on Mother's Day. It almost looks like a painting, but I assure you, this is a real photo!! God's creation is simply that beautiful!!!

Guk!

When Sweet-Pea was younger, she used to say 'Guk' for 'yuk'...anything that grossed her out. Well, when we were carving pumpkins this week she was saying it again. Actually we all were saying it. The pumpkins we got this year were REALLY stringy, more so than usual, and they had a very thick wall which made carving them very difficult. Is there a way to tell what they're like inside from the outside?? We just looked for ones that had a nice shape.

Anyhow...despite the gross feeling of the pumpkin guts, we had a great time!

"Eew, guk!"


Sweet-Pea thought she was on a cooking show!


MAJOR guk! Notice the gloves...he couldn't take the slimy feeling any longer so he grabbed a pair of rubber gloves.


Painting her masterpiece


The inside of my pumpkin.


Sweet-Pea's pumpkin before & after:


She chose not to carve hers since the designs she wanted were WAY too difficult for even a professional to carve!! She's a trip!

Lionel's pumpkin before & after:




Mommy's pumpkin before & after:

Fierce competition!

We love to play games in our family...and we love competition (provided it's healthy and no one gets hurt! ha ha) Well, Sweet-Pea has gotten much better at playing games now. The old Candy Land, Hi-Ho Cheerio, Snakes & Ladders, and Princess checkers have been laid to rest.

...moment of silence please...

Sweet-Pea now enjoys playing Clue, Uno, Sequence and other more 'grown up' games. She also has gotten a bit more competitive. Almost too competitive!

The other night she and I were playing Uno, the spin version - very fun if you've never played it. Well, check her out...she thought she was just 'all that'!!! Well OK, she was...she beat me BIG TIME, but she didn't have to flaunt it...did she?

Looking at her cards....


Scheming her next move...with a Draw 4 card! Ugh!!


Feelin' satisfied!


Gettin' ready to lay to yell Uno after putting down a card...


I changed the color on her and wouldn't you know, SHE WON anyhow!?!


Can you see how happy she was? See that competitive side of her?? She's a trip! I suppose if I have to lose to someone, I'm glad it's her!!!

Last night we started playing the American Girl Treasures Game...we are half way done and she's already winning, figures! It's a fun game to play on a dreary day like we're having today though...rainy and cold. After the game is done maybe we'll light a fire in the fireplace and watch a good old fashioned movie!