Learning on the "Fly"

Homeschooling has been a wonderful way to bring our family closer together while learning and growing as a family. Our children also partner with the local Christian school for a full one day program where homeschooling children are welcomed and receive instruction in gym, art, chorus, and band. 

At the end of each school year the homeschoolers are invited to participate in the school's end of the year field trip!

Wednesday we gathered the family and headed out to Cape Elizabeth, Maine

 to join the kids and staff of the school.

We had a great day discovering the wonders of Maine's rocky coast

 and the lighthouse of Portland Headlight.

There is so much beauty to behold here on the coast of Maine!

There's lots of wind up on the hill at Ft. Williams!

It makes for a great kite flying day!

I thought our smallest daughter might get carried away by her kite!

There is history to be discovered here too!

We visited the old Goddard Mansion on the Ft. Williams property.

We tried to imagine it in all its glory, bustling with military personnel who later lived here after it was acquired by the military in 1899. We were intrigued to learn how Ft. Williams played an integral role in protecting the shore line of Cape Elizabeth and the harbor of Portland during World War II.

We had a fantastic day! We were praying that God would push back the skies and make for a beautiful day, and boy did He ever deliver! The weather turned warm and sunny after four LONG days of flooding rains.

  It was the perfect day to head to the ocean!

We love to put down our books and study history hands-on!

Our kids are truly getting an amazing education. I mean, just look at this little guy smiling here. He's quite a contrast to the homeschool books stacked behind him! Our kids will learn far more from loving on this little guy than from any textbook, I'm sure! There's always something crazy interesting going on at our house! With so many kids and so many interests we just never know where each day may take us! 

(Hint: look behind the baby.)

Welcome "Jake" and "Jeb"!

Our 14 year old son bought these parakeets on Thursday with his own money he earned. The lady in the pet store made sure my son knew what kind of a commitment this was going to require. "These birds can live about 20 years. This isn't a short term commitment, you know."  He knew. He had done a ton of research and was ready to commit. He plopped down over $90 for a wonderful cage, toys, and food, (and the birds, of course)! He has spent a good portion of the day getting to know the birds and trying to earn their trust. I'm so proud of my son and his new interest. The birds are really pretty. I guess I always wanted a bird, but never wanted to actually go so far and BUY one. Now we have birds. He named one Jake. He says it's because he wants to train it to talk to him so when he says, "Hi Jake!" the bird will talk back and say hi to him, "Hi, Jake!" I can't stand it this kid is so funny!

So, there you have it, learning on the fly has taken over and we have officially gone to "the birds"!

What adventures have your kids taken you on lately?! 

Road to Fitness- Checking In!

When my doctor gave me the go ahead to start exercising after my 6 week check up, I didn't hesitate to get started. I was anxious to get MOVING again! This was my sixth pregancy though! I didn't even know where to BEGIN! I cried out to God asking Him to help me get motivated to get moving again. His answer came in the most unexpected ways!
I was sitting at my lovely Moms group when this mom I didn't know really well boldy stood up and shared her testimony of this dvd exercise program she had started. It was called Prayfit. I decided to order it at Amazon.

It arrived in about four days and I began the video with my kids!


Here I am before starting the video:

And here is my progress so far:

January 5, 2012 Delivery Day! 196 lbs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh! The biggest I've ever been in my life!!!!!


February 15, 2012 6 week post-partum check-up  174 lbs!!!! Down 22 lbs!!! Just dropping the baby's weight, fluids, and breastfeeding

March 6th, 2012 Started Prayfit

After 3 weeks (around day 21) I began to feel stronger and was getting a little bored with the video, quite honestly. So when my husband invited my son to go along with him running and he refused, I said, "yes". So I began running. You can read my journey here.

I began adding running a mile and a half in between using my ellipitical in addition to keeping up with the Pray fit dvd.

After only 3 weeks I had dropped 6 lbs and was gaining so much energy!

On April 1, 2012 I weighed in at 168.

By the end of April, on April 28th, 2012 I checked in at 163.

At the end of May, on May 27, 2012 I checked in at my lowest weight so far, 158!!! ****

I am pretty well near where I started when I got pregnant with little Super Wy. You can read about his story here

And here I am now! Down 38 lbs!!!!!


My husband and I are working toward doing some sort of physical activity each day, whether it is the PrayFit dvd or going for a run. It is a lot of fun to do this together! By the way, he has also lost about 13 pounds himself!
We give all the praise and glory to God for our health, and our fitness, for the very breath in our lungs!

As Jimmy Pena says, "In Jesus' name, we train!"

Off On Another Adventure!

Here is my son leaving for his survivor camping trip this weekend. He's been pretty excited about this trip for a few months now.

Here he is with the crew. Ready to begin their journey! Here are the rough plans...they are starting out with an all day hike in Western Maine ending up at a lake. Then from the lake they will meet up with the boat and head to a camping site. Later, my husband will meet up with the them with my other sons.
I'm very happy that my husband has been able to get the time off to go on this father/son camping adventure. With me finding out we were expecting baby number 6 a month before this trip was supposed to happen, I mutually agreed to give up my part time daycare job so the extra money never was there to afford for the boys to take this trip. When my husband let the group's leader know that we weren't going to be able to do the trip because of the lack of funds, they graciously offered us a full scholarship for the boys to still go.

What a blessing because Brandon has been studying a ton of botany as well as survival information all on his own this year. I'm usually asking him if he's finished with his Algebra and he usually will respond that he's almost done with the lesson but he was in the middle of researching some cool project like how to make a pillow out of cat tails!

Bringing Brandon home to homeschool this year was quite a process. I have prayed hard that he would have a heart for home and family at a time when most teenagers want nothing to do with their families and only want to hang out with their friends. It has been an exciting year watching him develop his own thoughts and interests free from a "school's agenda". While we have the required subjects he has been free to explore God's amazing creation as he wishes. He has also taken a huge interest in playing the piano which makes my spirit soar everytime he plays. We bought a DVD piano instructor and he has learned so much from that course. Learn and Master Piano has been well worth the money we paid. They offered an incredible "buy one get one course free" last year so my other son is taking their guitar course and loving that!

But back to the packing which is my reason for writing this post today! My husband has been doing a ton of packing and really that's all it seems we've been discussing for several months now is "do you have everything you need?" With Brandon's big trip out west and now this survivor, father/son "Future Men" camping trip, there are a lot of lists and a lot of supplies we needed to either find or buy.
It had me thinking a lot back to one of my first Mom to Mom meetings I went to back when Brandon was just a toddler. The leader did a Bible study on filling our children's hearts with God's love. She told us to think about each day in our mind as though we were packing our children's bag to leave our home. What were we filling our child's "suitcase" with? It has made me pause each day to reflect on what we did that day and what my children may have come away with. What had I done wrong? How could I make tomorrow a better day? What had we done right? What did we do to enjoy our life together? How did we see God show up in our life that day? Did I use a "teachable moment" appropriately or did I waste yet another opportunity to teach my kids about God?
Because the truth is...the children grow up way too fast. Before we know it they're packing their REAL bags and the leaving is real. We are just in "trial mode" right now. Releasing our son little by little turning him off on his own on his journey to manhood.
What have we packed in his bags? Hopefully good things that will carry him forward for a lifetime. A love for adventure, hard work, honesty, integrity; love for God, family, country. Just a few things hopefully one might find packed in our son's bags!

Have a great trip Brandon! May you come away with many wonderful memories to carry with you for a lieftime!

Westward Bound!

Our oldest son was given an amazing opportunity to travel across America with his Grandmother and Great-grandparents this Spring.

We thought it would be a great way for our son to see America and learn some history hands-on all while getting to know his family better.

They are hoping to spot some buffalo.

As well as view the Grand Teton Mountains!

We also thought it would be a great chance for him to spread his wings a bit before graduating from our humble homeschool!

I have been so excited for my son to take this trip! We've been helping him make plans for more than a month and I had not shed ONE tear over his leaving us UNTIL I found this picture yesterday! This picture was taken of him when he was only 15 months old at an air show. Here he was so little, but up in this big airplane looking out on the big wide world, seeing things from a perspective that I could not see (since I was on the ground taking the picture!) And it hit me, my son is leaving me and he's headed off to see the big wide world-without me!
As a homeschooling mom, I have taken back my children from the hands of a school allowing ME the pleasure of those little daily "aha" moments. It's the daily living and learning that we have so come to cherish. In church yesterday, the lady behind me leaned in and whispered something like, "your children are all so amazing! I love to watch how they all help each other. Even the youngest boy helps with the baby. There aren't a lot of families that really love each other like that, and it's so clear they all love each other very much. I'm sure it's not like that every day, but it's probably most days, huh?"

I was blown away by her words. All I could say was, "thank you, yes, we have some days like that, but most days are great! Yes, there's a lot of love to go around!"

Here he is having some last minute silly time with his sisters!

With that said, one might begin to understand the empty feeling we are all having now that Brandon has begun his trip! But we are not saying "goodbye", just "have a safe trip!", because "goodbye" hurts way too much and I've had my share of goodbyes this side of Heaven.

Here they are all together one last time before Brandon left.
We just bought two laptop cameras, so we're hoping to skype while he's away. That should make it easier all around. He told me yesterday that he's glad he has a camera to skype with, "at least I'll be a able to SEE you now", he said. I think that means he's going to miss me too. :o)

I realize every day how blessed I am to have been given this precious boy from God. I am so blessed to be his mom these last 15 years. He is truly a gift and a blessing and we pray God blesses his trip as he makes some amazing memories!

Have a safe trip Brandon! We can't wait to hear all about your adventures out west!