To Blog or Not To Blog....

Okay, I've been gone a while.... a loooong while! What can I say except that I hit a dry spell last summer and truly had no interesting thoughts--same old, same old--and figured "why bother?" Looking back, I realize I should've just posted pictures instead of trying to find something witty to write. Oh well... Fall came and I started getting the writing itch, but never seemed to have time and before I knew it the holidays were here and I really wanted to post, but thought it's been so long......Now, winter has come and gone.... I know it's cliche, but really, time flies. I almost don't even keep track of months anymore, they all just seem to mesh together into LIFE, but I've noticed that summers come faster each year, as do birthdays--which I'd rather forget about. So, what's been happening over yonder this way--EVERYTHING!!!



Summer brought a surprise visit for us to NJ for my parents' 50th. Yes, they were shocked to see us!! We spent our family time together at the Jersey shore--a favorite tradition in our family. We took this picture (although the original is in color) of us all.



Another son left the nest for college, leaving just four kids at home. Just when I thought things might slow down, our lone high schooler started giving us rebellion problems. Ahhh, don't I just love teenagers......We're still battling this one! Another year of homeschooling started for the three youngest. It's been good and I am learning so much history that I guess I just didn't pay attention to when I was in school. But I swear, I didn't learn half the things and while I always found history boring, I am seeing it come to life and loving it! We are now experts on early America explorers, the Revolutionary War, & presently heading Westward with the pioneers.

Andrew & Kaitlyn celebrated their October birthdays together with a reptile party. It was the coolest thing and they each got to hold a real live baby alligator!







Here is Andrew doing his thing on the soccer field. He loves playing sports and I love the non-competitive leagues that are offered here.



Couldn't resist sharing Kaitlyn's Halloween costume. I found the Raggedy Ann dress at a second-hand shop for $4. Add some colorful tights and lots of red yarn--she looked so cute!!!




I thought the winter would be relaxing. Ballet for Kaitlyn 1x/week, Andrew playing basketball--no big commitments.





Holiday girls and......




boys!!!




Then, we had a sewer back up in mid-January causing over $20,000 in damage to the house. Hmmmm, a bit stressful!! A little fight with the insurance company and now all is well.




The dry out process



The source of our angst--a root clogging up the main pipe outside.

I hate to say something like that was worth it, but when I look at my new wood




floors in the living room and dining room, the new, upgraded carpet in our bedroom, and the motivation to paint 3 rooms, Me thinks the sewer damage was a blessing in disguise!!!



So, now we're all caught up!!!