Spring AND Summer Fever!

OOOOH My! I'm struggling so bad these past few weeks. The great outdoors are calling to me (and the kids!) to come play. But we cannot....at least not yet! We still have two more weeks (well, one and a half now!) of school! Soon we will be enjoying hikes, bike rides, camping and more. I find myself daydreaming about all the fun and memories we'll be making. It's so hard to focus. I'm definitely counting down the days.....are you?

Crock potting!

Oh yeah! I'm so in the zone! What am I talking about? I'll tell you in a minute...and NO, I haven't lost my mind! lol. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine invited me to her Homemade Gourmet party she was having. I was excited! I used to sell Pampered Chef, and this was a little different than utensils and stoneware (which I LOVE PC's stoneware!).....it was spices and quick easy meals you can prepare. Now, if you know me personally you KNOW I hate to cook. I'm not good at coming up with recipes or good dinners based on "throw this together" type. I'm in need of recipes!! lol. So, I went...got my 5 "meals", which were just marinades that we mixed at the party into gallon ziplocks. I came home and my DH says "That's what you got for $22!!!". A little disappointed by the fact that I got 5 marinade type deals for the money, I proceeded to use these marinades for the next 5 nights. Every night my DH only had awesome things to say about my "cooking"....which I used a CROCKPOT for! lol. It was so nice to cook for him for a change. And I felt proud that my dinners were yummy! So, now that my marinades are gone....I'm stuck back in the rut of "what's for dinner?" and "Do ***I*** have to cook?". My DH is way better in the kitchen than me. But guess what!? On another group (on yahoo), my online friends shared a great blog all about crockpot cooking! Oh! I cannot wait to test out the recipes and make my DH's life easier (since he works 10 hours a day!). Check her blog out: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/ AMAZAZING!!! :0)

April 2009!!??

Wow! How time has flown by! My last blog was before Christmas!!! Lots going on in the Schu' household. Lots of homeschooling and sports.... now that it's spring. We just finished up our CSAP's for the year. I pray my kids did well. This being our first year homeschooling, it's been a challenge getting into a groove of "okay now it's time to do our work"....seems they just don't take "mom as teacher" very seriously most days. We're working on it though. We also just did our NWEA tests for the older two. This week, our youngest, will be doing a reading test...to see what level he reads at. I'm eager to see, since he reads better than all of us! lol Soccer is in full swing! We just had our second game yesterday....lost again. But that's okay. We made them earn it! Jaron's also playing softball, which was not fun since it's been cold cold cold! But now that the weather is getting nicer, it will be a whole lot more fun!



Not much else is new. Megan's working on her Silver Award for Girl Scouts. She has a class (overnighter) once a month, until June. I cannot believe how big all the kids are getting. They grow so fast. Another reason I wanted to homeschool. I really miss them during the day or when they're gone. And soon they'll be flying the nest, off on their own adventures.



Well, dinner is done. God Bless you all! And come back soon.

~Elysia~

Let it snow!

After an exhausting two days of a sicky Trevor, we woke to a wonderful white blanket of fresh snow. What a gift from our loving wonderful heavenly Father! Have you ever just took a moment to look around?? There are little love notes from Him everywhere!! In an ocean breeze. In a beautiful sunset. In a crisp cool Autumn morning. Everywhere!! And even though our last two days were physically tiring, we did not miss His gift to us this morning. It's just His way to show us that He loves us! ♥

~Elysia~

Megan

Let's just start off by saying "I'M SO PROUD of my Megan!" Meggie performed in her first piano recital yesterday.... and did FANTASTIC! If you don't know her, she's a very shy sweet girl. So, sitting in front of a room FULL of people, and playing a song she's been practicing for two to three weeks... well know that this was a big deal for her! I see her growing up into such a beautiful young lady, and my heart just bursts with pride and love. I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful daughter.

Here is her recital....I hope it comes through.

Love,
Elysia

TRAVEL! TRAVEL! TRAVEL!

We're BACK from Cali! Our trip out was wonderful and I didn't realize just how much I missed everyone until it was time to come home again! I got to see both my brothers which was awesome! And finally got to meet my new SIL in person! And their new baby RJ. He is such a doll! I loved watching him and just spending cuddle time with him. Megan thoroughly enjoyed him too. She definitely wants another little brother or sister. lol. She's so sweet. I kinda agree with her, I'm ready for another one. hehehe. I get the "baby lust" really bad. lol. What can I say? I love kids and have always wanted a BIG family. :0)

Anywho, back to our trip! My Mom had figured out we were coming out, which was a bit of a bummer....she's so hard to surprise! lol. But was so happy we were there! She was even more surprised that Jaron had come too! He hadn't been back since Great Grandma had passed away a few years ago. So, this was extra special. We spent most of our trip visiting, but had the chance to do a few fun things too.

We went to Knott's on Veteran's Day for Mom and Trevor's birthday. That was alot of FUN. Megan went on her first "up-side-down" roller coaster. She was terrified, but lived. hahaha. Trevor chickened out. lol. He says "I'll go next time we're there"...we'll see about that. Josh cried after Bigfoot Rapids. He sat between Jaron and I and got DRENCHED. Poor guy. We both were quite soggy. Seems like every rapid found us. lol. It was a fun day.

On our trip we also went to the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. That was so neat! We saw all kinds of cool ocean critters.... one of which was a lobster as big as Joshie's torso!! It was GINORMOUS! We also saw: shark, jellyfish, sea anenomes, sea star, urchins, limpets, and all other kinds of unique sea creatures. It sure was a fun day....and educational too. The kids actually got to touch the starfish, limpets (ew!), urchins, and anenomes.

Megan and Michelle touching the sea life.

Some of the sea life...anenomes, sea stars, and a limpet up in the left corner (partially in picture).

All in all, our trip was amazing and fun! We hope to go back in a few months to help my brother move (we're hoping, it's still in the air). So, hopefully we can fit in a few more fun activities while there (like the Getty Museum!).

Well, this is long. And I appreciate you all for reading!

Hugs and God Bless!
~Elysia~

October is in FULL swing!

Well, it's official! Megan is now a Cadette!!! Whoohoo! We had a tiny little ceremony at our local park here last Sunday. She will now be working harder than ever before to earn her patches, badges and awards. But it's all worth it! She's already started on a few badges (or Interest Projects as they call them now). Child Care being the first on her list. I cannot tell you just how proud I am of her. She has pushed herself out of her comfort zone to earn some amazing awards. She's far exceeded what I ever did as a Girl Scout! She is truly an amazing young woman. :0)

This is me "bridging" Megan over to Cadettes. We took her Jr vest off and put on her new Cadette vest.

Megan also earned her Bronze Award!! Which is the HIGHEST award for a Jr Girl Scout. They had to do 25 hours of community service....which our troop/girls went and volunteered at Roice-Hurst Humane Society. They walked, brushed and played with dogs, loved on the kitties, and washed a dog or two also! They also built bird houses to be donated and picked up trash at a local state park. Our girls worked very hard to achieve this award. Good job ladies!


On to other news, soccer is doing well. We are almost done with our season here and are already signed up for our next one! Both Trevor and Megan are doing awesome! Trevor just had his first chance as goalie at our last game in Carbondale! He did great! And really enjoyed himself. I see much improvement in them both! They ROCK!



Megan's #63
Sprinting for the ball...GO MEG!


Here are a few pics of our hikes after some soccer games.....

Old buildings at Sylvan Lake

The Fam at Sylvan Lake
Me and the Hubby at Sylvan Lake
The boys trying not to fall into Sylvan Lake! haha
A HUGE dandylion head at Sylvan Lake

The kids at Rifle Falls....it was raining to boot! lol The extra kid is our friend Paulette.
The top of the falls...looking upstream. So pretty.
The boys under the falls.


So as you can see...we've been mighty busy. Add in homeschooling and work, and you'd have to say we're insanely busy. lol. But we love it and wouldn't have it any other way!

Blessings!!!
~Elysia~