I'm finally getting back in the routine of walking and eating better! My cardiologist said everything looked/sounded good with my heart but he wants to me to lose 40 lbs. so that I don't get diabetes. The fact that I don't smoke and that nobody in my family actually died from heart disease before 60 was a plus. And if I don't get diabetes my chance of having heart problems will decrease significantly. (which isn't news to me or anyone else)

June 1st was my start point and I got off to a great start walking at VERY least 1 mile a day. Most days though are 2.5 miles and when I'm feeling energetic AND my kids don't complain...we walk 3.8 miles. Today, for lunch, I had 3 boneless/skinless chicken tenders with Mrs. Dash seasoning, a can of salt free green beans with spray on butter (which is free) and a glass of 100% red grape juice which is also VERY good for your heart! For supper I had a small plate of whole wheat spagetti with turkey burger and sauce...also trying to drink more water ...less Iced Tea! (I  Iced Tea!) I did have a small piece of vanilla cake w/ dairy whipped chocolate icing...which was good and I didn' t feel guilty because it was small and it was the only "bad" thing I ate today. (gotta be able to do that or I'd go nuts!!...I have a sweet tooth)

Also, trying to wrap up our school year!! I'm waiting for Timmy's test results in the mail and finishing up some odds 'n' ends with the portfolios before the evaluations...I'm such a procrastinator!!

Well once again I've left so much time pass between postings but Facebook has really taken over in that department! I was looking back to when I was first influenced to start blogging and it's been a year already!! :) Nothing earth shattering has happened just everyday, ordinary things. School is slow and we are learning that mom probably should have paid more attention in school! I'm thankful that my kids pick things up fairly easy but we have fun together so it's all worth it!!

We've been talking about moving again which has been something I've wanted for a LONG time now!! (we've outgrown our house years ago...in my opinion) We'd like to move closer to our church as we've been driving a 1/2 hour (one way) for about 14 years now. Somedays, with the twists and turns life throws our way, my desire would be to move FAR away from York/Adams Co.....*rabbit trail*........

Speaking of Facebook...I've connected with quite a few friends from my high school years and it's been GREAT catchin' up with them!! A couple of them I graduated with and others were in different graduating years and/or people I went to church with. I have VERY good memories of those years for SO many reasons!! Well enough of that...as I say and is quoted in the movie Titanic..."A womans heart is a deep ocean of secrets" and it's so true in my life!! Most VERY good memories!!

Well I'm gonna stop here since a couple of my friends are gonna think I just went off the deep end....lol! Just "venting" hoping nobody will read this...and it will be lost in cyber world forever!! HA!

Well I've been slackin' again in the blogging deptartment. (I guess my life is duller than I thought! LOL!!) School has been moving along slowly but I'm thankful we can start every day fresh!!

Today we got some snow (about 3 inches) and I had to drive in it. For those of you who know me, know I go NOWHERE when it snows!! Matt had an orthodontist appointment so I braved the elements and went...for a 10 minute appointment!! UGH! A normally 20 minute drive turned into 40 minutes but I was thankful I had a salt truck to follow!! Timmy will be getting his braces off on the 26th and he couldn't be happier!! Now begins Matt's braces adventure!! OH JOY!!

Oh and I found one of my childhood pals (Missy) today on Facebook AND she homeschools her 6 kids!! YAY!! Someone else to chat with!! We have SO much to catch up on!! (30+ years worth!!)... I'm really lookin' forward to it!! I absolutely love FACEBOOK!! It's one of my major addictions but it keeps me connected to my friends!!

Well I guess I'm gonna go to bed now...I've been staying up WAY too late and I'm thinkin' this blog is just a bunch of run-on sentences or just makes NO sense !! GOOD NIGHT!

For many years we've made it a family tradition of going to Miller's Tree Farm to pick and cut our own CHRISTmas tree. The boys have always enjoyed going in the past but this year, it seemed to be more of a chore for them. I guess the older they get the more traditions like that become obsolete. (no matter what, we're gonna keep doing it!) Anyhow, this is our tree for 2008!!

I'm excited at the thought of starting up my blog on a regular basis again...that's gonna make some people pretty happy!! Nothing new has happened since May...I mean...ALOT has happened but nothing earth shattering. I just found an old friend from high school (Dan) and I'm really excited to meet and get to know his wife, Korin.

Homeschooling is going slow this year! Timmy is in 8th grade and Algebra is NOT my strong point. As a matter of fact, I graduated without a lick of Algebra so now I learn along with him. Matt is starting LONG division and gets frustrated very easily.

Tim's terminal in York closed in the past couple months so now he's traveling to Harrisburg (from Dover) everyday to work. We are thankful that he still has a job but the drive time has added to the time we DON'T get to see him. He leaves the house around 7:30 every morning and we don't see him until 9ish that night. (for those of you who might try to take advantage of that timeline...I have a son with his black belt for protection!...and a VERY vicious cat!)

Well I've gotta get supper for the boys but check back for regular updates...I'm hoping to add picutres as well but with not having high speed yet (because we simply can't get it where we live...in the BOONIES) it might be harder to do that.

Well Denise I don't know how you do it...you must have more hours in your day than I do! ...either that or your life is more interesting than mine!! I'm gonna work on making a "tour" of my house this weekend...

Anyhow, last Saturday (the 12th)Timmy participated in a karate tournament and placed 3rd in sparring and 3rd in his form. Here's a couple pictures...

This is one of the group during the opening ceremony... (the smaller kiddos are Tiny Tigers)

And this is a picture of Timmy getting his trophies...haven't taken a picture of those yet cause they're at the school on display for a week...will post when we get them back. (although you can see them on the floor...he got two of the green ones...we're so proud of him!)

Well yesterday was my 37th birthday and I had a fantastic day!! My family got me some nice gifts...hubby got me a Buttercream Yankee Candle (one of my favorite scents) and my boys got me the fatty foods, Milky Way and swedish fish...also my favorites!! :) We went to church and then spent the afternoon with my best friend Robin and her family. We had roast beef, red potatoes, carrots, corn and other side dishes. YUM!! Then we had subs for supper...aside from the headache I got towards evening, I couldn't have had a better day!!

Today was a cleaning day! We went through all the kids books, weeded out the ones we didn't want anymore and listed them for sale on the homeschool group. I did laundry and started my spring cleaning....it's amazing how much dust accumulates in this little house!! :)

Well it's been quiet in the ceiling since Sunday...thank goodness!! I don't mind, so much, the squirrels running around the yard but when they invade my house...not happening! I even stopped putting bird food out cause they eat it all before the birds can. Now I use thistle seed which is alot more expensive but well worth it when I can sit and watch the finches all day! :) I also like hummingbirds so I feed them as well.

Today I got a great bargain on the York Yard Sale group...a chimnea!! I've been wanting one for awhile but didn't want to spend the money for a new one. I'm looking forward to sitting outside now next to a nice cozy fire.

Hope you had a great day!!

Will post other pictures as I take them but this is my "baby" RUSTY....

If I didn't already loath squirrels enough (because they've destroyed every birdfeeder I've ever had)...THIS is a weekend we could have done without!! Saturday morning we woke up to the same noise I was hearing all week...squirrels scurrying around inside my brand new kitchen ceiling!! GRR!! So hubby makes his way up into the crawl space to find that she had ripped up two beams of insulation to make her nest. While up there he tells me something like a rat or squirrel is looking at him so we KNEW we had to get them out of there!! First we had to find out where she was getting in but that wasn't hard after one of our boys informed us that he saw them going into the corner of the house. Once again hubby climbs into the ceiling and I'm outside with a pellet gun incase the mom comes back and goes bezerk!! (brave soul that I am ....NOT!!) So...momma's out of the ceiling and two babies have followed her. While I'm out guarding the opening, so momma can't get back in, hubby is up tearing the nest apart to find any remaining babies.(he was alittle freaked out by the whole thing) In the mean time one of the babies started squealing and the momma comes flyin' back like Tarzan through the trees so I ran in to warn hubby!! Once we are certain the babies are all out, the hole is sealed and we were off to my sisters for my neices birthday party! (It was a very nice evening as I was able to visit with my dad who I don't see very often.)  We got home around 11:30 pm and went right to bed.....

Sunday morning hubby is up studying his Sunday School lesson and hears something on the roof....looks out the door and sees momma squirrel back and trying desperately to get back into her nest. He tells me to get a robe on and come out...only to find out that we had closed up the hole leaving a baby trapped!! Well we couldn't do anything then cause we were heading to church. When we got home momma squirrel was no where to be found so we opened the hole and attempted to get the last baby out. It took alittle coaxing but finally she was out.......it's been quiet ever since!! Other than the insulation mess and some chewing damage to our roof, I think we've gotten the situation taken care of and nobody was hurt.  It was really neat to see how animals respond to their babies and I read alot of stuff on the internet about squirrels...got alittle bit of an education!! Wanna know anything about squirrels??

After going to bed later than usual, I still woke up around 9 this morning and I'm feeling pretty good! Fridays are alittle more relaxed as it's a day where I don't have to go anywhere until 6:30 tonight. Our oldest son is in karate so Tuesday and Thursdays he goes from 1:30-2:30 (smack dab in the middle of the day!!!) and then Fridays he has sparring from 7:00-7:45 pm. So...today I plan on doing some MAJOR cleaning!!

My week usually consists of...

Sunday- Church (am & pm)

Monday- stay home

Tuesday- karate

Wednesday- stay home till pm church

Thursday- karate and shopping

Friday- stay home till pm sparring

Saturday- hodge podge of events...we do whatever needs done on Saturdays...Tim Jr sometimes works for his uncle so hubby takes him till noon(ish)...sometimes it's a wood cutting day (we have a woodstove) other days we just hang out around the house doing odd jobs ...I love Saturdays though cause Tim doesn't work weekends so we TRY to make them family days!! Unfortunately, alot of time, we end up going in different directions!  

Well I'm attempting something I never thought I'd do but my friend has one (and does a fabulous job)so I'm gonna give it a try. I'm a mom of 2 boys, Tim Jr is 13 and Matthew is 11 (he'll be 12 in a couple weeks). We started our homeschool journey when they were in Kindergarden and have been pluggin' away ever since. We've done different types of curriculums but at present we're doing Saxon math and "The Chronicles of Narnia" unit study. (I'm not gonna comment on how that's going) Next year Matthew will be doing LIFEPAC but not yet sure what Tim will be doing. (Saxon for sure since he enjoys it)

I've been a stay-at-home mom since my husband Tim and I got married 15 years ago. I'm so thankful for this great opportunity to homeschool our boys...it's been VERY rewarding for our family!!

Gonna stop here for now...