For anyone who may be interested, here are a few photos of the home we're planning on buying (as long as all goes well, that is!).  We're getting excited, and closing isn't far off now!

Here's a photo of the outside.  Pardon the poor quality of the photo.  I actually took it from our van as we drove by!

And here's a photo of the kitchen!  It's not quite as bit as the kitchen in Ohio, but it does have higher cabinets, which will be nice for storing our china and other off season items.  It has wood floors (mercy, I hope the children will be careful with them!, and granite countertops which are lovely).  My favorite feature that that it actually has a true walk-in pantry.  I've always kind of fantasized about having one!

Tomorrow we have the inspection on the property, which I hope will go well.  I have every expectation that it will.  Our close is towards the beginning of April, so we'll just have to wait and see how everything goes.

We are coming up on 1 month in Florida, and so much of it has gone by in a blur for me.  I'm trying to stop and take photos, but I'm not as good at getting them posted.  Here's a brief summary of some of the things we've found and enjoyed...

Here's a photo of our "classroom".  Things are actually going pretty well, all things considered.  School is certainly at our fingertips!

Just on the other side of our classroom is our family room/living room.   In its current incarnation, I have my spinning wheel set up in front of the tv, blocking it, so the kids watch tv in our bedroom right now.

This is our kitchen.  Again, cozy, but very serviceable!

This is our bedroom.  We've put all our favorite blankets on to remind us of home, so it's a bit crazy looking, but it is comfortable.

Here's Jacob, getting ready to do an experiment on electricity through our Noeo Chemistry book.

And here's another experiment we're doing, where we're extracting the green pigment in spinach leaves (chlorophyll, anyone?).  We soaked the leaves in rubbing alcohol, and it made a lovely green shade...

like this!  When then extracting the color to see the different shade variations...

like this!

Here's Emma all ready to to go on a bike ride!

While Emma's been riding, Oliver's been creating great art with his Legos!  I'm so glad we remembered to pack them up for Florida!

Our first official field trip was to MOSH (The Museum of Science and History) in downtown Jacksonville.  The kids enjoyed the displays about Florida history and the session on magnetics.  We attended a show that covered lots of general science topics, and the kids really enjoyed those.

The kids had a great time experimenting with liquid nitrogen and balloons, flight, and electricity.  They had a wonderful time being a part of the show.

One of our new favorite places to go is Chamblin's Book Mine.  It makes Half Price books like like a teeny shop.  I can envision spending much more time there in the future!  It's a homeschoolers idea of fun, for sure!

Don't let its looks fool you... there's gold in them thar walls!  (or at least a lot of really good books!)

Our most recent field trip was Sunday when we went to the Jax Zoo.  It's a very nice zoo, and we all had a great time.  The weather was absolutely perfect for it!

Love those hats!  They kept us all from getting sunburned!  Oh, and we looked like homeschoolers wearing them!  At least I didn't go for the denim jumper!

Emma looks so cute on her bird!

Our boys are so silly, sometimes!

And here is a photo of the roses Brett got me for Valentine's Day, as well as some roving I bought at Knitwitz.  Below, you'll see how it's looking on the bobbin...

It's a lot of fun to spin up!

Last but not least, here's a photo of the February baby sweater I'm working on, right before I started knitting the body.  The gull pattern is very easy and very cute!

This is my new "desk"!  It's been a bit of a challenge to organize my things around another person's stuff, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.  There is no desk in the condo, so I've repurposed some end tables for Brett and I to use as our "desks".  Brett's matches this one.  Actually, they work pretty well for almost everything but writing and computing.  I remembered to bring an organizing caddy of mine from home, so I dug it out of the bins stored in the garage, and I think things are starting to shape up here quite nicely!

On another completely different track...I've started another knitting project.  I'm now working on the February baby sweater in Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac.  It's one I just have to trust what she's saying and follow the directions blindly, because I have a tough time envisioning what she's describing.  Here are a few photos of my progress so far...

Well, I finished my tea cozy.  I've been wanting to knit this project ever since I bought the book (probably 2 years ago?).  Anyway, I thought that with my move and the stress, and the lack of time to concentrate on pattern reading, that now would be the perfect time!  It actually took me quite a bit longer than I thought it would.  The chapter says it takes 2-4 hours.  Honestly, I can say it took me closer to 15-20 hours.  Still, I thought it came out quite nice.  My only sorrow is that the tea pot it was made for is still back in Ohio!  Sigh.  I got the pattern out of Last Minute Knitted Gifts.  It's a book that I've knitted several projects out of, and I've enjoyed each one.  My next one to tackle?  Perhaps the double knit baby booties.  We shall see...

It's been quite some time since I've been able to post some photos, so pardon the breeze through the past few months in a photojournalistic whirl, but that's what happens when you move!

Here is our new temporary home!  It's two story (the kids stay upstairs, and we stay downstairs)...  It's very comfortable, but a bit small.  We are very happy here, but can't wait to find our new home space!

Here's Emma on her new bike!  We got it the first full weekend the kids joined us here in Jax.  She's already riding like a pro!  There is a bike trail across the road from our condo, and it's a great place to try out our "wheels".

Stepping back in time here... less than a month before, here were the kids frolicking in the snow!  They had a great time with their friends building a snow fort!

Here's my darling Emma, complete with another missing tooth!  This happened just after Christmas!  Shortly after this was taken, another tooth fell out right after it, so now she has a gap 4 teeth wide!

Here are my cuties!  It was taken just before we all went to the Nutcracker Ballet at the Schuster Center in downtown Dayton.  We all had a great experience at the ballet!

Each of the kids had to get a nutcracker of their own to remember the experience by!

Here's a photo of Emma at the TECH annual Christmas program.  She looked so cute!

I just had to throw this one in!  She was hauling all this snow around in her quest to build the best snow fort around!

Here's our Christmas tree on Christmas Day!  We had a great experience in our home!  We will miss it...

Here's one of the base of Jacob's fort!  He's been working hard!

A bit of a switch here, but here's my dearest on Ponte Vedra beach, just a couple of weeks later!  Wow!  What a change!

The agent said we needed to remove the books from our bookshelves and put a few decorations on them.  They're BOOKSHELVES!!!  Homeschool families use their bookshelves for... you guessed it!   BOOKS!  I thought I'd better take a shot of my shelves, because they won't look like this again unless we have to move again!

The kids are excited for the move!

Here's my darling Jacob's room!  Clean!  Notice the airplanes... he loves anything to do with flight.

Here's my darling Oliver's room... again... clean!

And last but not least... here's my Emma's room... CLEAN!

And another view of her room...clean!

And here's where our books have gone... temporarily... of course!

I will try to put photos up a little more frequently now.  I hope you enjoyed them!

Well, I am now officially a Floridian!  My dear husband and I arrived in Jacksonville Friday night around 8:30.  The house in Dayton is now officially on the market, and we are praying for a quick sale.  Until the house sells, we are living in a condo.  It is quite nice, although much smaller than what we are accustomed to.  The children still haven't joined us.  We've been apart now for more than a week, and I am missing them, but they're having a great time with their grandparents down in the Sarasota area.  In amongst all the unpacking I've been doing, I did manage to find a local yarn store that is quite nice called Knitwitz.  It's located in Mandarin.  I'm looking forward to spending some time at their spin-in/knit-ins.

Today, the hubby and I drove over to Ponte Vedra beach and walked along the beach.  It felt surreal to be doing that in February, and realize that it is near our home.  My head is spinning from it all!  Our condo is near a church called Christ's Church that looks interesting as well.  I'm going to research it.  It doesn't feel right to me to not have a church home. 

Tomorrow, the children will be arriving.  I hope they like where we're living for however long we live here.  It's certainly a bit different from their old home.  I can't wait to hear all about their adventures with their grandparents!  I can't wait to kiss each one of them!

I haven't been able to blog for a while.  I've had a lot to think about and process, and it hasn't been something I could really muse about online.  My husband and I found out recently that we are moving to Florida.  My husband has been dissatisfied for some time in the time that he has had to be away from his family due to business travel.  The outlook for this year wasn't any better.   When he was contacted with an opportunity for a job in Florida that had almost no travel connected to it, it was a pretty clear decision on our part, especially since it was placing us much closer to his parents.

So...that brings me to now.  Tomorrow, our entire family will hop on an airplane, including the cat, and will begin our new life in Florida.  There's a lot to be excited and happy about, and I certainly am!  Hubby will be home every evening.  That's so wonderful for all of us...especially the boys.  We'll be within a four hour drive of his parents.  It's a wonderful thing to give the kids the opportunity to spend more time with their grandparents.  We'll be in a beautiful environment where we can get outside year round, which is excellent for my highly energetic 8 year old boy, especially.  And, we will all have the opportunity to grow our circle of friends.  I'm so excited to learn more about the city and learning opportunities for the kids.  I've already found a homeschool class on marine biology.  Now how cool is that!

But...I love Dayton.  I love my friends.  I love my church.  I love my home.  I love my routine.  It's safe.  It's familiar.  It's comfortable.  I will be leaving a portion of my heart here.  I know in time I'll develop new routines.  I'll enlarge my circle of friends.  I'll find a new church.  I'll love my new home.  But that's not now.  So, I trust in God that He will never leave me.  His promises remain true.  And I will bravely go where I never imagined my life would go...  And you know... I'm getting excited!

For all my friends here in Dayton, I sincerely hope you will pay us a visit in the Sunshine State!  Our home is always open to you!  God bless you all!

As much as I enjoy blogging, I'm afraid it is one of the last things I get to do in my long list of responsibilities and enjoyments.  Life is full of homeschooling, homemaking, church, volunteering, and of course...knitting.  Added to my Bible time, and my reading, I have not been able to squeeze much time into my blogging life.

Our family had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.  We were blessed to have DH's parents in to celebrate with.  It always makes it more of a celebration of thankfulness when you have family to share it with.  It was a quick trip, but we made the most of it.  Our Thanksgiving feast was delicious, and with the help of my mother-in-law, we had a delicious meal.  As usual, the turkey was the "best ever", and the sweet potatos were excellent, and the noodles were wonderful.  Thinking back, I don't think I can ever remember a Thanksgiving where the turkey was "okay", or "rather poor".  I think we're all so excited and by the time the meal is finished, HUNGRY, that it all tastes delicious!  Of course, it helps to have my mother-in-law's help.  Both she and my mom are excellent cooks, and I learn so much from each of them.  Of course, I still don't think I'll be able to replicate my mom's gravy, but I was able to copy her apple pie!  Yum!

In the knitting world, I managed to finish my socks that I started at the end of the summer.  I've also cast on the Wishbone Sweater out of Knitter's Almanac (the December project) by Elizabeth Zimmermann.  I'll post photos later when I have more than a small ribbon of fabric to show you!  My socks, however, are wonderful!  They fit to a tee, and I confess I keep staring at them, my feet look so cute in them!  I'm sounding a bit weird, aren't I!  Well, see what you think... they're certainly not dull!

I wish I could remember what yarn it is.  I found it in the bottom of my sock stash bin (yep, I've got an entire bin of sock "stash")!  I remember purchasing it at the Wool Gathering festival in Yellow Springs.  My guess is Opal, but it's anyone else's guess as to what colorway.  I did these babies on 5 dpns, just to say I could.  I've never knitted socks on dpns before, but always 2 circs.  My next one, I hope will be on the magic loop method...

The kids are doing well.  they are enjoying the Advent season which started yesterday.  Our school day is enriched by our evening devotions with Daddy.  This year, we're doing Tabitha's Travels by Arnold Ytreeide.  We've already read Jotham's Journey and Bartholomew's Passage, and enjoyed them very much.  This year, Daddy has stated that he wants very much to be a part of it.  He's never really participated regularly in our Advent devotions, and I'm so glad and excited he's participating.  It really adds so much to our time together.

Our tree is up.  We put it up the day after Thanksgiving, which is the earliest I've ever done it before, but since we are now artificial, there's no concern about dryness.  The kids wanted Grammie and Poppie to take part in the decorating with them.  Besides, it was a good way to avoid "Black Friday"!

School is going well in general, but I'm finding I'm getting restless.  I think I get excited for Christmas break even more than the kids do!  I'm thinking of holiday baking and candy making, of Christmas cards and Christmas crafts.  I'm finding it hard to stay on topic, namely trapezoids, subtraction with borrowing, direct objects, and the Revolutionary War.  Somehow I'm getting through it.  I'm very thankful we school year round, so we can enjoy a longer break at Christmas!