at our house, just about everyday is an adventure. Share our joys and sorrows, laughter and tears. I am amazed everyday as I watch my sons grow and learn and transform into strong, Godly men. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lovetolearn/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:17:00 -0500 Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:17:00 -0500 Hello ya'll! My deepest regrets for being so delinquent in adding an entry. I find my world has been turned upside down (literally) and full of new callings and adventures. My DH and I have been working very hard over the past couple of years to clear up past medical bills on our credit reports so that we could find a house. This is not a task that I would ever want to do again and trust me when I say that I will teach my children the importance of paying your bills on time. Of course, sometimes circumstances are beyond our control..  Anyway, we finally got to a point where we could realistically entertain the idea of qualifying for a mortgage and we started looking at listings and going to see properties that we could afford, Let me back up for just a moment... for those who do not know me and my families situation I will fill in some blanks... We moved to Maine, from Florida, in July of 2006. My husband had been injured at work in 2002 and has been disabled since. We relocated to Maine to be closer to my family so that we would have some kind of support network. I was working full-time in Florida and needless to say it was very difficult. I was so blessed to be able to stay home and not work for 2 years while we lived in Maine. OK so now everyone should be caught up... We were finding that the houses that we could afford were not suitable for our family and we just did not want to go into a mobile home. So, DH suggested that I look around and see if there were more affordable housing elsewhere. My research led me to Texas, the Houston area, where we could buy a house for less than half of the cost than in Maine. Great neighborhood, 4 year old house, 3 bed 2 1/2 bath 2200 sq ft etc... So we both prayed about it and it seems this is where God was leading us. I was a little torn about this in the beginning. Was I just thinking that this was God's doing because we could afford it? But the more I prayed about it I realized that God had afforded me a respite for 2 years, to be able to stay home and learn and grow in Christ. He had closed every door that we were trying to force open (like trying to fit a sqare peg into  a round hole...) as far as buying a house went. Even though we had done "extensive" work on our credit we were having such a hard time getting pre-qualified for a mortgage. Now mind you, we had been looking and trying to buy a house in Maine for 2 years. When I started looking on the internet at houses in Houston we decided that I would fly down and take a look around and see the area in person and maybe see some properties. That was the end of March. Well, I loved the area and found a house that was just perfect for my family and the rest is history! We closed on April 15th and moved on May 13th. It has been a whirl wind! This is our first house and we are thrilled! All thanks and glory to God!!! We are finally not looking at boxes everywhere. I have accepted a position in Houston and for the first 6 months I will have to work days. The plan after that is to transfer to Kingwood (where we live) and work evenings. My DH will homeschool the children while I have to work. We have  found a wonderful Bible church and homeschool group. Although we are still finding our way around, I feel at home and my husband is enjoying the warm weather (it's much better for him than the cold of Maine). I will post some pictures asap! Blessings!!!! ~Jayne http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lovetolearn/545557/ Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:17:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lovetolearn/545557/ Good evening from Kennebunkport, Maine! I hope you all are doing well and enjoying this most wonderful Christmas season! I have been very busy with Christmas preparations. We are planning on having about 16 guests for Christmas dinner. YEAH! I love when all of our family get together, which happens about twice a year. Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's a shame we don't do it more often but then we are fairly geographically spread out and all lead very busy lives. The boys are doing great! They are thankful to be on Christmas break from school. (And to be quite honest, so am I) I have been very busy with Christmas orders (my photography business). I have also been taking the time to actually ENJOY the season, yes, even under about a foot and a half of snow. I am blessed to have three strong boys to shovel and a wonderfully reliable snow plow guy. I got some other great news the other day, my 18yo stepson is coming to visit with us for Christmas! I have never met my husbands son, but have spoken with him several times on the telephone and he seems like such a wonderful kid! I cannot wait to meet and get to know him! He has not had the easiest of lives thus far so I am grateful to be able to provide with a nice Christmas this year! Ooh, I am so exited!! Why the 'sniffle' in the title you ask? Well, going on 3 weeks for this nasty cold that just won't seem to go away!! UGH!! I hate to be sick but am trying to make the best of it. Resting (as much as I can) vitamins, chicken soup,cold medicine at night, orange juice. You name it and I've tried it! And I am tired of sniffling and sneezing. Today I got so frustrated I threw a box of butter I was unpacking from the grocery bag. Childish I know but we do need to vent. By the way, I did NOT feel better after hefting the butter... Hey, I am in the market for a new Bible and I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good womens devotional or study Bible. Any input would be GREATLY appreciated! Thank you. Well, I truly hope that each and every one of you has a Blessed Christmas! May the peace of our Lord warm your hearts! May you know His Peace and forgiveness. Remember the most important person in your life was born in a stable, Not because He had to, but to show His Love for YOU. God bless!! Jayne http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lovetolearn/448272/ Thu, 20 Dec 2007 18:31:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lovetolearn/448272/ Hi All! Did everyone have enough turkey??? I know we did... We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at my sisters in Massachusetts with all of our family there. We stayed over and on Friday we went to Plimoth Plantation as a wonderful wrap up to our unit study on pilgrims/Thanksgiving/The voyage of the Mayflower. It was very fun and informative. A welcome break for the Thanksgiving holiday time. Much better than just taking the time off. It has been very busy around here, as usual. I have been very busy canning jams for Christmas baskets. I made raspberry jam, raspberry blueberry jam, chocolate raspberry spread, (can you tell I like raspberry?) grape jam, zinfandel wine jelly, blueberry jam, and dutch apple spread (mmmmm...) We are going to be making some chocolates - the kind you melt and put into the molds - too. That should be a fun project, we have never done it together as a family. I'm very excited as I just received my studio lights (I started a small portrait and wedding photography business this summer). I am going to play around with some green screen techniques and see how it comes out. It's really neat, for those of you who do not know, it's like how they do the weather on TV. you have a green screen as a backdrop behind your subject then after you can edit in any background you desire! I'll let you know how it turns out. I hope it turns out well as it is a lot more economical than  buying all kinds of different backdrops. Well, I hope all is well with you and everyone is warm and safe as it is getting sooo cold out there! God's blessings to all! Jayne http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lovetolearn/433115/ Sat, 24 Nov 2007 19:49:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lovetolearn/433115/ Hello! Well, tomorrow is my birthday so I am starting early by not doing the dinner dishes and taking time to blog. The boys are playing (wrestling?) in their bedroom and the Red Sox come on in 8 minutes...Ooh, I'd better hurry up! I find that I am not having time each day to blog as I would like to but I am going to make a concerted effort to. My computer is now in my "office" upstairs and not in the dining room, which makes it not as convenient. Anyway, we have been very busy the last few days. Our homeschool group puts on a "workshop" twice a year. One in the fall and one in the spring. This fall was the Medieval Faire. It was great! The boys really enjoyed making arrows and lances, cutting stained glass, making candles and making hats- which were more like hoods- They looked very cool! They didn't eat much of the "feast" at the end but that's okay, they tried a few things. We made fryed beans,  which consisted of white kidney beans, olive oil, garlic, onion and a seasoning mix which I made from fennel seed, anise seed and sugar-ground together. It actually came out pretty good. It was a little hard to eat with no utensils... We are studying early civilization right now in history which is pretty interesting. We are on early Egyptians which includes the building of the great pyramids and mummification (my boys loved it!!) I found out that Bowdoin College has a museum of art that includes a couple fo relevant exhibits. And the best thing is that it's FREE! Yeah! Can you say field trip?? Our chiropractor had a little party on Wednesday at his office. He gave all of his "junior" patients a small pumpkin last week and everyone came last night with their decorated or carved pumpkins. We watched "It's the great pumpkin charlie brown"  and ate pumpkin pie, sandwiches and spiced pumpkin soup. Dr. M even got a pie in the face from a lucky patient. It was a lot of fun! Since tomorrow is my birthday (#38-oh my!) my brother in Alfred has invited us for dinner. I got to choose the meal - lasagna it is! I love it and NEVER have time to make it. I especially like vege lasagna! I found something today that I have been looking for - an indoor grill that you can flip over and it has a griddle surface on the other side. I made our steak on it this evening for dinner and it came out great! I think we will have pancakes or bacon and eggs this weekend! I also have big plans for stuffed chicken breast, too! Mmm! We had a nice visit from my Dad last weekend. he only came for the day, but it was a nice visit. We (my hubby and kids, my sister and brother-in-law and my Dad) went out for lunch at Bonanza. I had never been there and it was pretty good. My sister somehow smuggled a cake in without my knowledge and after we were done eating I was totally embarrassed as all of the staff at the restaurant sang happy birthday to me. It was a total surprise since my b-day was still a week away at that point and I was not expecting it! The cake was very yummy! I also went to a banquet to benefit Alpha Pregnancy Resource, which is a local place which provides help to pregnant women. This is a cause close to my heart since I had a child, at age 17, which my sister adopted. (She is 20 now and was homeschooled through high school and is now at New Brunswick Bible Institute in Canada -God is sooo good!) Abortion was never an option to me, but for so many girls out there it seems to them to be their ONLY option. I am thankful for Alpha and their efforts to educate these women, sometimes girls, as to what their options REALLY are. I am planning on volunteering in some capacity in the very near future. I'll keep you posted. Well, I hear the National Anthem being sung so you know what THAT means!! God's blessings to all! Jayne http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lovetolearn/415217/ Thu, 25 Oct 2007 18:50:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lovetolearn/415217/ I just love field trips! Especially those that you can come home from and still get all of your school work done. Whoopie! Today, we went to Get Fired Up, a local place where you paint a piece of pottery and then they fire it for you in the kiln. It was so much fun, I can't remember the last time my 3 boys sat in one spot for 2 hours! I (my son) made a piggy bank and a little penguin, K made a trophy and N made a cute dragon bank and a little penguin. My hubby even went, he made a large flower vase. It looked beautiful, I can't wait to see it glazed and fired! I (me) made a sugar bowl. I tried a southwestern design of my own, so we'll see how it comes out :-) We will definitely go again before Christmas to make gifts! It was really cool too when they gave us a tour of the firing kiln room. 1800+degrees! The boys really enjoyed that part. Well, it's 10:50 P.M. and I told my boys we would try to make it to the playground tomorrow so I'd better wrap it up. Blessings to you all! Jayne http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lovetolearn/409164/ Mon, 15 Oct 2007 21:27:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lovetolearn/409164/ I'm so glad that I got time on my computer today. Time that wasn't paying bills or cropping 360 pictures, or ordering flea medicine for our 2 cats. I have been feeling very guilty about the length of time it has been since my last entry. I try not to let things get to me but I have to say that the past few weeks have been very busy. I made sure that today I did not leave the house. I did minimal housework and as a matter of fact, have not changed from my P.J.'s We are, I think, just about done "moving in", putting everything where it belongs and then remembering where I put everything. I had to change ISP's, which was the first time in about 8 years. So that was a little traumatic for me. Having to change email addresses and trying to remember everyone and every company that needs my new email and address. That is mentally exhausting by itself. Last night was the first night in a while that was a lot of fun for the whole family. I rented a couple of videos and we all dressed up (a chance for the kids to wear a costume since we do not trick or treat)  and had a fun movie night. Complete with candy and popcorn. Imagine my surprise when my hubby came out of our room in his swim trunks and zinc on his nose announcing that he was a lifeguard. It was really cool that he participated! I (my son) made a police shirt with a sharpie and a plain white t-shirt, I (me) was wearing a football jersey, K was in his darth vader costume and N was wearing one of my husbands shirts. The only draw back was that the kids were really hyped up and break dancing at 9:30 p.m. (we don't eat candy very often around here) I am a photographer and have partnered with our home school groups yearbook committee. I took pictures on Monday from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm. It was great,  yet very tiring. The pictures came out great and  I am glad that I could help out. Let's see, my brother and his wife came over for dinner  last Monday. It was a great time! My sister in law made a white chocolate pumpkin cheesecake. It turned out fabulous! It's really nice to be in a house where you have room to entertain. We are back in full swing in school! YEAH!! I hate getting off our schedule. The boys are doing quite well. Today was the first day that they seemed unable, or unwilling to work. Late night last night to blame. They did all of their work but groaned and complained the entire way! Gotta love em! We are still researching doctors for the tubal reversal. I found out that it is going to be about 5k. UGH. I trust that when the time is right then God will provide a way. I hope that we can settle into our new routines soon and I will have regular time to make new entries. Blessings! Jayne http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lovetolearn/407716/ Fri, 12 Oct 2007 19:08:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lovetolearn/407716/ HI ALL! I'm so sorry it has been soooo long since my last entry! we found a house ( praise the Lord!) and it was sort of last minute so we have been busy packing and moving and cleaning. Not to mention we haven't had a computer in about a week... I am so happy in our new place. It has a beautiful kitchen and plenty of room for everyone. And to top it all off we are on 3 acres so there is plenty of privacy and room to run without the neighbors being right on top of you!  Yeah!!! I miss being on a routine but we will get there soon. The boys are being real troopers and being very helpful. My husband has not been feeling well for the last week and a half so the move has been particularly interesting, having to do everything myself. The boys are enjoying their dance classes. They look so cute! Today N and K tried the break dancing class, which directly follows their hip hop class and I have to say they were pretty tired when all was said and done! We are doing the bare minimum as far as school goes this week. I can only do so much. But on the bright side I think I lost 5 pounds! I am going to keep it short for tonight as I still have about 15 hours of work to do Blessings, Jayne P.S. Paula, I live 5 minutes from the trolley museum, maybe you can bring the kids over to play sometime! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lovetolearn/398277/ Wed, 26 Sep 2007 18:44:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lovetolearn/398277/ Well, the first week of school is officially completed. The boys have been doing very well. I am surprised at all they have remembered from last year. It's like we never skipped a beat! YEA! All three boys are taking French lessons this year through Rosetta Stone and all are doing well and enjoying it. The boys are very excited about starting dance next week.  (and so am I, to be honest, it will be a good energy burner!) The Young Peacemaker course is going well also, slow, but I think the kids are getting it. I am impressed with how much better N is doing with his writing! He is still writing some of this letters backwards, occasionally, but overall is much quicker and not crying about it anymore! Another YEA! K is taking all of his studies in stride. No major difficulties. I is doing very well in math, as he usually does. English is still not one of his favorites but he does well when he actually sits long enough to do it. All three are enjoying doing History, Bible and Science together. We made greenhouses today. I think all in all everyone is liking school better this year, including me. Since this is our second year home schooling, I have learned a lot. I still have much to learn but we are much more relaxed and it's so nice working and learning together. Well, off to make dinner... http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lovetolearn/388726/ Mon, 10 Sep 2007 15:55:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lovetolearn/388726/ http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lovetolearn/387588/ Sat, 8 Sep 2007 13:56:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lovetolearn/387588/ Hi all! I t has been some time since my last blog. I have been quite busy with the start of the new school year. It's been going very well so far with the changes we have made since last year. They are all doing very well! I've registered all three boys in dance lessons this year, which I (and they are too) very excited about. They are going to be taking Hip/hop and break dancing lessons. It seems to be perfectly suited to them, being the very energetic little guys that they are! I can't wait to see them dance.  I will post pictures. Speaking of pictures, I am going to post some pictures of our Mentos/Diet Coke experiment that we did today. It was a hoot!! On a darker note, we got the news we were afraid we were going to get from the doctors regarding my Aunt. She has bone cancer in several areas, including her spine, pelvis and arm. They also found  cancer in her lymph nodes in  her chest. At least we know what she's up against and there is a certain peace in knowing. Please pray for  her. I understand that bone cancer is extremely painful. She is my uncles caretaker, who has ms, so I'm not sure what they are planning on doing. It is a very sad thing. Well, hopefully I won't take so long to post my next blog... http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lovetolearn/387583/ Sat, 8 Sep 2007 13:28:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/lovetolearn/387583/