Take me out to the ballgame!

Jasmine is now employed with the Corporation in charge of all catering, concessions and luxury suites food items. She is a runner who delivers food and beverages to the 71 luxury suites. She is working 6 out of the 7 homestand games. She is very busy between school and working- we rarely see her on homestands. They had a job fair to hire more workers and I interviewed for the Dessert Cart attendent and was hired for the summer season. There is usually 1 day game during the week per each homestand. Ben is old enough to babysit now. I will leave about 1-2 hours before the game starts. Jas needs to get there about 3-5 hours before game time. I will be using the funds to hire a tutor for Ben- his reading speeds needs to increase much faster.

Kenny finished his phonics reading book this morning. He is now reading 5 pages in the Abeka readers and just last night- picked up a book in his room, climbed into bed and started reading all on his own!!! THIS is a huge step in his reading process!!! I was so excited to see him taking the inititive to read! We celebrated by going to the ballgame-just the 2 of us!!! We had such a good time. They handed out BINGO cards for us to track the defensive and offensive plays. It really helped us learn the game and scoreboard plays.

Ben went to work with Dad for the Take your kid to work day. It was strange not having him here with us.

I worked on clearing out the debris around the plants and flowers last night as Ken rode his bike with a neighbor and Ben split wood. It was a little scary to see him with the ax but he is fine and it is a good hand-eye coordination skill to develop and muscles to make stronger.

Our yellow daffodils was just starting to bloom. The poppy flower plant is quite large and the bleeding hearts bush are ready to bloom also. The hostas are just breaking ground.

Dad is preparing for (fishing)Opening Day- May 3rd.

Jas only has 3 more weeks of college classes - she has several more big speeches to give and the Spanish final to study for. The Homeschool Dance is next Friday night. Her dress is gorgous and she is looking forward to her date with Dad that night.

Time to get these boys off to bed and prepare for a "real" schoolwork day. We all enjoyed our break from routine but it will be good to have a "normal" day of school tomorrow.

Blessings- Sarah

Darin just sent me this information from todaystmj4.com

GENERAL MITCHELL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT IN MILWAUKEE HAS RECORDED 84.5 INCHES OF SNOW.

THIS AMOUNT RANKS AS THE 4TH SNOWIEST WINTER SEASON ON RECORD IN MILWAUKEE.

BELOW IS A LIST OF THE TOP 20 WINTER SEASON SNOWFALL AMOUNTS FOR MILWAUKEE...


RANK   AMOUNT   SEASON

1      109.8    1885-86
2       94.2    1897-98
3       93.3    1959-60
*4*    *84.5*  *2007-08*
5       83.2    1973-74
6       82.9    1978-79
7       82.6    1903-04
8       81.9    1993-94
9       80.8    1922-23
10      80.7    1977-78

The sun is out today and that makes a world of difference. The fire is roaring, keeping us warm. The snow we got over the weekend did not stick on the roads or sidewalks which was a huge blessing. Can I say again that we are ready for spring!  The snow fort is an ice fort inside and out making it no fun to play in. We are ready for it to be gone! Jasmine and Kenny are sick with fever, severe cough and headaches. Chicken noodle soup for them! Ben and I are doing fine so far. Darin awoke with a headache and aches/pains yet this is a very busy day for him at work. He is on-call this week, too. Must be off computer to start mid-morning chores since I am not teaching Kenny today.

Blessings to you all-

Sarah

Looking ahead, there is a chance for snow in the seven-day forecast and more snow likely over the next few weeks. On average, the area picks up an additional 10 inches of snow between March and April, and in this very above-average winter, it will take as little as three inches to push Milwaukee into the top five snowiest on record.--- from http://www.wisn.com/print/15516979/detail.html

We got more snow- just a dusting but still will need to be dealt with. We are due to get more snow tonight as Lake-effect snow again. Thursday, the 13th, we are due to get a larger storm. We may make it into the top 5 snowiest winters on record for Milwaukee, yet.

More update to come another day-

The huge ice glaciers in our yard are starting to recede from the sidewalk even though they are still 3.5-4 feet in height! This week  has been sunny and blue skies. On Wed, Kenny saw that the grass was peeking through, he checked out the temperature, it was a balmy 40 degrees!! So Ben and Kenny donned their winter coats, hats and winter gloves, lifted their bikes from their lofty positions hanging from the garage rafts and rode their bikes up and down the sidewalk for over 30 minutes!

The snowbanks, which are 2-3 feet tall, on the side of the road are receding also. The roads, sidewalks and driveways are now clear, for which we are extremely grateful! They tell us Spring is only 13 days away, but the snowpile in the apartment building parking lot next door is still 7+ Ft. tall. 

Here is info from Today's TMJ4 weather blogger on Feb. 12th

Milwaukee received a record 7.5" on Tuesday which makes a total of 21" so far in February.  After 12 days, that is the 3rd most snow in recorded history only to 22.3" last February and 37" in 1994.  For the season, Milwaukee is now at 75.7" which is almost 40" above normal for this date.  Remember, 52.2"  is normal for an entire winter.  As of right now Milwaukee's snowfall this season is 13th all-time.  We keep inching toward the record of 109.8" from 1886.

We are gathering information for Jasmine's Graduation from High School. We finally have a portrait selected. She is working on designing her invitations and organizing her party.

Ben is working on his collections of patches- he is documenting where he got each one and why. He has gotten about 6 new ones this year and will have to sew them on to his messenger bag soon.

Kenny is anxious to get fishing!!! He is bugging Darin to get their poles and bait ready.

I am ready for Spring cleaning and ready to be done burning wood so we can clean the carpets of all the winter ash. The boys and I did some cleaning out of the schoolroom shelves and found quite a few items to put in the "Craigslist box" that we now need to take photos and get them posted on craigslist.

Next is to go through all the books that we used this year to study from 1492-1789, sort, categorize and store away for the next time which is in 5 years!! We take 2 years to study from the End of Roman Empire, 476 AD to 1789 AD. In Fall, we will begin studying Year 3 of Tapestry of Grace, the 1800's World History. It is a fun year! Ok, they are all fun years, but I really like Year 3.

The boys and I are going in depth through the Constitution which has been very educational for the teacher as well. We studied Article 1 for 2 weeks already. Two of the most interesting items we learned: #1 the authors of the Constitution knew that the slave trade would divide the states so they compromised by having the slave trade become illegal 20 years later. #2 our national debt is currently 9 trillion dollars.

I am off to church for Scrapbooking Ministry tonight! More another day . . .

Darin has been in China for 9 days so far. We are trying to be patient in waiting for his return to us. We both agree that 13 day apart  and half way around the world with a 14 hour time difference is a big challenge, that we hope not to repeat.

We are able to call him on a Chinese cellphone via a 1-800 number. We have great reception from him but half the time he is unable to hear us.

Our schedule is we call him at 9:30pm CST, when the boys are going to bed which is when he is on lunch break at 11:30AM China time. We say our goodnights quickly as he has only a few moments to talk. When we awake in the AM, we call him as it is 9 PM China time. We usually cuddle up on our King sized bed, put the phone on speaker and have a nice family talk for about 10 minutes. When Darin awakes at 6AM local time, Darin uses AOL IM to connect with Sarah. This is usually only 5-10 minutes but it is a time to ask and answer household questions that married couples have. Time always in short supply!

Last night, we received the news that Shanghai is due to get another snow storm on Friday, which is the day he is due to fly home. He leaves at 5:30PM local time which is 3:30AM CST. He is due to arrive in Chicago O'Hara at 5:15PM CST if all goes well. Read below about China's weather and challenges.

Thank you for praying. We believe the LORD is in control of all weather and has the best plan, even if it is not the same as our plans.

This is a wonderful land of snow and adventure for our boys. Darin, however, is wondering why we are living in this land. It is a heavy snow and great for packing and fort building but very hard to shovel. Almost all of our previous snow had melted until this morning. We are grateful for a snowblower that works!

We are the 5Ks: Darin and Sarah, Jasmine, Ben, and Kenny. We hope your Christmas is full of joy, peace, and love.