Monday, November 30, 2009

Christmas Project...

My friend Karen asked me if I'd like some mint tins for a project. Well, I'm not one to turn anything down, but really didn't have a clue what I'd do with them once they arrived.lol

The answer came a few days after I received them.
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The littles get an Advent Calendar every year and Allison was lamenting the fact that she and Jon never got one. We didn't celebrate Advent when they were little. I had never heard of doing such a thing. Well, I was looking at those tins and it came to me.lol I mod-podged some Christmas fabric to the tins and then added numbers to each one. Then I took an old hanger and pulled it into a circle and wrapped it with ancient batting that has moved with us no less than 7 times. I took strips of denim fabric and wrapped it around the batting and then velcroed the little tins all over the "wreath." I wrapped a red ribbon around it this morning and Allison made the bow with the leftover ribbon.

Now to fill the little tins.lol I have to decide what to do, fill with a little note for a treasure hunt or fill with little candies and treats.

I made it reuseable and I think this will be a good tradition for the older kids. Thanks Karen!

Blessings,


Our Traditional Florida Christmas Tree...

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It's a bit small, but smells really good. Too bad we ate it.lol

Merry Christmas!

Blessings,

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Random post...

A few weeks ago, Allison had her end of the year swim team party/award ceremony. Allison received her letter, a medal, and a certificate. She has done so well this year and I just love this photo of her...
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Sophia decided to try on Allison's knifty-knitter hat that she was making...too bad she didn't wait until it was off the knitter...lol
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Here, Jon was doing a little target practice. Allison was a big help...
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The three littles on their new playset. They are out there from morning until sunset. What a blessing this has been for me.LOL We've also been having wonderful weather. I love this time of the year!
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And finally, I've been crocheting teeny tiny hats for the new little one. I should have enough for every day of the month by the time he arrives.lol I'm still learning but it's a lot of fun!
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Blessings,

Monday, November 09, 2009

The Road to College...literally.

I'm guessing you all can tell what the next part of the college process is...

Road Trip!

Allison received her first phone call from a college this weekend. We're excited that someone has received all the paperwork, has read it, and still wants us to come and visit.LOL Our next step is to arrange three personal interviews with three different colleges. One is easy, because it's in our town. The other two are spread all over Florida. In fact, we may end up having to do more than these three interviews but these three are the ones that had it as a requirement for their application process for homeschoolers. So...

1. Make sure that the colleges you apply to are ones that you'd like to visit even if you haven't received an official offer from them. Lucky for us, the two out of town ones are on Allison's short list, so they were needing visits anyway, but if one of the lesser colleges that we applied to, asks the same of us, we may just back out of that college.

2. Read the requirements and then figure out if you can actually meet them before applying. Allison is swamped right now and meeting up with three colleges will be a stretch, especially while trying to keep up with school, work, studying for the ACT, and swimming. I'd rather save our money and visit the colleges that she is actually accepted to attend but we knew about these three and will commit to visiting.

3. Don't let your teen get their hopes up while visiting! I mean, these are just more steps to apply, not a guarantee that they will get to go there. Make them wait until you are visiting one that has actually accepted them.lol

4. Take photos and label them so that you can "revisit" if you are accepted to decide if it's the right college for them. That may help narrow things down if you end up accepted to more than 2-3 colleges. (This advice is for people (us) who can't afford to visit 7 different colleges if we are accepted to all of them.) If you've already taken the tour and visited, then only go back if they are numbers 1-3 on your teens list, unless you can afford to visit them all.

Well, I'll update after the visits or if anything else comes us that we forgot to do.LOL

Blessings,

Sunday, November 08, 2009

The Last Great Build of 2009...

For Christmas this year we decided to buy the littles a playset. We saved up all year and finally bought it two weeks ago. We wanted to make sure that we got it early, since this is the time of year that the weather is good to be outside, and also, we didn't want it to come after Christmas.

It arrived on Friday and everyone was pretty excited about it.

First, though, we had to say goodbye to old faithful. It was getting quite dangerous now that we have three, soon to be four, little ones that never really appreciated our rules for jumping.

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The littles protested at first, but once the playset started taking shape, old faithful was easily forgotten.

Step 1
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This is what it looked like in our garage...
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Step 2
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This is right after Jon's manhood was tested...lol (The bars were free rolling until they were screwed in.)
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Step 3.
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The barn raising...notice the little helper...
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The rock wall comes together...Isaac was excited...lol
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Step 6
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The final product...
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The kids couldn't be happier...
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Isaac is king of the hill...
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It only took some of Friday, all of Saturday, and a little of Sunday to put together. We had one of Jon's friends helping and it really was nice having that extra set of hands.

Blessings,

Friday, November 06, 2009

The Road to College...

Or, should I label this one...

What to do while you wait on your teen to get all her ducks in a row.

Anyway, here's an update on our saga...

We have so far turned in three complete college applications with all the extra stuff. The deadline for each of these colleges was November 1st and we accomplished it. Each envelope contained 29 course descriptions, a four page transcript, one had an essay, and another had a recommendation form filled out by her English teacher. We sent each college an official SAT score report from the SAT website also.

Now for the waiting part. Allison filled out all the applications for each of the other four colleges that she's applying to, but she still needs four recommendations and two essays before we can finish those colleges.

We found out that her SAT scores were not as good as we hoped. She increased her scores in each of the different areas but since she didn't study for the test, it isn't enough for her top colleges to award her a scholarship. So plan B is in action. I signed her up for the ACT and she will take it in December. I also signed up for their online study guide for $19.95. By far, the ACT is a more economical choice and I'm hoping that with a little studying, she'll get a good score. She'll need a 29 to get scholarship offers. Luckily, SAT and ACT score deadlines are flexable. Most colleges give you until the end of the school year to get your final scores in. It would be better to get them in sooner, but better scores can mean more money, so we'll keep at it a little longer.

What I've learned...

1. Study for the SAT and ACT early. It's really never too early once your teen is in highschool.

2. Start collecting recommendations from teachers, pastors, and close friends as soon as they have done something. It's better to have them early. Also, you need a lot of them, so don't be shy about asking a teacher for one. You'll need it. That way, you can spread it out and not have one person doing five different ones for five different colleges. They don't like that.lol

3. Start work on college essays in the Jr year. What I've noticed about the essays, is that they all are basically the same. They all want to know WHY your teen would make a good fit at their school OR they want to know what they've learned from some experience that makes them a good fit for their school. Allison wrote one essay during her college class that actually fit most of the college essay question and it has helped tremendously. Now that I know, I'll be working with Jon to get a few good essays in next semester to help with his college applications so that we aren't trying to do everything at once.

Blessings,

Thursday, November 05, 2009

When Halloween Candy Strikes...

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It can do a real number on your teeth.



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Good thing we have 427 toothbrushes.



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Blessings,