Changes in the new year...changes in life

I have lots to reflect on this past year. Lots of mistakes to learn from (lots), lots of joys to relive(the birth of my first grandchild),lots to be thankful for and lots to look forward to.

Some major changes in the Cowie household will be my first son leaving for the army on the 18th of January. The picture is of him and my hubby making a picture frame. Hubby does woodworking as his stress relief and can make some great stuff. The baby of the family (Lydia)turns 8 and I will turn the great age of 45!

Acceptance of what is,seems to be the goal for my new year.

I need to accept that a dear family member chooses to be the way they are and only God can change that and it has nothing to do with me or my abilities. I need to accept that I can not please even most of the people most of the time :) but to just try my best to be the person God has me to be. I need to accept that I will NEVER be caught up on laundry (this is my favorite one) and I need to accept that my personal growth in God will help not only myself but others through His work in me. How is that for a list of acceptances!

A New Year approaching is always very exciting to me. I feel like it is a new slate on which to write on. I have been cleaning out cobwebs on my break between semesters and so far i have tackled my scrapping area (which is in a corner of my bedroom) and my sewing area. It feels so good to finally have both of them sorted through. I included pics of both areas after the clean. I quick vacuum and I will be finished. Next will be the school area and all that it entails then on to the boys room. I purchased a giant cubicle wall unit from a Curves fitness going out of business. it will be perfect to put on there wall and get all those Lego's and playmobil off the floor. Painting in the girls room is included in my list and I hope to have all that put behind me before May.

This past year has been very difficult on me personally, spiritually, financially, and emotionally but God has seen me through it. It can be so hard to press toward the mark but I know what goal lies ahead so I continue to be in the race. May each of you join me at the finish line :)

Tis the season...

Ok, who turned off the heat outside. Now Don't get me wrong I mean I love winter too but the drastic changes are sometimes too much of a shock to the system.
So, what have I been up to? In November we had birthdays to celebrate, Thanksgiving to be thankful for and violin concerts to play in.

I found several of the children all laying on the floor looking at view master reels and laughed to myself. I count it a great blessing that they are entertained by such simple toys in a techno world.

Now I find myself in the full swing of the CHRISTmas season and not quiet there mood wise yet. I had a tough semester in college but made it through with great grades (Tom says I am too hard on myself) and I am still dealing with some family stress that I know God and time will take care of.

There was a nice highlight to it all as the 7 younger children were all cast and performed in our local community theater production of "The Grinch". They all did a fabulous job and a dear friend posted it on youtube for all to enjoy.

I did meet up with another Weaver mom over coffee. She wanted to borrow a volume I had and it was so nice to catch up on what God is doing in her life, challanges of another homeschooling mom and just celebrating life as moms.

This week will be sending out Christmas cards, making cookies and hitting the Chiropracter for some relief. Oh the gym will be added in also as I attempt to rid myself of 7 extra pounds of "college weight".

I hope in the new year to post more often as I find it not only refreshing but challanging to me personally to share more with dear family and friends.

May God be with each and every one of you this season of celebration!

It's the little things that count

If you were a child of mine you would hear that phrase lots. I believe with all my heart that it is the little things that count. It is remembering special days, sending cards, making a simple phone call, chocolates on the pillows (Ashley recently did this for us on our visit to her place), hugs, kisses, handwritten notes, cheap mini-vacations, drives with the children, little hands placed in mine unexpectedly, tickling a child, popcorn in mom and dads bed, playing hidden objects games with all the little ones crowded around, teenagers hangin out in our room to talk about their day and so much more.
The older I become the more effort I put into working on the "little things" or better stated I am noticing and/or acting more on the little things.

October seemed to fly by as I look back on it all. This semester in college has been draining to say the least but I have seen my dear family come to the forefront and do more to help me out than I deserve. Little girls have brought up trays of tea and treats while I studied, Tom has washed countless dishes and prepared countless meals upon HIS insistence, and the younger children have shared how they "prayed for mommy to get a good test grade" more than once. I am humbled so much to be so blessed.

Home school is moving exceptionally well this year and everyone is staying on track. I have graduated all to the reading stage and am working on just the fluency stage for the last couple of children.

We had a nice trip to Ashley's in Virginia Beach for a weekend and the children played in the ocean (even though it was very cold), played two long games of putt, putt golf and just enjoyed hanging out with their sister and nephew Markus. I personally enjoyed all the Grammy time and marvel at how much a child grows when you do not see them everyday.

We ended the month with a trip to the Perry zoo, which is a local small zoo, and the children just love that place. You can feed most all of the animals and we just enjoyed the ride there looking at the leaves and scenery and then stopping by at a local famous tourist attraction, the turtle. This rock that looks naturally like a turtle was painted several years ago to look even more like a turtle and about every couple of years someone gives it a different paint job. Some years have been great and others average, this year was an average paint job but the children enjoyed it none the less.

Tom has been using more of his culinary skills and has been on a soup producing binge so now the freezer is full of broccoli soup, clam chowder and lobster bisque. Not sure when his next cooking class is but I almost can't wait to see what we get to try next!

Being a mom is so hard at times and this month has reminded me of it more than ever. My failings and shortcomings seemed to overtake my triumphs and this has made me ever so thankful that I serve such a loving and understanding God.

A week of wonders

This week started out just unbelievable. Monday I schooled the children in the morning then went to a United Way meeting luncheon. Ended up chairing that meeting and then heading to college for some tutoring help with my Algebra class. Got myself underway there and left just in time to head back home to change clothes to help with a fundraiser for a friend that is running for the House of Representatives. The governor was coming in to show his support for him also so the place was packed. I did get the opportunity to talk with the governor again as we have spoken in the past about foster/adoption issues. After being social for way too long :) I was able to slip out and go home.
Tuesday it was the start of music lessons for the children and we added in the last three this year so all seven younger ones are now in lessons. We did 1/2 day of school before leaving though so that makes the day even more productive. After lessons we came home and I hopped into the car and headed out to college class (Algebra tonight). Home late again.
Wednesday the older children stayed home to do school while I took the youngest 4 to the dentist for cleanings. As soon as I came home I had to unpack 4 and pack one child (17yo son) into the car. I thought he had strep as his throat was full of blister but fortunately he has another type of bacterial infection and is now on antibiotics! Home again only to pack ALL my college books into the car and leave for school so I could make up a test I missed last week when I was ill. Finished the test, worked on homework and went to Teacher Education class.... home late again.
During all this time my dear hubby has been fixing meals, checking on my homework progress and keeping me going all while working several overtime hours himself for his job. Can I just say how wonderful he is here? Lets just say we are both looking forward to a night out together and this weekend we are invited to a wine dinner and are taking advantage of the invite.
The real blessing to all of this craziness is that through it all the children have just stepped up to the plate with Hannah (13yo) asking if she and Destini (10yo) can take over the laundry because they really like doing it. Gee... let me think about this? Hmmm... 3 loads of laundry 6 days a week... I guess if they reeeaaalllyy want too! I keep walking over to the laundry area thinking I need to start a load and tada there is no laundry! This is very sweet indeed!
With all this busyness I am even more appreciative that I am a homeschooling mom. I love being at home and working on all the projects I have going, cooking, cleaning and all the monotonous jobs that go with it!

addition

Forgot to explain one of the pictures. The dog has pieces of a game laying on him. The game is Some-body and it is all about body parts. Well.....give some homeschool children a game like this and they will find a live specimen instead of the cardboard one. The dog just laid there taking it all in.

summer is winding down and fall is taking over

The last few weeks have been very busy scurring about with the tail end of produce season. Our local heritage day celebration in the town was last week too and that had me making breakfast for 200 at the firehall, making lunch for 175 and fitting in some time to walk around our town to see what the venders had for sale. I ended up purchasing a miser's purse that was hand crocheted. It will be a nice accessory for next years reinactment costume that I am working on for me. Hannah wore one that I made 3 years ago for her sister and her friend wore one that I made 2 years ago. Our summer was very tied up so I was unable to make new dresses this year.
College classes are going way better than expected. I am actually learning to like Algebra and the other two are just great.
My dear grandson called today (via mommy) and babbled to me. Oh what joy it is being a grammy. I am watching him grow so quickly and look forward to seeing him.
This week was also recovery week as I had severe allergies that then settled into my chest. I am still coughing but thankful that it was not a virus. The children were all so worried about me and I ask them why? They proceeded to let me know that I NEVER got sick and what was the world coming to with MOM being down!
Oh 2 weeks ago Tom decided to take us on a spur of the moment fun day and drove us to Black Water Falls. We had a great time going up and the children love seeing the falls. After some time at the falls we stopped by Mt. Storm lake and let them wade in the water that is always very warm. We packed a lunch and just had a great family time. I love it when he gets one of his wild hairs!
This week looks like overload with meetings, speaking presentations, dentist appointments and the start of music lessons. The end of the week will be great though as I have a date with my hubby and Garrett was asked to go to homecoming with a young lady (that i like very much). Glad I am not in control of my time or I would really be in a sling!
Oh also included photos of my living room redo. Amazing what a $15 dollar can of floor paint will do and rearranging what you already own.

what a weekend!!

The zoo trip was just perfect! The weather was great, the zoo was way more than we expected and there were so many bonus' to the trip that we know for certain God had it all planned for us.

We started out by arriving at the zoo and heading up the escalator to the entrance. You have to know Pittsburgh and understand that everything there is built on a hill. Most of the children have never been on an escalator so you can imaging the craziness getting everyone on and then watching them as we go up. They were falling all over themselves and Tom and I were doubled over laughing at the sight of it all.

Next, we watched in amazement as the children light up all over at the sight of all the animals we saw. The elephants and the penguins were some of the favorites. We came at just the right time for feeding for several of the animals so we were able to watch them eat. We watched a show that had small animals (hedgehog, skenk lizard and others) and the children were able to pet them and really see them up close.

Then we visited the African area and had our picture taken with a 3 year old elephant. We were petting her afterwards and the children thought they had just died and gone to animal heaven.

As if that was not enough, we watched the polar bear eating, the penguins interact with the children, and the seals interacting too. The kangaroos so close you could touch them, the stingray petting area (yes, you can actually pet stingrays and these ones loved to be touched)and the sharks swimming over the heads of the children in the water tunnels.

We went to my parents afterwards and the next day it was kite flying, the slip-n-slide and a fire with marshmallows.

God knew that we have a busy school year ahead for the children and for me and we felt so blessed to be able to have this little slice of fun before finishing the canning season, starting homeschool and starting back to college.

The children were so overwhelmed by the weekend they just begged to go back soon. Fortunately the ticket sales person at the zoo suggested we buy a year membership and saved us about $30 off admission so now we can visit as much as we want in the next year. Did I mention how blessed we felt.

Canning this week so I will post the results, good and bad and how my college classes measure up to my liking and of course the homeschool happenings!

leaving one zoo for another!

After days of canning everything possible we are retreating for the weekend to visit my parents and to take the children to the Pittsburgh Zoo.

I cannot believe all the wonderful jars of goodness that are bursting out of the pantry. More beans, blackberry jams, and salsa along with dried nectarines rounded out this week. I will have more to do next week including peaches, more corn, lots more salsa and some zucchini made into crushed pineapple. I know sound weird but it tastes just like it!

My dear sweetie made supper tonight (BLTs) so I was able to get stuff together for the weekend and tie up some loose ends.

The children all packed their backpacks with goodies to keep them busy for the trip and then the older ones helped the Little's pack their clothes. They also worked on laundry and did all the house chores so we can come home to a tidy house.

Next week is official homeschooling and I start back to college. I am hoping for a better semester than last and count it as one more down.

some of the children are finishing their shower, some are already in bed and my hubby is waiting for some wife time :) and all extra produce was just picked up so off for an early start on a fun weekend.

This is the day that the Lord has made...

A much needed refreshing Lord's day here at the Big House. Tom has worked so much he decided on a family worship day.

Yesterday I went with him on a loonngg ride on the motorbike. We put in well over 300 miles and it was a great ride to de-stress him after so many 16 hour working days. I often just watch the stress melt away off his back and see his muscles relax as we ride. I was ever so thankful for the children letting us go. Hannah had them all bathed and in bed when we came home. Garrett graciously picked up our produce order and now I have salsa and pickling to look forward to for this week.

The large Rhino beetle is still a visitor here even though he did manage to escape his quarters for a brief time. Miriam brought me a roly poly bug as I was having some bible study time on the porch. I told her to just feed him to our bearded dragon lizard but she was not too happy about my suggestion. Hannah is under the weather today so I think some game playing will be in order instead of swimming.

I also plan on working in some knitting time. I joined the hat of the month club (at Millicents yarns) in March and I am behind a hat. I like the fact that they are portable so I can take them places to work on. There has only been one that I do not care for and I plan on replacing that pattern with a Tam style. I figure that if I do one hat a month until next March I will have a hat made for everyone in the family!

Winding down...for now!

My life is not only full but also very interesting and at times down right amazing! The last several weeks were full of canning peaches, tomato sauce, pickles and relish. Freezing corn and 28 loaves of zucchini bread rounded out the list. Hannah decided to make some little pizzas for the freezer and at 13 she did a super job. There are several little pizzas tucked away now awaiting to be pulled out and topped. She also tried her hand out at making sauce for them as did super on that as well. Now before anyone thinks she is just such a super child notice the added picture of her with the brown substance on her finger and the light brown curly items sticking out of it. Well... she came to me and said "mom, Oscar (our pug puppy) has worms" then she proceeds to lick her finger to which I am now permanently grossed out!

Today it is cookies and brownies as the cookie jar has been empty for way to long! I also want to make some rolls and bread but we shall see what time permits.

Tom has been working some tremendous overtime for the last three weeks and most days were 16 hour ones. I was was sitting in bed last night watching something on my laptop when my dear son Garrett decides to show me his new found friend. Now what part of this bug is not something you want to see before you go to bed? I think I might need therapy after this one!

Friday, I love Friday

Sometimes my life is so crazy that I want to just write a book to share will everyone. But, then I think no one would believe it anyway :)
With three weeks of school left I am taking a relaxed approach to end the school year. We are watching lots of IMAX movies on all sorts of different subjects. Yesterday it was stormchasers and today was dolphins. I had an early morning meeting with one of my professors to asses what direction I should persue after graduation this May. I will have my AA but I am thinking of changing my major from education to social sciences and I think that is really where God is steering me.
I am looking forward to ending formal school for the children and off to total project time. I want to expand Hannah's sewing skills and teach two other's beginning sewing. there will also be lots of summer reading and gardening and I am ready for that change of pace. Bring on the summer!

misc. pictures to share our slice of life

wanted to throw in some pics to show some of what we have been doing
lately at the Big House. Noah is posing in the new hat I made. It was a new project in my knitting that I was eager to try. Hannah is playing a game and her bearded dragon is resting on her leg watching. Last is Destini full of giggles in my room on the rocker. They brought me a tea party tray and ended up with the giggles.

where does the time go?

It is the middle of March and I had a goal to keep up with my blog much better than this...time to reset the goal!
Life has been absolutely crazy around here. With car buying for me, 1st car purchase for oldest daughter, 17yo son running fire calls and soccer, music lessons for other 7 children, me trying to finish my college work...I feel so overwhelmed and so very blessed all at the same time.
Example of our crazy house: the other night I am trying to get some college work completed and am in my bed on the laptop. 11yo son trapes in with an armful of medication from the medicine cupboard stating that he has a headache, stomach ache and allergies, I smile at the silliness of this and start to dole out what he needs when my 8yo daughter comes in to the other side of the bed stating that she REALLY needs to show me something down "there" (in her crotch area) to which I am saying to myself what can my 8yo possible need to show me "down there" ? Now the 11yo son is rolling his eyes and steps outside the door. The 8yo proceeds to show me her underwear (which were new and of the boy short type) and shows me that there is a seam right down the front and it kinda bothers her, to which I reply well do you have them on backwards, to which she looks at the back of them and state "no, the "sign" is back here. At this point I almost become hysterical, (notice the almost here) then 11yo son chimes in "it's not a sign, it is called a tag!" and as I look out my bedroom door I see the new puppy racing across the house trailing a pair of pink underwear,followed by several children screaming "mom, Oscar is eating underwear!!!" now at this point I DO become hysterical and am crying laughing because it's just another day with the family circus!

snowmagedden

Yeah, it really did snow 3 feet and now tomorrow we are getting another 12 or more inches. To me this is putting on snow clothes, taking off snow clothes. Funny though, as the children are getting older it is taking less and less time to help those still left to help. Today I had an unbelievable time of organization. Don't know where that burst of drastic energy came from but I cleaned out the entire attic and rearranged it. Next, I put away all the Christmas decorations from the outside away and then pulled out the Valentine's day stuff. While I was up there I also brought down all the baby stuff that I saved for my grand babies :) There was the heirloom bassinet and a swing and bouncy seat and loads of clothes. Ashley is coming in this weekend to go through everything and decide what she will take back home with her. I also pulled out lots of boxes with keepsake papers in them, and old receipt boxes. Went through all of that and kept out what I wanted to scrapbook with and the rest is ready for the trash. I also got a great start on reorganizing all my photos on the computer and I finished organizing all my printed photos so they are all ready to scrap. Whew, and I wondered why I was feeling tired. Tomorrow I plan on posting some crazy random photos about the quantities of stuff we have here from having a large family. I hope to Post some photos of some layouts this week too so stay tuned, especially Tara as I would really like her opinion on them.

New Year rough start

I always have high hopes for the New Year! I set goals, pray, plan and then ATTACK! The enemy always seems to try even harder to take the wind out of my sails. That is how I brought in my new year. It started with a broken down car that spenT 3 months in the shop and when I picked up it was still broken! That led to a spiff with my dear hubby, and then telling our 17yo son no to a trip that was not beneficial caused him to be hateful and crabby for a few days, then our engaged daughter is already fussing over future wedding issues and how things are not going well, then the car gets TWO flat tires, then children are difficult to get back into the swing of things after a long break. As I sat this morn mulling over all that has happened in the last 8 days I realized it was a direct attack because of my New Year motto. Nearer my God to thee. That is where I want to be and since I have increased my prayer time and time spent in the word should I have expected a smooth road? As we are studying about Joshua in school I find myself even more determined to push ahead with my motto... so I am shouting NEARER MY GOD TO THEE, THAT IS WHERE I WANT TO BE!!!