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In honor of our TWELFTH wedding anniversary.......

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HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!  I have the worlds greatest examples of fathers in my life!  My grandpas, fathers, husband, brother in law, uncles, you name it; they are all amazing....I am SO blessed!  We spent a beautiful weekend at the lake house for Father's Day. 

The boys went on a canoe trip on Saturday and Sunday was a "beach day"!  Beautiful weather and the kids have a great time!  Did I mention the kids LOVE the lake house (like want to live there? LOL!). 

And this is my homemade present for Mike on Father's Day.  I snagged one of the chalkboards off the kid's bathroom wall and wrote letters one-by-one as I took photos of the kids.....if we keep having kids we could end up writing out a whole sentance with these things! LOL!

And we made one for the grandpa's too!

How was your Father's Day?

Eleven years ago today I was a young 18 year old woman-child in love with a handsome young man of 21.  Yep, we were those small town high school sweethearts who got in trouble for kissing in the hall and skipping morning classes so we could have a bit more time together before school. 

Would anyone have thought that we would sit here, almost 16 years later, and remain……exactly the same?!  Except instead of getting caught kissing in the halls by teachers it is now by our children! 

Instead of the sterile walls of a public school, we are now in the hallways of the home we built ourselves.

Halls that are lined with years of family photos weaving a story of love and new life every couple of years.  Photos of beautiful, tiny faces that God has created through our love and faithfulness crowd the walls and fill me with a sense of immense gratitude. 

We may have been “too young”, or “too naive”, but we were in love…..real love.  That love only grew and multiplied and finally…..humbly found its way into the sweet embrace of God’s direction for us. 

I still look at Mike occasionally and see Mikey, a 17 year old with wavy blonde hair, braces, a crappy little car and those amazing dimples.  Although I must say the wisps of grey, the HUGE van full of kids and those same dimples smiling down at a new life that we, together, have created are far more attractive than anything he ever could have been at his “prime” of 17.

He is a man of dignity, faith, and hard work.  A man I am so proud to call my husband.

The best decision of my life was made on April 28, 2001 when I walked down an aisle to the man who would co-author the story of my life adding touches I never would have been able to even dream up myself!  It has been an awesome ride, those past 11 years.  I am hoping there are many, many more years and adventures ahead of us.  Happy Anniversary, Mikey!

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Linked to: Soulemama.com

No, I am not talking about Virgina! I am talking about VASECTOMY! If you want to stop reading now, please feel free. The following paragraphs will contain the words balls (cause, um….testicles just makes me feel like I am in health class again and makes me giggle a little) and sperm count.

It has come to my recent attention lately that I never actually blogged about the vasectomy that my husband received last December (2010). Two months after the birth of Georgia and facing a job loss and having 5 kids in 7 years we decided that we were done having babies. We were blessed with 5 wonderful kids and we felt complete. Although a tough decision to make we weighted the pros with the cons and decided to go with for it. I mean, what was a little discomfort in the balls for my hubs after I delivered 5 babies naturally (um….and one of them being 10 pounds 1 ounce!)?

The day came and went and although a little “buyer’s remorse” set in a few weeks later we decided we would pray for peace on our decision to be “done” and let God take control of the rest…..because the deed had been done. Thankfully, God answered our prayers and about a month or two later we really were starting to settle into the idea that 5 WAS our number and soon we would be able to put those chaotic toddler years behind us. In January 2011 (a year ago) he was turned in his “sample” and we embarked for the first time into the territory of never having to think about getting pregnant or not getting pregnant. WEIRD! As Georgia out grew things we got rid of them. Again, WEIRD! We got rid of our swing, excersaucer, maternity clothes, baby clothes, car seat. We. Cleaned. House!

During the process we were warned of the risks, failures and other oddities that came with this procedure. We signed a consent form that assured us that this was PERMAMENT and that there was no going back. We would NOT be able to have kids. Check. We had five; we were pretty sure we were done.

BTW, the listed failure rate (after you have waited your specified time to “clear” the sperm) is only 1 in 4000 or 0.025%! Well……………………..meet Mr. 0.025%!

Yep, a year later and my husband is FERTILE again! We took a sample in recently and there were LOTS of swimmers in there. What prompted you to test him a YEAR later, you may be wondering?

For starters I was late (2 WEEKS LATE) – a rare occurrence for me. But I had only had 4 or so cycles since I stopped breastfeeding last fall……so that could be it, right? Nope! WE ARE PREGNANT!

So here I sit pregnant with an absolute miracle; excited, surprised, worried, freaked out but most of all thankful. Thankful that God has better plans for us than we EVER could have made for ourselves. Thank you for the miracle of this life, Lord. It is treasured. It is loved. It is miraculous.

Prayer Request: We are only 6 weeks along, so please keep us in your prayers for a healthy and happy 9 months! I will know more when I go to the doctor in about a month.

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Linked to: Soulemama.com

I forgot to post one of most favorite photos from this summer!  The kids and I met up with Mike on his birthday at a nearby park.  We packed a picnic lunch, bikes, scooters and a stroller.  Lucky for us (especially because it was the middle of JULY!) it was a nice and cool day that was even blessed by some breeze.  Believe it or not, I actually remembered to snap a photo of my amazingly hunky hubs with our amazingly beautiful kids!  

{cherish}

I read a really fun idea somewhere about naming your (home) school and giving it a mascot.  I just COULN’T resist.  While we have had a name for quite a while (Farmhouse Elementary) we needed a logo and mascot.  What better than a rooster?  We seem to always have roosters being rotated in and out (depending on how nice they are to my munchkins).  So here is what I have come up with:

The Farmhouse Academy Wild Roosters.  Simple and classy.... yet fun.  Well, at least that is what I thought until my husband burst out laughing and said, “We are the Fighting Cocks?!” LOL!  I couldn’t help but laugh till I cried too!  Seeing how the "Fighting Cocks" got such a vivid response it just may have the possibility of sticking. At least my husband thinks it should ........... boys! .  So yeah, we are classy like that!

Remember me? LOL! Yeah, I know.  It has been a while.  I took a hiatis from the blogging while the farmhouse kiddos were under the weather.  So to catch you up, how ‘bout a “Random Recap”?

• New Year’s was spent at the lakehouse as it has been for the past three years now.  It is such a nice way to ring in the New Year!  We had our annual "Ham and Bean" meal complete with whole wheat cornbread (recipe to come!) on New Years day.
• Maddie, AJ, Mike, and I all came down with a terrible upper respiratory thing right around New Years.  Michael just ended up with a running nose, while Faith only had a fever for about a day.  Luckily Georgia didn’t get ANYTHING! (Yeah for breastfeeding!)
  
• Maddie and AJ’s cold just never went away.  Final diagnosis: Maddie had pneumonia and AJ had bronchitis.  NOT FUN!  Michael ended up with a bad ear infection too.  So three kids on a round of antibiotic
• WARNING: TMI: Maddie and Michael did NOT escape the runny after effects of the Amoxicillin.  We kept warning them to run to the bathroom if they needed to fart! LOL!  Needless to say we had a few “messes” to clean up.  Ahh….what parents do for their little ones. Everyone is now healed and well and hopefull we can stay healthy the remainder of the cold season!
  
• Weight loss update: I gave up on starting my weight loss journey around the holidays when my house was full of pies, cookies, sweets and the like.  I figured I would start up again after the New Year.  I am now on week 3 and have lost right around 9 pounds! YEAH!!!  I am a big dinner eater and I didn’t want to sacrifice too much of that meal so I have been focusing on just eating a slightly smaller portion for dinner and eating super lean for breakfast and lunch.  Almost without fail my lunches look like this:

• Steamed fish and veggies and a small lettuce/spinach salad.  I am actually quite satisfied with it.  Even though (calorie wise) it is less than a sandwich and fruit (my usual lunch) it actually feels heartier. Maybe it is the “hot lunch” aspect of it? Or maybe all the lean protein?
• While I am tackling the weight loss thing - My sister is doing a 30 day sugar fast and blogging about that if you want to follow along with her:  www.wavesinthewater.webs.com
  
• The kids are doing great!  Maddie and AJ have started devouring books at an alarming rate and after assessing their reading level, I have found that AJ is reading at a 4.4 (greater than 4th grade) and Maddie (who is FIVE) is reading at a 3.9 grade level!  WHAT?  Yeah, she amazes me everyday!  Just last night she was reading a Tinkerbell book to me and it came to a part where a made up word (flitterific) came up and she looked at me and said, “Mom, what does THAT word say? I can’t read gibberish!”  She was so serious and almost with a little attitude.  Needless to say I was ROLLING!
  
• A common sight in this house early in the morning: Super-messy-Faith-hair (she inherited my mother’s science-project-bed-head!), reading (I am pleased to say our children LOVE books of all kinds) and fighting over who gets to lay next to the baby (she is SOOO neglected, isn’t she? LOL!)

• School is going great.  We are studying Egypt right now in History and the Human Body in Science.  For Bible we have taken a break from reading chronologically through the bible and are now working our way through an AWESOME book called “Leading Little Ones to God”.  I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone with young (4+) kids.  It explains different parts of the Christian faith in an easy way then has question for your kids and then ends with a scripture reading (from your family bible) and a prayer.  The kids really are enjoying it.  
• OUR BIG NEWS: (no I am not pregnant! LOL!) We are launching our own business!!!! Many of you may know that Mike was laid off last year for 3 months and it was hard on us.  Well, it happened again. Anyone in the construction trade knows that it is SLOW right now.  He has been laid off since the beginning of November and with a fifth child in the family, it isn’t any easier this time around.  Sooooo, after weighing the pros and cons and praying a ton, we have decided to start our own lawn care business: 
  

• Acres of Green Lawn Care will be open for business in a mere month or two!  Mike is working like crazy getting the business side of it complete: business cards, website, contacts, fliers, insurance, licensing, DBA filing.  I am scared and excited all at the same time!  We both really wanted to do this (we have been toying with the idea of starting a business for a couple of years now) and it really came down to a lot of prayers and stepping out in faith.  I know this year will be lean for us and hard in other ways too while we are getting this endeavor off and going, but we are so thrilled to be doing so.  If you know of anyone looking for someone to mow their lawns this year PLEASE let me know!  You can visit our website at www.AcresofGreenLawnCare.com. 
  

Okay so we have finished 2 more gifts:

Mike's AWESOME logging truck that he crafted for Michael.

And Maddie's princess PJ set.

If you are wondering why there is a number two on her shirt, here's the story - We used to put initials on everything to distinguish whose was whose.  Well, Michael and Maddie have the same first initial so we started numbering things.  It has kind of turned into a little inside joke around here.  When we scramble for the right name of the kid we are yelling at  talking to we end up joking and saying "number 3, come here".  Numbers are easier.  So instead of monogramming their initials on the shirts, I appliqued their "number".  Got to love big families, huh?

Projects that we have in the making:

• An unbelievably beautiful lego table. I know, the word beautiful and lego never end up in the same sentence, but really you should see this thing! It is what Pottery Barn would sell if they sold lego stuff!
• The rest of the PJ's for the other 4 kiddos
• A fishing game for Faith
  
• A Cinderella doll for Faith
• An almost completed quilt for my niece's Christmas
  
• A nativity set (all but the baby Jesus are done) for my niece's birthday
  

Projects not yet started:

• a couple of small wooden cars for the boys
• a wooden pirate ship (this one is on the maybe list)
• Satin "Belle" princess dress complete with tulle trim and gold accents (yeah I know - and to top it off - NO pattern, this one is gonna be freehand, ladies!)