ALLERGIES.....AAAHHH!

You know it is bad in your neck of the woods when you have to keep your 24hr Claritin next to your bed at night so when the 24th hour hits at 5 a.m. you can take your pill immediately!

Well, that situation is mine!  I will have to give credit where credit is due, though.  Claritin is keeping my misery at a minimum for about 22 1/2 hours of the 24...which is pretty good.

Maybe in the Caribbean the pollen or whatever is in the air here will be better......

Oops!

Wednesday night at church, Powerhouse (the teen's church) had refreshments for the kiddos.  They passed around Capri Suns and HUGE chocolate chip cookies.  David decided that this was just too much of a temptation and decided he would have a big ol' cookie!  Well, that would have been just great if he wasn't gluten free....

The next morning he couldn't get out of bed without feeling like he was going to be sick because he was so dizzy.  I thought maybe he was coming down with something or that I had accidentally given him food with gluten in it (before I was educated in the GF world, I had, on occasions, loaded him up with gluten and didn't know it).  So, I started going through everything that I had fixed him for the past couple days...nope, nothing!  He must be coming down with something, I thought.  NO, not right before the cruise!  Anyway, he was better around 3 or 4 in the afternoon...he ate..showered...went to a soccer game with me....then he handed me a note when he was off to bed telling me what he had done the night prior....at least he told me the truth.  I know it has to be extremely hard to not eat certain things as a kid; I reminded him to continue to pray for help and shared this verse with him:

1 Corinthians 10:13  The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

I know David can do it.....

Our Church Worship Team.

Chris and I just love the worship at our church!  Our church is extremely blessed by having such talent up on the stage. We just found out that the lead worship pastor has written a couple of the songs we sing! How cool!  He is an amazing singer and we are getting to know that his personality is just as wonderful. We were able to have lunch with him and his family this past weekend and we had a great time!  They are wonderful people and we definitely look forward to our next outing together.  I know my hubby would love to rock out on the drums with him ! :)

I just love the way God puts amazing and interesting people in my life!

It's Crunch Time!

Ten days until our vacation departure and my "To Do" list just keeps growing even as I mark things off of it....wonder how that happens! I have completed everyone's online check in for the event and that makes it feel even more close! I think I may have to medicate myself these next ten days so I am able to stay calm and stay clear of all anxiety and panic stricken moments :) !! I cannot believe I am wasting time typing this blog when I am really not even saying anything ! Gotta get movin'! Times-a-wastin'!

Let's see if at this time next week if I am even able to construct a sentence for a blog!! haha

Just A Side Note!

My birthday was last week and I suppose it will go down in our family history as a non-existent event since not one picture was taken of me or anything about that day....hurumph! I guess I will have to cut the gang a little slack, I mean, they are just boys!

Extra Curricular Activities This Year....Thus Far!

David:

• Shooting Sports (4-H club) David is currently the Secretary for the group....In December, he is going to try and go for President/Vice President or Photographer...he is not a big fan of recording the minutes in the meetings!
• Teen Court (acting as prosecuting attorney)
• Toastmasters (youth leadership/public speaking group)
• W.W.Y.D. Founder (This is something David has come up with for his fellow classmates at BJU. Every morning, before school starts, he posts a blog on his school blogroll asking all the kids a "what would you do" question. An example would be, "Suppose a bear snatched you up and took you to his cave-like abode, and upon arrival he asks you if you would like to dine on "tea and crumpets" with him? Then the kiddos all have the chance to comment on the post. He started this a couple of weeks ago and got about 10 comments per post, but now, it is very popular and BUNCHES of kids comment and cannot wait for his daily question! I think it's kind of neat, I would have never thought about doing something like that. The blog is just supposed to be a social networking device and kids mostly just use it like a "supervised" chat room...leave it to my kid! Secretly, I get excited to see what the next question is too...will not tell him that, though! His head doesn't need to be inflated to that extreme!! :)
• He really wants to try fencing and take a pottery class. I did find out from a friend that "Kana"has fencing lessons... so we will see about that!
• Working on finding some sort of volunteering programs for teens, but this will probably be done through 4-H.
• Music Lessons

Braydon:

• Shooting Sports (4-H)
• Nature Seekers (4-H)
• Tennis Lessons
• Soccer
• T-Ball in the Spring
• Junior Bible Quiz
• He really would like to do Karate....but Chris and I are still debating on making him a weapon as of right now! :)

School Subjects This Year.

David is in 9th grade this year and we are studying/doing the following:

• Biology
• Geometry
• World Geography
• Spanish
• English/Literature
• Keyboarding
• Bible
• Building a Power House (Experiment that uses renewable energy resources, ie; solar, wind, electrochemical, and plant energy.) In this house we will be building a solar oven, a water distillation plant, a wind powered generator, a refrigerator, and an air conditioner to name a few! We are VERY excited to start this project this next semester!
• Since David is really into mechanical/robotic engineering, we are also going to be building some robots and programming them to do specific tasks!! FUN!

There are several other things we are going to plan on this year as well...will keep you in the "know"!

Braydon is doing Kindergarten/1st Grade this year and we are working on the following:

• Science (Mostly learning about some different bugs/animals and their habitats...some experiments for him as well.) Can you tell I am a science geek?? :)
• Math (Learning time, money, addition, subtraction, estimation, measurements, and mastering counting by 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, and 10s!) He loves Math...YAY!!
• Phonics
• Reading
• Spelling (He has already started to sound out, spell, and write words and sentences on his own and we haven't even discussed it!!) Granted, the words are not even really close to being correct, but I am SO proud of the effort!
• Geography (We are learning about the 50 states...the capital, a fact about each of them, the state flag, and motto.)
• Handwriting
• Bible/Junior Bible Quiz (Competitive-type program with our church that is kind of like Jeopardy...Braydon REALLY likes the buzzers!)

I am going to find some little projects for Braydon as well, just have not pinpointed what they may be yet...thought about getting an incubator and having him hatch some quail eggs...we shall see!!

Fun/Goofy Craft Times In Kindergarten!!

A good time was had by all! Even though I do look a little silly! We laughed a LOT!

Braydon loved looking silly....good times.

It was also very exciting for him to look like his Daddy!


His Daddy Stance.


Mommy, the victim, once again!

We had a really fun first week, with just small hiccups....it gets easier each year! I love spending time with my little men!