Well, my girls scouts and I collected a very nice amount of food and goodies for Christmas in August. I am constantly amazed at who contributes the most!! People who look like they have nothing always do the most. Men are the next biggest contributors. Women with children who look just like me are the worst. I guess I should think about that when I pass by people collecting for charity. (Although, I usually give something-unless I just really have no cash at all!) Maybe we are just tired of it, it seems like there are booths everywhere collecting for something, tip jars, collection jars, fund-raisers. I think we must train ourselves to think beyond the booth-there are real live struggling people behind every collection point. If we can look at it that way, we can be more inclined to give. I do believe God blesses us everytime we give something away. I also believe the blessing(among others) is that we are less attached to our STUFF!

I am feeling a little better today which is making me think I should put off going to the doctor, maybe it isn't bronchitis. I would definitely take the kids though if it were them. I'll let you know what I decide.

Ready for a great day of school. Praise the lord, it is nice to feel better. Also, another praise, we heard from Gary Wahl, AKA "Cajun"in New Orleans. He and his dad are plugged in helping with the rescue efforts because they have a flat bottom boat. He said it is awful and the news reports are not doing it justice. Thanks for all your prayers. We are so glad he is alive and well! He played keys in 61 south with Erik until he moved back home to New Orleans.

Well, I suppose Katrina is here. It is awful outside. Makes me really appreciate dryer days. Our garden is really doing great. Every time we think we are going to have to water it, a big rain comes. I love years like that. We have a friend in New Orleans we still have not heard from, his name is Gary Wahl, if you all will please keep him in your prayers. He and his family decided to stay in their home and ride it out. Hopefully those folks will be able to really pitch in and help one another. Tough times really do bring out the best in most people.

We are having a tough school day today and I am sure it is mostly me. I feel a little trapped today because of the yucky weather. I also think I may be getting bronchitis which is working on me too. The girls are happily plodding through their work, so maybe my bad attitude is not contagious. I will have to make sure we play a fun game or do a cool experiment this afternoon-mostly to get me over the blahs. God has really blessed me with children who have very happy dispositions. They are content in doing almost anything. I hope the puberty years don't change all that, but I won't borrow trouble.

We had a fun weekend. The locals of Erik's mom's family all went to Los Amigos Sunday after church to celebrate his Grandma's 91st birthday. There were 19 of us I think. The kids had a ball. (FYI- The sunday buffet, while very tasty, is not nearly as good as ordering fresh hot food off the menu!! Much cheaper to order off the menu to. I highly recommend a half order of Nachos Amigos which is very filling and has beef, chicken and refried beans-YUM.) Then we went back to Grandma's for a wide variety of cakes. I really love family get-togethers. Grandma's house is very small and it is fun to see how many people we can squeeze in there-very akin to the clowns in a car routine!! There are 8 kiddos ranging from 9 yrs down to around 12 months. Never a dull moment.

I started Girl Scouts last night. It went well. The girls were very excited to be back together as evidenced by their constant chatter. I think I will have 13 this time. Should be a fun year. Tonight we are collecting food at Food Giant for the Christmas in August food drive on Wednesday. Come out and make a donation if you can! We will be there from 5PM-7PM. I guess I had better plug back into life. I feel much better now...except for the elephant on my chest that won't let me breathe! Have a blessed day.

We ended up going to Reidland Day. The girls got up early this morning and posted notes all around the house saying "Happy Reidland Day!" That kind of made us think they might want to go, so we made it for the parade, got too much candy, visited the booths and came home and ate lunch. It was nice to see friends out and about. Then the girls and I hit a few yard sales while Erik pressure washed the side of the house. We only came home with 3 things-one for each girl and only stuff we needed! We are trying to get over "stuffitis" I then worked on cleaning out some "stuff" while he and the girls cleaned up all the sticks and logs from the yard. It is amazing how much debris is always in the yard when you have a woods at the end of your yard. It is amazing how much stuff accumulates that no one really wants!

Anyway, we had supper, swam a bit, got baths and they are all tucked in to get their zzz's so they will be fresh for church in the morning. Erik has tucked himself in as well even though it is only 8. He pretends to watch TV but I know he is going to snooze away. I wanted to make a quick post and then get back to cleaning out. Have to do it while I am in that mode/mood!

Fall is in the air and I am ready for it! I will miss the pool, but we have certainly enjoyed it. If any one of you is considering an easy set pool-I highly recommend it! It has been worth every penny, ours is the big one that is waist deep on me and about 24' across. It accommodates the entire family. In the fall we take it down and store it for the winter and then put it back up again in the summer. We all want bigger permanent pool though, but we will probably just stick with this one for now. Have a great rest of the weekend!~

Life is good, we started school on August 2nd. This year we have started to use Abeka curriculum and I am very pleased with it. Last year I was "designing my own" which turned out to be total insanity by the end of the year. It was fun and I know the girls learned alot, but to carry on that way would have led to total burn out for me. Now they can work somewhat independently and we can cover some fun stuff together instead of covering everything together! I think they appreciate a little of both.

Erika and Kayla began horsemanship lessons today! They are sooo excited as am I. I hope we are able to get them there at least once a month and hopefully more than that. They are a little pricey, but maybe this can be a pre-curser to getting a pony/small horse of our own. We have the space, just need a barn and fencing ( : (and of course $$)

Lilly jumped into the pool today at our homeschool health club. This was her first time holding her nose and jumping in anywhere. Quite a milestone. We have been trying to get her to jump off the boat into the lake for quite some time and she just would not believe her lifejacket would float her up. Even though this was proven when she and I got flipped off the inflatable jet-ski as Dad tried to "make it more fun for us!" He apologized much because he knows I am afraid of the water, at least getting my face into it, & especially getting launched under water unexpectedly! Lilly thought it was fun. Anyway, today she wasn't even wearing a lifejacket-just floaties-go figure. Four year olds don't always think logically, ie. lifejackets are safer than floaties.

Erika and Kayla are both really strong swimmers now and that is a wonderful blessing. I figure Lilly will be by next summer if not before. We will be going to the health club once a week for PE and that should really keep their swimming skills up.

Erik has been on vacation for two weeks and I have mixed emotions about him returning to work. On one hand, we have had very little structure. On the other hand, I have thoroughly enjoyed having him home. We have done alot of fun stuff including camping last Sunday night-we woke to light rain coming into our tent on us...it finally cleared out but we spent the better part of the morning in the rain. Erik held the umbrella while I cooked breakfast. It was fun. The kids had fun playing in the tent and in the rain. It cleared off and we were able to go boating. Mondays are the best at the lake because you have the place to yourself. We all got a little sunkissed except Lilly who was heavily sunscreened and we have all been a little sick from the damp night air. Can't wait to do it again later this September. Kayla did say she would have to have an air matress next time because the ground was just to hard to go to sleep on! Erik and I agreed! We would like to have a larger tent soon as well, 5 people in a two-person tent is a tight squeeze. It will be impossible soon as these children keep growing. Anyway, we have two more days before Dad has to go back so we plan to make the most of them. Reidland Day is tomorrow and this will be the first time Erik has not had to play the Blues Festival at Kenlake. He played tonight instead, inside at the tennins courts because of all the rain and storms. We still may not go to Reidland Day, it has been raining all night so it will probably be very squishy! I would really like to go yard sale-ing and maybe hit an auction!! OR just swim in the backyard and get some stuff done around here!!

Guess I should get off of here now...there is laundry to be done. Always laundry to be done. Heaven will have no laundry! I am sure of it.