Picture Catch-Up

This picture makes me want to get out and do some more hiking/walking. It was taken at the Washington State Park near here...strange name for a park in Missouri! :) It has some pretty nice hiking trails and some beautiful scenery...even for winter time.
I believe this will be rather a random post of mainly pictures that have been taken in the last couple of months....think of it as catch-up in pictures, then maybe it won't be too random! :)Jacob had been going through some of his military clothes and the girls thought it would be fun to wear his hats....don't ask me why Bethany is making that strange expression...understanding her is sometimes difficult for me. And yes, we were listening to the Piano Guys on YouTube. :)
Who doesn't like to drive? The girls are no exception. While we were waiting for Jacob they thought it was highly entertaining to take turns buckling themselves in and pretending to drive...it was pretty cute! :)
The girls loved opening presents at Christmas time, and Bethany was totally thrilled when her Uncle Nathan got a purse too! Her own words when she saw him open his present containing an emergency bag for his car were: "You got a purse just like me!" I know the quality of the picture isn't so great, but I had to post it! :)
I hope you enjoyed the pictures....now that I've caught up on some stuff, pictures of the girl's new haircuts will be coming soon!

Where To Begin....

Yes, I realize I am a horrible blogger, and I do feel bad about it, but life does go on and some things are more important than blogging. I was actually planning on doing homework tonight, but STARS isn't working, and everything I need to do is on there so there went that plan. I also wasn't planning on mopping, but due to an unexpected blockage in a water pipe, I will now be mopping the kitchen floor, plus lighting a bunch of candles...ugh. Also, what I thought might be a longer post will now be pretty short....never know when the unexpected will happen.
This was taken earlier this winter. I thought it was cute...both of them watching a movie and cuddling together! They can be so sweet at times. :) I'll have to post pictures soon of their new haircuts...they weren't sure about them at first, but they love it and they look adorable.

It's also Jacob's birthday today, but it's been kind of a rough day with having a cold, plus dealing with a plumbing issue when he needed to be working on school stuff...poor guy, not a very fun birthday. I love you so much, Jacob! You are doing an amazing job on the bathroom and hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

The End is in Sight!

Well, I officially have two classes this week and I will be finished with my first semester of college! I'm definitely excited to be finished, and I'm ready to get started on some fun stuff that I haven't been able to do since school started. :) You know, like reading a non-school book, getting my crocheting back out, and decorating for Christmas with the girls. Yep, I have quite a few things I want to get done with the free time I will have coming up this week, and it all starts Wednesday when I turn in my Final Argument Research Essay! I'll still have my last history class on Thursday, but I get to just enjoy that one and the history class tomorrow free of any assignments or exams. I won't go into all the details of the phenomenon of how I escaped finals for my history class, but I will say that working hard to do the best you can on assignments and exams will often times pay off very well with a professor who wants to show you they appreciate the hard work you've done! So, with two classes left I have an automatic "A" in the class, along with two other students, without having to do the final evaluation or test. :) I can't say how happy I am about that, and it was so worth all of the work I put into each assignment! Now I just hope my argument essay goes off well and I'll be done with English Comp. as well.

As for next semester....well, I'm going to be limiting it to two, maybe three, classes to make it easier on myself and be able to spend more time doing the things that need to be done around the house. This semester was a really good experience and opportunity for me, and even though it was a lot of hard work it was fun to have to use my brain a little more than I do every day with the girls. :) I think I've also learned to use the time that I have more wisely than I've done before; not that it won't be fun to relax a little bit after this week....like raiding the college library collection (that I've only been able to look at longingly) and getting some fun reading material!

I think my next post should be on the girls...who have play-dough all over the kitchen floor, in the tiniest of pieces....how delightful[sarcasm]. Speaking of that though, I should make sure that gets cleaned up before I have pieces of play-dough ground into the carpet....well, it's probably too late, but I can try. :)

So....

I'm going crazy without a camera! I feel like I can't post anything because I don't have pictures to post. It shouldn't be that way, but I love posting pictures, and it's easy to do a short post if I have some pictures to go along with it. Oh well, I'll have to see if Jacob thinks we can get one before Christmas...I need to be able to take pictures at Christmas time for sure!

Oh, and I know you all are in shock that I've actually written twice in one month, but try to keep from falling out of your chair! :)

I was thinking this week would be easy, considering that it's Thanksgiving week, but I've chosen to make it my "get ahead week," so that I can have an easier time for the last two weeks of school. We'll see if that actually happens because, although I get a whole week off from history classes, I have a full week of required English Comp. stuff to do, which includes writing out an outline for my argument research essay. I've never written an outline before and from previous experiences from writing essays, I do better when I just sit down and write instead of trying to write an outline on something that I haven't written yet! I wrote out at least a start to my outline last night, but it probably needs a lot more work, but the goal is to have it hopefully finished by Thanksgiving! :)

Enough about school though, that can get boring! I will say though, that having the requirements of homework and classes have made me feel like I'm being more profitable with my time, and even when I'm not doing homework I feel more geared to doing things that need to be done rather than just wasting my time. Of course, I'm still looking forward to the end of the semester and being able to do whatever I want without worry about homework, but I'm sure I will fill up the time quickly with all the things I want to do! :)

I probably won't have time to get back on and post before Thanksgiving, so I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and gets to spend plenty of time with family!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, I'm Still Here, But....

I am officially failing the upkeep of my blog. There's been times where I could have written, but I chose to do something else with my time instead...don't hate me! :) We are all doing well around here, although, Jacob and Bethany did have a sick period about a week ago. Abigail and I somehow managed to stay well though, which was a relief since I wasn't sure I could handle taking care of multiple sick people, being sick myself and keeping up with schoolwork! The end of the semester is in sight though! Woohoo! :) I'm looking forward to the break and being done with English Comp. especially. Don't get me wrong, I'm actually enjoying it a lot, but it requires a huge amount of work every week so I definitely won't miss it! I hope I can get an "A" in the class though...it would be nice to have A's in every class for this semester!

This is probably going to have to be all for now. People should be arriving soon for a bonfire and I need to get the rest of my school books put out of sight for awhile! :)

First Week Of School....

Well, my first week of classes are over and I have one more week before my online classes start. I think those classes will really add on the work load, but I think I'll manage fine. I'm going to be doing a lot of writing this semester and I have a feeling I'm a little rusty, but hopefully whatever writing skills I had (if I had any!) come back quickly. I've had a lot of good ideas come into my head as I've been writing up my outline for my first paper (more of a question and answer essay) so hopefully they keep coming and I can do a good job. Jacob was laughing and me last night because I was on the floor in the middle of the living room in weird positions writing away! I tried explaining that sitting in one position gets old so I move around a lot.....and sometimes writing on the floor with my legs under me and my butt in the air is what works comfort wise! I mean really you gotta do what works for you and what's comfortable! He just continued to laugh at me and said it must have something to do with having been home-schooled and having the ability to move around compared to sitting in a classroom at a desk all day. No worries though, I do remain seated in class! It's just during study time that I get comfortable, so I guess I will be a constant source of amusement to him during our study times! :) Hmmm, I wonder if it'll be harder to do my computer work since I'll be limited to what I can do since I'll be having to sit at the computer the whole time....that will kind of stink, actually.
Ok, enough embarrassing myself, but hopefully you all had a good laugh....or at least those of you who know me! The rest of you are, I'm sure, just wondering what kind of weird home-schooled kid I am....well, maybe I should consider myself an adult now since I'm over the age of 21 and the mother of two children. :)

Anyway, school is going great and it's been fun to start getting back into the whole school and studying mind frame.
Abigail and Bethany now want to "go to college like Daddy and Mommy!" They've also been really good with me having to go to class a few times a week, so that's been nice for me not to have to worry about them.

School!

These are my school books for this semester...don't they look fun? :) I'm really excited about them and the classes, of course! :)

So, to catch everyone up on the latest events......

I am now a full-time student at the college near here! It all started when Jacob signed up for classes and suggested that I should see if I could get any grant money and take a baking class or something fun. So, he filled out the FAFSA and I got the full amount that they offer with the Pell Grant! So, needless to say I was very excited and signed up for the baking class.....and for anyone that doesn't know, I can bake I just thought it would be fun to learn some new things that hopefully the class will offer. :) Then as time went by and I got to thinking, it seemed a shame to have all that money that I wouldn't use go to waste, so I went back in and talked to an adviser again and got signed up for an English Composition and Microcomputer Software Application class online since both of those classes are a requirement for any degree. I also signed up for a Water Recreation class because it was the 1 credit hour class that I needed to be a 3/4 time student....a plus with that one is that I can bring the girls anytime during the week that I want....so, we'll be getting to swim most of the winter! I don't think the girls will mind. :)
I thought I would leave it at that, but no, I then decided to sign up for the U.S History class that is also a requirement. :) Also, since I scored high enough on the reading and writing test I was able to sign up for their honors class, which the adviser said I would learn a lot and have fun with....so we'll see! That class made me a full-time student, so here I am....I'm going back to school and I'm super excited about it! I think getting the books has been my favorite part so far....and I've already started my history books just for fun...of course, it won't hurt any either. :)

So, that has been the latest with me and the continuing of my education. Oh, I have decided to refresh whatever math knowledge I had because, after seeing the score on my math test, I realized that I'm not that dumb in math and I'd like to be able to take it again and prove that to myself. :) So, Algebra....here I come!

I will definitely be busy this fall, but I'll try to continue my blogging and update you all on my progress. :)