4-H and the County Fair

We are very proud of Hannah, Jacob and James and their work on their 4H projects this year. 

Hannah made a dress for a first time sewing project.  She received an "A" on the project and  OUTSTANDING & HONORABLE MENTION awards for her efforts.  The photo on the right is taken at the fashion show at the county fair in which they had to walk a runway and model their outfit while an announcer gave information about her.

They all participated in judging this past weekend which included a 15-20 minute interview and skills assessment.  Here is a photo of them after that portion of the project.

 Here is James sporting his awards and projects.  He was selected by the judges to represent the county in the Ohio State Fair!  He also earned an OUTSTANDING award for his Rockets project.  For his Robotics project (that he is taking the statefair) he earned the BEST SCIENCE ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY AWARD (trophy) for the county!!

 Here is his robot that he built and programmed to run several courses on our basement floor.  We are very thankful to the county 4H extension office for providing the kits for FREE!!!(but,we have to return them:(

Jacob also advanced to the State Fair.  He built a birdhouse and a footstool using a variety of tools.  He earned an OUTSTANDING award and was selected from over 15 other peers to move on to the State level.  One of the things he will need to do on Monday will be a timed test of building an item out of wood using plans in 10 minutes of less.  They will be looking for accuracy, speed and completion of the task.  We already have the packet with the actual test, so we will be practicing, practicing, practicing over the next 5 days. 

We're Back!

It has been over a year since I have updated our family blog. Many things have been happening in our lives and we can't wait to share them with you. Please look through older posts from 2010 and the first few months of 2011. 

For now, here is the latest family pic from our cruise to the southern Caribbean in March 2011.

2011 Family Cruise

2011 Family Cruise

2011 Family Cruise

2011 March

2011 February

2011 January

2010 in Review - Virginia or Bust!

One of the true advantages to homeschooling is that we can venture away from home anytime and take educational trips while visiting family and friends.  This time we (Kim, James, Jacob and Hannah) were  able to go to Virginia for 5 days.  We celebrated our cousin Audrey's 2nd birthday, went to the National Zoo in DC, and even took in a soccer game.  On our way, we listened to two books on CD in the car and took lots of pictures which were later made into a book.

We love stopping here to get a snack.  They have the best apples and fruit pies - yummy!

Getting ready to celebrate A's birthday!

 Great family pictures at the National Zoo - it was a rainy day, but just intermintent.  It made for a great day as the zoo was not crowded and the kids could run around. 

2010 in Review - New York City here we come!

We ventured to NYC for Spring Break and a memorable time.  It was the first trip to NYC for everyone but Mark.  We saw all the main tourist attractions - Statue of Liberty, Times, Square, the "Naked Cowboy" (took us by surprise!), Ground Zero, Madame Tusseau's Wax Museum, Central Park, Museum of Natural History, Rockefeller Plaza, and lots of shopping., restaruants and walking. 

Here we are with the famous Easter Island statue from Night at the Museum movie (highly recommend seeing both of the movies, but #1 is our favorite)

 Times Square at night - never ceases to amaze us how busy the city streets are at anytime of the day!

We didn't actually make it to the island, but we took a ferry around the Statue of Liberty.  Being Spring Break, the wait was 4 hours to get to the island and then you had to wait to get back just about as long.  We were pressed for time, and the ferry tour was amazing!

Ground Zero - it is hard to image that there were two sky scrappers in this spot.  We tried to imagine what it would have been like to be there on 9/11 - a much different view today.

2010 in Review

2010 in Review

2010 in Review - January and February

The year began with lots of snow and a beautiful sunrise. 

 Thomas turned 15 years old - we celebrated at Mongolian BBQ and had chocolate ice cream cake at home.  He officially began counting the days until he could get his driving permit.

 Jacob was interested in learning Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address and wrote it out our on white board to practice it. 

Looking Good and playing restaurant!

These three dress up real nice! Actually, we are at church on Thomas's baptism. Gotta love their smiles!!!!


Of course, we can't be serious all the time! Can you tell James is TOTALLY embarrassed!?


Ah, Monsieur Mark, playing the waiter in the basement - gotta love the dress up factor.

Praise the Lord! Thomas got baptized!

Having a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior has been our prayer for our children. They have all accepted our LORD as their personal savior by Faith and by GOD'S GRACE they are saved!! Thomas wanted to share the news and be obedient to the LORD's command and was baptized by Mark at Grace Church last Sunday. We are extremely blessed to have four children who love the LORD and commit their lives to HIM and HIS will for them.


It amazes us each day how much Thomas resembles his grandpa Bill - must be the eyes and eyebrows!

Here they are (with Thomas's buddy Robbie) getting the instructions for his baptism.

Thomas publicly gave his testimony during the church service.


It is so humbling to baptize in the name of the LORD. Having Mark baptize Thomas was a great testimony to Proverbs 27:17 "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

Grandparent's Day at Soccer & Football

It was grandparent's day at WCHS Soccer. Thomas played goalie and had a shut-out for JV. He was back-up goalie for Varsity. Both teams won 4-0 and 5-0, respectively. Nanna and Jack were honored at half-time.

Here they are being introduced...

You wouldn't know that Thomas sprained his MCL and hamstring just one week ago. Hard to keep a determined player down for long.
We started the day at Jacob's Crusader football game. They lost in the 4th quarter, but played hard. It was a windy day with temps in the upper 50's. It wasn't too bad when the sun was out, but when the clouds rolled in it was brutal.

Jacob is #83 - he is moving toward the line from a defensive back position left of mid-photo.

James's 12th Birthday

We can't believe it! James is 12 - next thing you know he will be 18!!!!!
He loves comics, so Hannah had a great idea to wrap his gift in the comics. The only draw back, is that he wanted to read the comics and not open the gift - ha.
He had a great day and was suprised by Nanna and Jack coming down to visit.

James received a new internal frame hiking backpack for Boy Scouts (thank you Craig's List!)

We were off to Dave & Buster's to celebrate.

We came home to finish the day with brownies, ice cream and toppings.

Officially a Boy Scout!

James decided it was time to join Boy Scouts. He has been preparing himself for the right time and the right stamina. He has been walking on the treadmill 30 mins a day to build up for hiking and camping.

At the Fall Court of Honor he was officially inducted into Troop 356 (Proverbs 3:5-6-"Trust in the Lord with all you heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will guide your path."

Here, he is getting his neckerchief from Dad (mom watching) and signing the official Scout book.

Hannah Jo is now Mrs. High!!!

Well, our FAVORITE babysitter is now married!!! We can't believe that she has been babysitting for us since Hannah Jane was born 9 years ago!! We are so happy for her and Tory. Maybe our Hannah can babysit for them in the coming years?!?!? (Thomas was refereeing soccer the afternoon of the wedding, so he missed out!)

150 years ago today...

...Abraham Lincoln spoke at what is now the atrium at the State of Ohio Capital building. The kids and Kim got to hear a wonderful re-enactor give the life story of Lincoln as Abraham Lincoln. The kids were thoroughly engrossed and were excited when he talked about pieces of history that they knew. This past February, we had studied Lincoln in depth and he is definitely Hannah's favorite president.

After the presentation, we took some time to see the different monuments outside the state capital building. It was a beautiful day. James is pointing out "Garfield" mostly because it is his favorite cartoon character right now.