It's been awhile...

Wow! A whole month and more have passed since my last post. It has been a crazy month, full of visitors and fun!
First, our good friends Tim and Naomi and their 4 kids Mika, Emily, Gabe and Tessa came for a whole week and we had a wonderful time. They live in Africa, so our visits with them are few and far between. The kids had so much fun playing in the snow (something their kids rarely see!) building forts and having snowball fights. The time was both relaxing and fun, my favorite combination.

Joe and Mom celebrated their birthday (same day). Naomi did most of the work for their birthday meal, and it was YUMMY!

Tim and Naomi's youngest, Tessa, 4, with our Hannah.

One magnificent snow fort! (a total of 3 were built throughout the week- the snow kept melting!)


Joe's parents came in the beginning of March, and we had a great time. Grampa sufficiently spoiled the kids with regular trips to DQ, plus an extra-fun adventure to Toys R Us with the money he so generously supplied (with the lesson that some is set away for college and some is tithed, that only a Grampa can deliver)





Grammy sufficiently spoiled me, too, with several Starbucks trips. :) We all played games and watched AI and just spent lots of quality time together. Joe and Dad built shelves in our storage room- yeah!! As always, it was wonderful and way too short. We are so looking forward to visiting AZ in June to pick up where we left off.




We were surprised and thrilled when Chris and Ginger called in late February to let us know they were considering a trip up here for their spring break. It had been 8 long months without them, and we were all feeling desperate to see them! The look on the girls' faces when we told them they were coming was priceless. The reunion when they got here on the 13th was even more priceless- we were all screaming and hugging and we felt like Christmas had come again! The week was wonderful, with fun activities like sledding intermingled with lots of easy-going board games and movie times. We did a bit of sightseeing, but I think we really just wanted to see each other! Of course, the time went way too quickly and now we're left to pine for our time together in AZ in June. Here are some pics of our sledding trip. We went to a friend's house up in Wolf Creek (about 25 minutes northeast).

Hannah was the only one who had a less than exciting time. Her sledding adventure ended as quickly as it began. Hannah's version went like this: "I was on the sled and it went fast and I fell off. Then I got up and Brad ran over me. And now I'm all done."


Above: Lindsay BEFORE she hit a tree and sliced her cheek. That's Audrey there on the left.

Ginger and Lily


Kaylee and Elizabeth with one of our host friends' children...her name escapes me.

Lily, Alex and Daniel

Kaylee and Lily, BFF's since birth

Afternoon fun- Lily, Kaylee, Elizabeth and Hannah

Chris and Ginger- our wonderful friends

Also BFF's Alex, Lindsay and Audrey

Hannah and Chris

It was sooooooooooo hard to say good-bye!

After the Trudgens left, we slogged back into our old routine of school and work. Homework resumed, I had stacks of papers to grade, and none of us could wait for spring break to come. Well, now it's here (this is my 3rd attempt at this post, so today is actually April 7) and we are all looking forward to a week of relaxing and enjoying each other's company. Let's hope we're not sick of each other by Wednesday.

In this last month, we have also made a huge, very prayed-over decision concerning school for next year. We've had a lot of confirmation from friends and family that this is the best thing for us, but it was still a tough decision to make. We are going to go back to homeschooling the younger girls and leave the older ones in their private school. Financially, it's the best choice, but more importantly, time-wise it is best for all of us. I am one of those people that does one thing really well and everything else halfway. Well, I've been pouring myself into teaching and parenting has gone by the wayside. We've seen concrete evidence that the kids aren't getting the attention they need from me as mom, and that kills me. So, it's back to the stay-at-home mom job for me, and I have no regrets. I learned so much this year, and I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. But I have missed so much in the kids' lives and I look forward to being able to be room mom and field trip chaperone and all of that again. It's how I'm wired. :)
So now we are excited to turn our den (it's the room Joe used as his office when he worked from home, but now it just has a big desk and some bookcases...no computer or anything) into a homeschooling room. I didn't have one before, and I think this will be great. No more using the kitchen table for everything, I'll actually have a desk for me, and a table for the girls, plus places for all of our supplies in that room. It has a huge window, bright and cheerful, and we're going to paint it this summer. (the room, not the window) Right now it's a yucky (my opinion) khaki green.
Hmmm, what else is going on? Well, it's finally looking like spring around here. We've had a boatload of snow this winter. Twice my car got stuck in our driveway, and twice I fishtailed into a snowbank, causing damage in the form of paint removal to my front bumper. The van doors froze shut three times, and we went through 3 containers of "Red Hot Ice Melt" on our front and back porches. Yes, this AZ family is READY for spring!