HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARGARET!!!

Today was Margaret's 9th birthday.  Wow, how time flies!  We now have a 7, 9, 10, and a 12 yr old.  WOW.

Margaret is our "different" one.  Special.  She is not like the rest.  She is girlie.  We call her our "cat" because she likes to climb all over us and cuddle.  She is a princess.  She can get almost anyone to do anything for her, whether they like her or not.  She has beautiful brown eyes and blond hair.  She has a sense of style that must be in-born and not something learned. . .she can make anything look good.  She loves to craft and make people things.  She has the most annoying high-pitched scream.  She likes to separate herself from others. . .a few years ago I realized that I rarely have pictures with her in a group.  She doesn't like her picture taken with others unless she's "in the mood".  She is smart and pretty and energetic.  She is our night owl.  She's very athletic but doesn't stick with any one thing very long. . .she's been a cheerleader, dancer, gymnast, swimmer and soccer player.  She's awesome on roller blades and, besides Robert, is the only one who can get up and stay up on water skis.  She makes friends where ever she goes and does so with ease.  And the best part????  She is ours!  She sincerely loves her family and grandparents, aunts and uncles with everything she has.  You never know, from year-to-year, with Margaret.  She's unpredictable.  That is the only thing certain about her -- you never know what is up next with her.

She had a great birthday that I will write about another time.  After 9 hours on the lake today (her choice how to spend her birthday!) I am wiped out :)  The celebration started last night with a pedicure and then birthday cake at home followed by her sibling's gift, which they just *had* to give her a day early :)  This morning everyone was up before 8 a.m. -- presents, breakfast, and then the lake.  She chose dinner at the dock.  It was a beautiful, perfect, day.  I hope very much that it is a birthday that she will fondly remember.

School is OUT!!!!!!!!

I just took this picture 15 minutes ago -- yea, we're done for the year!!!  I didn't notice until I downloaded the picture that Frederick is not looking at the camera but oh well. . .so happy to have this picture of the 4 of them.  They did really, really well this year.  Those are their grade reports that they are holding up :)

This was their first day of school in August. . .I know Thomas is much, much taller now!!  And Marie sure has changed a lot too. . .the younger two are still wearing those same clothes so they must not have had such a growth spurt.

It's been an interesting year.  They started their 5th year at the same country school that three of them started kindergarten in.  We fully expected an exciting, fun year there for them. . .this was a county-wide PE Extravaganza that two of the kids participated in. . .(our school was in yellow)

 Margaret performed with the third grade

 . . .and Marie with the fourth grade.  There really was no rhyme or reason for who participated and who didn't. . .I think they drew names out of a hat or something since they could only have so many kids on the floor at once.

And Thomas got to play basketball for the Rickman Bulldogs.

But then the snow days hit. . .and the kids might have gone to school 4-5 days in the entire month of December.  Then January came around and the snow days continued.  To be fair, we had a horrible winter here in the middle of Tennessee and it is very dangerous to send the buses (or cars!) on these mountain roads with the amount of snow and ice we had.  This, too, is considered a snow day:

We felt our children's education was suffering.  So, in January, we decided to bring the kids home for school.

We decided against "traditional" homeschooling and instead went with a satellite program in town where we paid tuition and they supplied the curriculum, workbooks, timetables and such.  They also offered tutoring and the kids had to go into the center to take their unit tests.  The school kept all of their grades. . .my job was to make sure they got all their work done.  Where ever that might be :)

at work at the YMCA after-hours. . .

or all together in my bed in the morning :)

No need to comb your hair. . .

. . .or get dressed!

It has really been a terrific five months.  I thought I would miss the classroom (I was a substitute teacher) -- I found out how much I didn't really care about doing that.  Tom was afraid we would have too much "together" time. . .that was never the case.  In fact, I enjoyed this role of full-time mom so much more then I remember it when they were all four under the age of 6 -- ha!  I have played more tennis in the last five months then I had in the previous five. . .I had consistency in my schedule and the kids were great about tagging along to tennis every Monday morning, Tuesday afternoon, and many Friday mornings as well as keeping up with my two-mornings-a-week work schedule. They became more independent about their school work.  Frederick, who was in the second grade in January, tested at the beginning of third grade in the satellite school and excelled. . .he finished the year with all "A's"!  Margaret tested right at grade level (and a little lower in math) when she started out in January and did well with the curriculum.  Of the four, she is probably the only one who would leap at the chance to go back to school.  She missed her friends and classroom. . .she had had a terrific, terrific teacher.  She ended this year well, too, with 3 "A's" and a "B" in Language Arts. . .easily the most difficult subject for all the kiddos.  Marie probably flourished the most.  She is the right "type" of student to work independently. . .she gained so much ground these last months and I will jump at the chance to do something like this with her again.  She had a solid year and worked hard.  Thomas probably had the most difficult time adjusting, being in the 6th grade and all.  He started homeschooling with us two weeks later then the others because he wanted to finish out his basketball season with the school and they wouldn't allow him to play unless he was in attendance at school.  His team ended a good season and then he came home, making up ground quickly.  The work was much, much harder then he was used to and there was a learning curve to it all (passive-vs-active learning) but he was proud of the way he ended the year today.  It's been a sprint to the end for him -- I think he's done two math books just this month! -- and it was well-worth it.  Today as we were leaving the school after their last sets of tests they were all smiles to be "done with school" for the year -- Marie said her "shoulders feel lighter".  Ha!  Such good, good kids.  Tom and I have grown as parents too.  We see our children a little differently now. . .know them a bit better.  Their reading has improved 100% and they now know how to study on their own, keep a schedule, and find answers when someone isn't right there to tell you the answer.  We've used the library, gone to Community Bible Study, and become "regulars" at Ralph's Donuts :)  It has been a good, good year. 

So. . .what started out as one of the most difficult decisions Tom & I have made in regards to our family life, has become one of the biggest blessings in the world.  God knew.  I'm so glad we listened and obeyed Him, even when we were walking into completely unfamiliar territory without any idea of how it would all turn out.  It turned out GREAT!

And now, tomorrow, we're off to Dollywood with our good friends for our end-of-the-year celebration!!!!  We can't wait :)

~ Jenni

Quick tip

For my family (or anyone else reading who doesn't know):
Since I generally don't post big, big pictures in my posts, you can double-click on any picture anytime and a larger version of the picture will present itself.  Just an FYI.

~ Jenni

Schoolwork, soccer, and the YMCA

This is for all family members who wonder what we've been up to. . .

We have exactly a week of school left.  Of course, since our kids are currently in a satellite program, they can finish up any time.  Frederick swears that he will be finished with *everything* tomorrow and test out on all four subjects.  I hope he can :)

A lot of days we stay after my shift at the Y (I work in YPlay and we close between the hours of 12-3 daily) and just do our schoolwork there.  The kids can spread out and work where they want.  On this particular day it looks like Frederick chose to lay across the train table :)

Today Thomas had the entire table to himself :)

A couple weeks ago I snapped this picture of Margaret. . .that is NOT a real baby but she did have a doll in and the swing going as she worked on her math in the glider rocker.  She will be a good momma :)

And just so Marie isn't left out. . .although this isn't at the Y. . .it was the day she bought her new sunglasses!

I am pretty happy with the pictures my phone takes (obviously all of these were taken on it) and often snap pictures (such as this one) during the day just to capture those "little" things for Tom. . .like Marie in her sunglasses :)

I really like my job at the YMCA.  This will be my fifth summer working in YPlay.  We take kids from 6 weeks to 12 years.  They are all separated into their own groups -- 6+ is my favorite and the one I work most often.  (Although when I can cover for someone in infants it's a treat!)  Lately I've snapped a few pictures of us in action, just to remind myself that I have a great job that allows me to be with my children every day.  And they have made many friends there too. . .some Y employee kids and some are kids that have moms (or dads) that are very regular in their workout schedules so they come routinely too.

 This is a picture of my niece, when she was here, going down our giant playmaze slides.

 On this day we made double-sided tic-tac-toe chips and I made boards on the tables with painter's tape. . .

 The next week (looks like the tic-tac-toe boards were still there!) we made a matching game to play together.

 Then I took the "tape-boards" a step further and made a couple of hop-scotch boards on the playmaze floor.  I think this was the 3-5 group.

 Here are some kids doing the Wii "Just Dance" and that's my Marie in the orange t-shirt playing drums (her favorite) on Rockband.

 Frederick and one of his church friends (his mom teaches cycling classes at the Y too) put together some Star Wars puzzles then spelled it out in dominoes. . .pretty clever!

 We were having a Play-doh creation contest one day last week. . .

 This was Margaret's winning creation!

 Yesterday a few kids got the idea to make this giant pyramid out of legos. . .they did a super job working together on it.

 Today the 3-5 group was playing with shaving cream and the 6+ group wanted in on the fun too!!!  Then we put together crowns for everyone.  A little later (after these pics were taken) the kids got the glue and jewels out and decorated them further.  Then went to the playmaze and had sword fights and coronations :)

 This is one of Frederick's buddies from his soccer team. . .his mom works with me.

Wouldn't you know, my kids ended up wearing their crowns ALL DAY today?!?  So much fun.  Margaret wondered if she should wear hers to church tonight.  I asked if she was God's princess.  She said she was so I said she should :)

And it was a COLD weekend for soccer.  Like freezing-cold-I-can't-believe-this-is-May cold.  Ugh.  Here are a couple of action shots from Frederick & Margaret's team:

 Frederick on the far right. . .

 Margaret making a fashion statement in her blue socks. . .

 A shot with both Frederick (#2) and Margaret. . .looks like another kick-off for them. . .they don't score often so I'm sure they are getting ready to kick-off.

 Margaret in action!

 And Frederick. . .

 Look at that intense face on him!!!  He pretty much plays all positions (except goalie) and also coaches his teammates while on the field.  And he's 7 playing in the U10 bracket. . .his coach (Tom) always says "I need 3-4 more Fredericks out there" -- ha!

I'm pretty sure a ball or two got by her. . .but she looks cute though, doesn't she???

A few hours later Marie and Thomas took the U12 field for their game. . .unfortunately I didn't really get any action shots of Marie. . .the week I was gone she scored half of her team's goals so I know she's *in* action!

 Working on a Bell strategy???  Ref looks a little suspicious. . .

 Love that the siblings are playing together and I can get both in one shot :)

 That would be Thomas in the middle looking like he has some good kicking form. . .

 And what a funny throw-in. . .but his feet are both still on the ground. . .:)
I love these low shots. . .

These weren't the only soccer games this weekend. . .before this YMCA game, Thomas had played in the pouring down rain for his travel team. . .the younger two and myself did not attend that game.  I had planned on it but when the rain never stopped. . .well. . .the cozy (warm) comforts of home won out.  I know you can't tell b/c our soccer players didn't layer up but it was COLD outside. . .like 50-degree cold.  Anyway, after this 1 p.m. game we headed back out for another 7:30 p.m. game in town with his travel team (it was a weekend tournament our rotary hosted).  I rarely have many shots because my camera is just a point-and-shoot and the fields are BIG.

(Thomas is the red team).

Sunday morning after church and lunch we headed back to the field for one more game.  Actually, we shouldn't have made it that far in the tournament but one of the teams that traveled to get here didn't come back, forfeiting the game to us.  Not so lucky for the parents. . .if it was possible, it was even colder on Sunday!  The blanket the girls are using is what I was wrapped up in the night before. . .nothing for me on Sunday :(

And then it started raining. . .again. . .

 Love seeing my girls together, though, and cuddling up like that :)

Thomas is in the back of the pack here, playing defense both days.  That's a change from his regular mid-field playing, but suited him well.  He is fast and saved quite a few balls.  On Sunday he started the game and never came out.  Considering the majority of the game was played by the defense, he sure got his workout in.

 This is a pic of Thomas and his best buddy on the team, JJ.  (JJ in the front, T on the right)

 Team picture with a Rotary representative and the boys' two coaches, Sam and Dave.

Thomas and JJ. . .never serious.  JJ's father is Thomas & Marie's YMCA soccer coach.

So, there you have it, Dear Family. . .our busy life down here in the cold, cold south.  Florida is but a memory.  . .