Clash of Clans--Birthday Celebration

Tera is such a great themed birthday planner.  JP and the older kids play Clash of Clans together, so she decided to give Daniel a Clash of Clans themed birthday party.  

Kiwi gems

Tera made and decorated the cake--half brownie and half peanut butter blondie with homemade whipped cream cheese icing.  

The best part is...he had no clue and was so surprised!

 Me and my baby!  

We had to reenact this photo from 2013. It didn't quite turn out the same!  

Definitely taller than mom, now!

Happy 15th Birthday, Daniel!

15 years ago, you came into the world. You were you from the first moments.  You are now officially the "big" brother you've always wanted to be! 

You have such a wide variety of interests and you give each of them your attention!  

Your goofiness makes me laugh, even when I probably shouldn't.

I sure do love you, my goofy, tea-drinking, tai-chi loving, book-reading, sweet boy!

Daniel, we are so proud of the young man you are becoming.  

We thank God for giving you to us! 

"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity."  

1 Timothy 4:12

Happy Birthday, Daniel!!!!

Hold on...It's going to be a bumpy ride!

It seems like every activity has converged on this week.  

1st dual enrollment classes for Tera, 1st band rehearsal for Daniel,  Daniel's 15th birthday, Ring bearer shopping for Michael,  another dentist appointment and all that on top of our regular activities and school.   And we had to say "no" to two other events happening on Daniel's birthday. 

Whew!  

In some way, I feel overloaded thinking about everything; but at the same time, I feel like I have a plan and we're good to go.  

I know where we are going in school this week, even with at day off for Daniel's birthday.  My menu and cleaning schedule is in my mind.  I've got a list of non-negotiable items I want to do every day--devotions, exercise, walking the dog, and cleaning/cooking.   To others, it would seem logical to let things slide when faced with a crazy busy week, but I'm a "Driver" (Check out "Overwhelmed:  How to Quiet the Chaos and Restore Your Sanity" by Kathi Lipp and Cheri Gregory)  and having a plan is my ticket to avoiding the Train to Overwhelmedville.  

I still have a few things to do this evening to help make my Monday go a little smoother tomorrow, but I am ready for the bumpy ride!!!

Our Scripture in Bible study today is so fitting for any challenges we may be facing:

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.  Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:28-39

Clean Sweep

Because this time of year can be difficult for me emotionally, I'm taking some proactive steps to keep myself on an even keel.  Daily devotions, time out with JP once a week, consistent school routine, and daily exercise/healthy eating.   I've also gotten the kids on a daily cleaning schedule, as well as have begun to find a routine for cleaning for the rest of the house.  Still tweaking my overall plan.  

Another thing we are doing is a house-wide de-clutter.  Hopefully, we will also get to some long overdue projects.  

Since my original copy got wet this morning, I'm recording it here to keep from losing it!  And I'm also the kinda person that is motivated by crossing things off a list.  I started today and it's nice to see things already ticked off! 

We have several big projects:

1.  Revamping what we call our office, which is really the guest room that houses the only functional closet JP and I have.  (100 years ago, closets were not as popular as they are now.)  

2.  Cleaning out an upstairs junk room 

3.  Paint the inside chimney

4.  Reorganize our bathroom storage space to make it more functional for our family

5.  Clean the basement

6.  Reorganize the shed

My 40 small de-clutter projects: 

1.  Hall bookcase
2.  Hall school supplies
3.  Our school shelf
4.  Living room bookcase
5.  Media cabinet
6.  Hope chest
7.  Dining room school supplies
8.  Walking stick corner
9.  Top of paper cabinet in dining room
10.  Living room bookcase #2
11.  Paper cabinet
12.  Under bathroom sink
13.  Bathroom closet
14.  Bathroom storage cabinet top
15.  Bathroom storage cabinet bottom
16.  Medicine cabinet
17.  Under kitchen sink
18.  Freezers
19.  Fridge
20.  Seasonal items-gloves, hats, coats
21.  Game shelf
22.  Middle area bookcase #1
23.  Middle area bookcase #2
24.  Middle area bookcase #3
25.  Middle area bookcase #4
26.  Bench and book baskets
27.  Dressers
28.  Shoes
29.  Office closet
30.  Office closet- top
31.  Wrapping paper holder
32.  Blanket closet
33.  Plastic bags
34.  Seeds
35.  Hose out trash cans
36.  Kids' clothes
37.  Kids' closets
38.  Cleaning closet
39.  Top of fridge
40.  Desk drawer


UPDATE:  I finished all the kitchen cabinets and drawers!  9/6

My kitchen also just so happens to have 40 cabinets and drawers combined.  So I will be counting down those as well. 

Kitchen drawers 10  9 7 5  4 3 0

Uppers  10  8 6 0

Lowers  12 8 0

Tops   10 8 0

Hopefully, seeing this list marked down on a daily basis will continue to motivate our progress to a house that cleans itself.  A house that works for us versus a house that works us! 

Totality Awesome Party

We are blessed to be in the line of totality for the solar eclipse. Our family had planned on attending a local event, but decided to view the eclipse from home instead. I didn't feel well most of the afternoon, so it turned out to be  a wise decision for us to celebrate at home.  Plus no crowds to fight and a cool place to go in and out during the 1.5 hours from partial to totality. 

JP ran out to the store to stock up on snacks for our eclipse party: 

Since JP was home today, he worked on making pinhole viewers with the boys.

And creating the perfect safe viewing option for a younger child.  

Meet Ecli-boy or E-man!  

View from the inside of the pinhole viewer.  Our glasses gave a much better view of the eclipse than our pinhole viewer.  

The crescent shape effect through the leaves on the trees was so amazing to see.  We were also happy that we got to see shadow bands or shadow snakes in the 20-30 seconds before totality.  Daniel was the first to spot them.  There is really no way to describe how awesome seeing a total solar eclipse in real life can be.  Pictures and videos do not in any way do it justice! 

It was truly totality awesome!!!

Her First Fencing Tournament

On Saturday we drove about 3.5 hours to a town in Georgia for our daughter to compete in her first fencing tournament.  There is always a learning curve the first time you actually compete in something.  No medals, but such a great learning experience.  She came home more determined to improve for the next tournament.  I cannot express how proud I am of this one!  Tera has a goal and she works at it.  She puts in the long, and I mean LONG hours of training on top of all her other responsibilities. 

My beautifully strong daughter!