The Mom's Conference and Life.....

See, I told you all that I am not the greatest writer. I am trying to keep you informed. The truth is, I lost my camera for about a week, and I just found it on Friday in my coat pocket, go figure. Well, last weekend, the family and I went to Lake Tawakoni State park just for some much needed family fun. It was great. We let the boys fish, and the daughter and I played cards together. We laughed a lot. I feel like she is starting to mature so much. She is so wanting to get out of her childish ways, and become the young woman that God has her to be. It is hard at this age she is. She feels very disconnected from others her age. This weekend I went to a Mom's conference. It was very good for me as a Mom of a Daughter. I purchased a book called 5 conversations that you must have with your Daughter. I am really finding more and more that parents today are just not in tune with what our daughter are needing from us. We are so interested in being their friend, that we loose sight of what they need. I am by no means saying that it is not ULTIMATELY important to spend time with your daughter...it is. Here are some of the points that I got from this conference about what teen girls wish their moms would do:

1. ....Be my Mom first, then my friend.. Based on Matt. 10:37.
2. ....Make Friends with your own reflection.
3. ....Try to understand how important my friends are to me.
4. ....Walk your talk and Talk your walk..Don't just show me that you are walking,
tell me what you are doing. How do I know you are a Christian?

Some Stats they gave us are as follows:

14% of young people having Sex are actually having Sex AT SCHOOL..yes, in the parking lot and in the bathrooms.

5% of those actually DESIRE to be a teen MOM WOW!!! They are trying to get pregnant.

46% of those who lost their Virginity felt like they were not ready.

24% Were still was having sex after they knew they had a STD, and they did not tell their new partner.

Mom's need to be careful how they react. If your 14 year old Daughter comes up to you and says, "Mom, will you buy me a Thong?" Don't freak out! Don't do what they call the Primal SCREAM! lol. Stay calm. They don't understand totally what we are thinking. It is not that they want to have Sex, they want to feel sexy..like all the girls they see in a fashion mags. How you react to questions like these, is how much she is going to think that you will love her when she makes a mistake..Scream to your friends, just not to your Daughter..She needs you to understand her.

70% of Girls that looked at Fashion Mags. became depressed and withdrawn. Fashion Mags. are a detriment to your daughters health..FOR REAL don't buy them. They talked to us about how in the 1940's there was not a lot of Mirrors for girls to focus on their looks all the time. Parents were sewing all the clothes, so there was not size tags in the back to see if you were size 0 or not. Girls at this time were more focused on if they were going to be a good mom in the future or not.

I also learned that you are 4 times more likely to get an STD, then to get Pregnant. They said if someone told young ladies that most STD's lye dormant, and you will not know if you have something until you try to conceive a baby in the future and can't. Would that make you think about who you were sleeping with? Most teens I know, want to have a baby when they get older and marry. Another scenario they gave us is to tell your teen, how would you feel if the man you love got down on his knee and was giving you the most beautiful diamond ever, however you have a life long STD, and you know have to tell this man the truth.
It is also good to tell your Daughters that your Dress might just make it difficult for a Christian guy to guard and protect his own heart from sin. Mom's should always be picky about their children's peer groups..based on 1 Corth. 15:33 "..Bad company corrupts good character." I am not saying we should not be salt and light, but make a list of who are weekday friends and who are weekend friends. This is all I have right now, but below are some great links for those wanting to strengthen your walk with your daughters. You can also subscribe to Vicki Courtney blog site they are starting a book club over this book on January 5Th..Awesome for us moms. You Must see this blog! http://virtuealert.blogspot.com/

Pay Back Came..LoL! well, for one at least..;)

Well, after I was TP'ed twice in a row!!! My children and I thought it would be just too fun, to get these comedians back. Here is the result of our Revenge..LoL. All in good clean fun of course..;)

Halloween Night! BOO!

Here is some pictures of our Halloween night. The night started off with a Dinner in a pumpkin I forgot to take a picture of..That is OK..it did not turn out well. Then the Boys and Dad went out Trick or Treating. B and her Boyfriend stayed home and handed out candy and glow sticks..they were too cool for candy I guess..=). B was Jack Sparrow and Z was the Big Bad Wolf. The night ended with our home being Tp'ed by some really mean church friends, and then B's boyfriend thought that it would just be hilarious to repeat the night the very next night. So we ended up having our house Tp'ed two nights in a row...not FUNNY!! Pay backs are coming....:)!!!!

Boy Scout Campout

The weekend before Halloween, Kurtis and the Boys' went on a camp out with the boy scouts. It was awesome, the had a great time. Here are some pictures from that event. Z was looking off in one of these, but it is still really cute. Enjoy!

The Pumkin Patch --Fall FUN!!!

The Boys had to take a pumpkin to their boyscout camp, so we went and picked up one at our local pumpkin patch. Here are some of the pictures from that outing. It was fun, but My Daughter and Hubby were not there...=(.

Unfortunatly Z had his eyes closed, but still a good picture

The Money Factory Tour

On October 20Th we went with our Home school group to the Money Factory in Ft. Worth. It was really neat. We learned so much about how they print and publish our U.S. Currency. There are only 2 Money Factory's in the entire U.S., and we are blessed to have one right here in Texas. This field trip was one we will never forget. REALLY COOL..I highly recommend going at least once. They would not allow, as you can imagine, any camera's or cell phones. So, we did not get any pictures near this place. Here is the picture off the website below for our memory. After we took the tour, we had lunch at the Ft. Worth Stock Yards, some Good'ole Barbecue. The Kids had a great time. Here are the pictures.

The Money Factory Tour in Ft. Worth

A Visit to the Bee Keepers Farm

We went on another field trip recently with our home school group we are apart of. It was really cool. I know that this was nothing that I have ever seen even when I was in school. We visited a Bee Apothary. They told us all the things that they do with bee wax and honey. It was very hands on education. We learned how they use corn and old cedar as wood and flint in the smoker to smoke the bee's out and retrieve the honey combs. They, of course, wear protection to do this. We also learned that the average person can be bitten up to 100 times before it has a real effect, as long as they are not allergic to bees. Thankfully NO ONE! was bit. I thought to myself as all the bees were landing on us, "What was I thinking coming on this trip..lol???". We also learned that you have to live on at least a 200 acre farm before you can call yourself an organic bee farm because the bee's can fly away, and get into pesticides if not. This was, I must say, one of the neatest field trips thus far. Very educational! Here is some really cool pictures of the day.



Here is the whole group of home schooling kiddos that went! See home school is becoming so popular...What a big Group!

Here is a hive of Honey bees! They were all around us. NO ONE got bit..Praise the LORD!!!!

Here is a honey comb

Here is the churning machine. This is how they churn the honey..we learned so much!

Here the Kiddos got to learn how the beekeeper smokes the bees out to retrieve the honey. Really cool!

Homeschool Day at the Zoo!

Last week we had a home school day at the Ft. Worth Zoo. It was really a great day. We went with some other home school friends, and spent the whole day at the zoo. We learned a lot. They had booths set up around the zoo. The zookeepers were teaching us all about different animals in different segments through out the day. Here is some of the pictures from our trip.

Scouts

We joined a scout troup this year. I am so happy so far with this decision. The boys are loving it. We are going on our first camp out in a few weeks. They are selling popcorn too! If you need some just let me know..lol. Here is one of the boys. I could not get z. I will soon and post it. Doesn't he look handsome!

Have you Ever Heard of a Ziggurat?

Week two in History we got to learn about Ziggurats. They are multi. layered temples located in the Mesopotamian valley and Iran. They are believed to have been created by the Sumerians around 3500-2500 b.c.. I am learning so much with the boys I tell you.


Working so Hard!

Here is B's He did such a good Job, Did I tell you he loves to Build?

This is Z's he needed just a little bit of Help..lol But what a beautiful work of Art :)

A New Creature....

The first week of school the boys had to create with Clay a new creature and name it just like Adam did in the bible. They had so much fun. Here are some pictures.

Praise Be to the Lord!

My Boys in August celebrated their 1 yr. anniversary of baptism. I am so thankful to know that I will see all my children in Heaven. There is no greater joy!

Yes, I know I am so bad

Here is pictures of My boys on the first Day of School. In history they had to create a Creation book. They worked so hard, and here is a picture of some of the completed work. They loved it. Who knew we could have an Art and History lesson in one lesson.




Here is My baby girls First Day of school. She would not allow me to take a picture, she is too cool for that. So, my best friend Kim jumped in to make her smile and save the day. Go KIM!!!

Well, here I go. Just so you all know, I am not good at keeping up with this. I promise to try and do better. I am going to try and catch you all up on our life. I am finally uploading the camera. I am good at that at least took pictures. Well, a lot has happened since JULY. My kiddo's all started back to school in August. My Baby Girl started school at a private Christian school. She is loving it so far. I am homeschooling our two boys. One is in 5Th and one is in 3rd. My Third grader did not think that he would like homeschooling at first, but know he loves it. They are both doing very well. I could not be happier with our decision to do this. I have listed my curriculum to the left here. We are doing a Charlotte Mason style in our History. We start back in Ancient History Creation and move forward. It is really cool. Above are some of our first Day of school pictures.

My Baby Girl Turns 14 WOW!

Well along with our scary night, my Baby girl turned 14 while we were in the hospital with her brother having surgery. We had to cancel her Birthday party. She was a really great sport though. We went a little over the top to compensate for her loss. We got her a Pink IPod. (Someone stole her old one) and all the accessories to go with that. She was happy. She is such a nice young lady and a good big sister. She was more worried about her baby brother. Happy Birthday baby Girl!

What a Long and Scary night!

On June 19th we were all snuggled in our warm beds to go to sleep except for one. He was crying big puppy dog tears so bad. I thought at first he was making up stories, because he likes us to lay down with him at night, but I saw those real puppy dog tears in his eyes. So, I got Up. Now, I know it was the Lord telling me to not go to sleep that night. I decided well it is midnight, I am not going to sleep, we better go to the ER and see what all these tears are about. Z and I hopped in the car, I kissed my Hubby goodnight, and told him I would see him in the Morning. little did I know that we would not be home for 3 days. Z was telling me that his right side was hurting. So, I having just finished some nursing school classes, knew that there was only one thing that could cause that pain in the lower right quadrant. I did not know however, that little kiddos are most commonly the victims of Appendicitis. I always thought that it was adults. Sure enough, at 3:30 am they told us that we were going in for Emergency surgery in 4 hours. WOW! very scary when you don't even know the Dr. who is going to cut open your child. I am thankful that she did a wonderful JOB! Here are some recovery pictures of my precious little one Enjoy! He is great Now..just to up date.