We left Nebraska on April 16 for Michigan.  The girls and I were going to stay for a month (which seemed like a really long time) and then head back to Nebraska for two months, after that we planned to "spend more time in Michigan."  A.k.a. (move back to Michigan), but it doesn't seem like a normal move because we still needed to keep the house functional in Cambridge so we can come back for Eric to work and us to visit our friends.  We all have grown to love Cambridge so we really do not want to say goodbye.  We have met some of the best friends and I feel like we have all grown a ton.  When I started homeschooling I said I wanted to do this for two years, and didn't think it would be good for any involved to do any more than that.  And we are nearing the end of two years already.

On Wednesday, April 17, Eric flew to Pennsylvania to an auction for another ethanol plant.  We had mixed feeling about the whole thing.  We were just getting to a place where our family life was getting comfortable and Eric wasn't crazy busy all the time.  But it was an awesome opportunity too.

By late in the day it was looking like they where going to get it and by 8-9:00 that night they were the proud owners of a 110 million gallon a year plant in Clearfield, Pennsylvania.  That following weekend we headed up north for the weekend and it felt very much like deja-vu.  When they got the plant in Cambridge, we went up north for the weekend and on Monday he headed out and the crazyness began.  Same here, on Monday he headed out and the crazyness began.

Only on the home front it was a little different this time, this new devolopment changed things for everyone.  I am a little older and wiser and we have been here and done this.  I know knew what the road ahead looked like, (not an easy one.)  No longer where we heading back to Nebraska for two more months (sudden change of plans are kindof hard I found), Eric wasn't going to be there so it seems a little silly to be there homeschooling without him, even though we miss our friends terribly.  So now the girls were going to be staying in school through the rest of the school year (which they do love.)  The other things that were different this time was we were living at Eric's parents house, which was fine through the middle of May, but now the time frame was indefinate because the renters in our house had no place to go.  This is where I was not emotionally doing so well, (a.k.a. I will admit I turned into a brat.)  I missed my husband, my friends, and I had no space of my own.

I am slowly realizing/remembering that God is in control and will do everything in His time and He just wants us to lean on Him a little more in the harder times.  Unfortunately I can't say I have done a good job with that, but I am learning.

The girls adore Mr. Wayne (Eric's parent's neighbor) he came over and gave the girls golf cart driving lessons.  So fun!!!

There was a really nice night and I had spent a little quiet time at the beach in the afternoon so the girls thought it would be a great night for a picnic at the beach.  I thought it sounded like a great idea and then Cliff and Karen could have dinner without us for once.  We ate our sandwiches and the girls asked if they could go look at the water.

After a bit I saw them jumping and I knew the temptation had been too strong.  They were jumping the waves, it was nice, but not that nice.

The girls have been enjoying school, especially the special days like nerd day.

And crazy hair day!

Mothers Day, my girls and I, there have been some rough adjusting days but overall they have done pretty good through it all.

Daddy Daughter Dance

 The middle of April the Girl Scouts in Cambridge had another Daddy Daughter Dance, this year with a Hawaiian theme.  The girls were not super excited about having to share their Daddy, but thankfully he has two arms!

 Our friends Jeff and Brylyn were there too!  It was fun to peek in and see them all dancing.

 And Macy and Ryon.  I know the Daddy's don't seem so excited but I hope they treasure these times with their little girls, I know the girls love it.

 Daddy all ready to go with his girls.  They picked out his clothes for him and thankfully grandma had bought these dresses earlier for the girls, it fit the theme perfectly!!!

Easter Festivites

 Kylie, Macy, Brylyn, and Paige ready to go get those eggs.  Cambridge has an Easter egg hunt the Saturday before Easter.  This year they went to the football field because of construction near the park.  It was cold and windy, but the sun was beautiful.

 Karinda was in an older age group so she waited with her friend Lexie.

After the hunt we went to our friends to dye Easter eggs with all the girls.  Sad to say I think this was a new thing for the girls.  It seems like we are usually traveling or getting ready to travel.

Karinda, Macy, Kylie, Mallory, and Brylyn coloring their eggs.  Everyone had their own cups.  So everything went very smooth.  It took longer to get everything mixed up than it did for them to color them.  They very much enjoyed it though and have been very good about going to the fridge to and having an egg for a snack!

Kenly thought she had to get in on the action too. 

Kylie was having a little trouble practicing piano so she went to take a break with daddy and fell asleep.  She never does this.  It must have been a good weekend.

Boating in March

 March has been an incredible month with the warm weather with 18 days above 70 and 8 of them being above 80.  We finally took the boat out for a ride on Saturday afternoon.  Normally we wouldn't even think about taking it out yet and normally it would just be for a ride.  We went for a ride on the lake and saw a few pelicans :)  We only see them in early spring, not really sure where they go from here.  Then we headed to the sand hills the girls like to climb.

 At the last minute the girls grabbed their swim suits just in case they wanted to get in the water.

 They started out with a water fight.

 And then climbed on the hills.  The camera got a little wet with the water fight.  That could be the fuzziness.

 Kylie braved it and jumped in and swam. We thought it would only be once with the water pretty cold yet, but no, she did it quite a few times.

Karinda jumped in too, just not quite as much as her sister.  We have been thoroughly enjoying this weather, and are a little scared for what April could bring yet.  At least if it does snow, it won't last long!

Karinda turns 9

Karinda turned 9 on March 24 so she got to

have a birthday sleep over.  We had a volunteering event we were involved in the weekend of her actual birthday so we celebrated a week early.  I picked the girls up from school and began to question my sanity.  Thankfully the weather was beautiful so they played outside for awhile while we waited for all our guests to arrive.  Then I loaded them all up in the van and headed to Big Mama's for some ice cream and then to play in the park.  After a bit we headed home and they played while I made some pizza's. 

 After supper I lined up some chairs in the living room for some pedicures.  That took a little longer than I had hoped but I think they all looked and felt good when we were done.

The girls all fell asleep pretty quickly and we heard them again at 6:30!  Overall it was the perfect time of fun play time and planned activities.  We had kids ranging from 4-10 but they all got along really well.

On Karinda's actual birthday we baked another cake and had the Springers over for dinner.  The best part was she now had enough money to buy an ipod!  It is ordered and on its way and we are counting down the days until it arrives.  To keep me sane we gave Kylie a loan to pay for the rest of hers so they could both have them at the same time.

Green Eggs and Ham

 This month for school we are doing a Dr. Suess author study.  Friday night we had friends over for some Green Eggs and Ham dinner and their little friend Macy spent the night.  The girls made the hats on Friday for school and were all excited to do a Green Eggs and Ham play for their friends but that didn't happen once everyone got here, but that is o.k.

Crafting and Creating

Since the beginning of the year there has been lots of creating and crafting going on here.  More on my part than the girls but they have been doing some too.

 It was a proud moment Saturday morning when we got up and the girls were so nicely playing checkers under the fort they made instead of sitting mindlessly in front of the TV.  After the first of the year we created "screen time tickets" to encourage them to find other things to do instead of watch TV, and it seems to be working!

 I bought fabric to make curtains for the front windows of the house
in October and finally got the motivation to get them done.  I love them!  They are super simple so I added denim flowers on them to spice them up a bit.

After doing so much traveling and trying to become more organized while doing it I made these bags to hang on the back of the seats.  They have a few issues yet but this could work better than anything we have had yet.  There is a big pocket in the back for larger coloring books, notebooks, and games.  The next pocket holds the DVD player.  I used Eric's old jeans so it has pockets built in for RedBox movies.  (The best invention ever, RedBox that is.)  The next pocket holds books and the bottom panel has a larger pocket and individual marker pockets.  Unfortuntaely it is no where near ready for Etsy yet, but it is a good starting prototype and we can go from there. 

 I saw that my cousin Jen had made something like this and I thought it was sooo cute.  Hopefully the sisters quote will soak in their little heads.  The last couple days they have been more like enemies.

I wanted to hang some of our rules of the house.  Lynette Bell had the words thing on her blog.  The one next to it is our screen time rules.  And the ones below I made for the girls for Valentines Day.  It has their names and we love you because...under the glass and then we can write different things with white board marker on the glass.  They think it is the greatest!

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