New pictures

I just posted some pictures of Lorien's tournament, and this week at Grandview, they are having spirit week. They are doing all kinds of fun things. The first day was "injury day" which means you pretend that you are hurt in one way or another. Lorien was using some wrist wraps and was going to use Kyrie's boot, but decided not to.

Yesterday was Nerd day - and Lorien was going to wear little empty boxes of Nerds all over her shirt, but she didn't have time to get it together. Bummer.

Today she is being a super villain. Yikes. Of course, she didn't pick being a super hero!

Oh well. The game is Friday night!

Lorien's Volleyball

Here is Lorien playing volleyball!











This is Melinda - fellow teammate!













The girls are practicing for another game.













Lorien just getting ready to play.

This is Lorien getting ready for "super hero and

villain day" at Grandview!















The last of the flowers for this year. They will be gone soon. It has already been in the 40's one night.















Here is Aleya watching Lorien put on her super hero outfit.












Kayren is getting ready to DRIVE us to school! Morning traffic can be very challenging! Lots of pushy Iowans who want to get to work.

Fall Morning in Iowa

The dew is so heavy and the cool air makes you want to wear a jacket, even though you know that by the afternoon, you will want to turn the air conditioner back on. Iowa has those days where you need both the heater and the air conditioner.

I had lots of lovely pictures of Lorien's volleyball, but I can't seem to find the connecting cord to hook up the camera. I suspect Kayren has heisted it, but I need to investigate before accusing.

I have so many more students this semester! It's great for the school, and challenging for me. I am hoping to write some more labs this semester that we can put online. I think that will help!

This weekend is homecoming, so Lorien and Aleya want to go to the game. Kayren is working and can't go. Tom and I are supposed to go up north for the installation service of a new pastor up there. It is a busy week!

I just love reading all the other blogs and seeing what everyone is doing! Facebook is fun too. It's nice to be able to keep up with family and friends. Facebook is a strange but fascinating idea that has me chatting with friends from 30 years ago (high school!) It is amazing that they are all on facebook and keep up with it. For the most part, it seems that they love the Lord and truly are living for Him. It is such an encouragement to see what the Lord is doing in the lives of old friends. We are thankful for His goodness!

New post at last!

I have started working on facebook, because my children are more apt to do facebook than blog, or even comment on my blog. Anyway, now that I am shuffling both projects, they will probably both suffer! I love the blog though because you can load the latest pics of the things that you are doing. I know that you can do that on facebook too, but I don't know how. So, I will stick with the blog.

All to say - Lorien won her first game, though in the tournament that they had on Saturday, things didn't go quite as well. They only won 1 out of 8. However, they put forth lots of effort and learned a lot. Isn't that what we always say when they get creamed?

I'm working on lots of math labs. I have 45 students, which is more than double my highest group. I have several higher level students with good questions and motivation. It is fun to teach Algebra again, and not just fractions and decimals. However, it requires quite a bit of work to keep up with the class and the curriculum keeps changing. Work is never boring. As I read Mary Kathryn's posts, parents haven't been the thorn for us that they can be otherwise. Most of the parents that bring their children to us are finally admitting that their children are wayward and need direction and accountability. It helps - tons. When Dad or Mom or both are helping, things go a LOT better.

Tonight is Bible study. We are studying aging, which is a very interesting topic. It often gets swept aside, and it has been very helpful to study it.

Lorien has a game and won't get home until 11 this evening. I will make my fourth trip across town today to pick her up. We brought Lorien to school. Then we brought Kayren to take her midterms. Then I came to work. Then I will come back to pick up Lorien. Yikes! $$$$ (petrol!)

Hopefully, I will get to write more later.

Thursday

Today is Lorien's first volleyball game. However, it is over an hour and a half away, so I won't get to go. But, we will wait and see how it goes. They were practicing rotations yesterday.

Kayren and Aleya are at Faith Academy today, working on math and Spanish.

It is rainy and cool, and fall is on the way.

Tom is getting his tooth fixed today - Lord willing.

Jathan got his pulled a day or two ago.

We had a wonderful ladies' Bible study on Tuesday. It is refreshing to have such good teaching and fellowship in the middle of the week!

Friday at last!

I was reading Mary Kathryn's blog, and sympathizing with how tired she was. Teaching takes it out of you somehow, and it takes a while to get back in the swing, even when we only had a one month break.

Well, we've heard back from all the college guys, and all of them seem to be having good semesters. Kyrie must be rather busy now!

We are going to a baby shower tonight, which means we won't make the opening home football game for Grandview. Lorien and Kayren love going to high school football games, and I have to admit that they are lots of fun!

Lorien's first volleyball game is next week. She is nervous and excited! I'll try to get some pictures.

Kayren and Aleya are settling into their schedules at home, though they spent quite a bit of time at Faith this week. It takes us all time to adjust.

The girls got to go to youth group this Wednesday and they really enjoy that!

Well, I need to get to work here. I have lots of students this semester, 39 I think, in 12 different classes. I'll have lots of grading, though less than last semester, and lots of tutoring. It's a busy semester!

Jason is working on trim

This is Aleya's room.

Lilly playing in the pool.  

Trim is needed here, and Jason should get it up by this afternoon.

This is the downstairs bathroom, which turned out beautifully!

And, we still have work to do!

Labor Day

This is Lorien's room.

Her room is almost finished.

She needs baseboards, but it will probably be a while until we get those.

This is the controversial window.  A fun window, with the purpose of offering light, interest and fun to the room.

I quite like the blue, and the wainscoating wallpaper, which covers many imperfections.

Today is Labor Day, and we are enjoying the fact that we don't have to work today!  However, I thought I would show the updated basement.