100th Day of School

Monday was our 100th day of school for this year. I always like to celebrate with the children when we get to the 100th day. We like to check out children's books about the 100th day of school and each year we do some different activities. This year we made necklaces out of fruit loops (with 100 fruit loops) and made 100th day sunglasses that they decorated.

The kids making their necklaces out of fruit loops

The kids with their glasses (and their necklaces)

Timothy is in Kindergarten this year and so it is lots of fun to see all the children's books available at the Library for the 100th day of Kindergarten. Miss Bindergarten and the 100th Day of Kindergarten is one of my favorites, but I also love 100 School Days. The kids enjoy the day because the "theme of the day" is all about the 100th day. We even do our creative writing entries about our first 100 days of school and what was their favorite thing that they learned this year. The each got to bring 100 of some collection of things (Tim did 100 Legos, Sarah did 100 silly bands, and Josh did 4 different ways of doing 100 cents.) Hey when you have 5 children you can do show and tell right here at home!

I will say that God has blessed us much in these 100 days. I love being able to work with my children right here at home and see them grow and develop and be stretched (right along with Mommy.) We have learned all kinds of things and I love having them be here at home with me. We play together, laugh together (yes, sometimes cry together too) and we feel blessed to be able to do so. Thank you God for where you have put us right now in this time in our lives.

Playing a bit of basketball and cheering them on

Yesterday was Joshua's first basketball game with Upwards Sports. He did really well. He almost made a basket and covered his man as closely as possible. It was great to see him grow into this position.

Joshua in the back of the court

Joshua on the sidelines

Our sweet Sarah made her cheerleading debut yesterday as well. She joined Upwards Cheerleading and she was able to cheer for Josh's team. She did great too!

 Sarah getting introduced on the court

Go Team Go!

It was so much fun to go to their game and see them trying so hard. Upwards has a neat philosophy about the game as well. They are so encouraging to the children and they seek to teach the children the rudiments of the game as well as encourage them in Christ. They learn verses as teams and they talk about Christ-likeness on and off the field. It has been neat to join this organization!

Thank You Lord for Craig's List :)

We have been in the market for a while for a larger table. The table we have had since we got married was Dave's family's when Dave was growing up. It has been a good table. We have had many, many hours around it. The thing is, now that Anna is almost out of her high chair (she'll be 2 in March), we are outgrowing our table. So, we began a search on Craig's List for a larger table. We have looked on and off for months, but our search began more earnestly after Christmas. Isn't it neat how God provides just what we need, at just the right time?Two days ago, we found a beautiful table that seats 8 for $50! It is just great. We are very happy with our new table, (although it is so much larger than our other table that it felt like we were eating at a medieval table and that we should have goblets from which to drink.)     :)

You really can't get a feel for the size - it is MUCH bigger than our previous one! :)

Other Happenings in the Mateer household

Dave and I celebrated our 12th anniversary on January 2nd. What a blessing that was. My parents were here and we were able to go out for dessert and enjoy some time together.

The kids are doing well. They had a wonderful Christmas with both sets of grandparents and now are getting back into school.

Dave's parents visiting

The kids with Grandpa Coggins

A sweet moment with Grandma Coggins and Anna

We are thankful for so many things - twelve years of blessed marriage, five beautiful children and two sets of wonderful grandparents. We are even thankful for finding a beautiful table on Craig's list for a very reasonable price. God is so good to us. What are you thankful for today?

Christmas 2010

What a joyous Christmas this was this year. Dave's parents came down and spent a whole week with us. It was a tremendous blessing for us all.

This is our Christmas tree with our train underneath. The train is extra special because it was Dave's Dad's when he was a boy.

The children showing off some of their special presents from their stockings from Daddy and Mommy. (I love how Anna's hat is over her face completely.)

Pop-Pop and Mom-Mom with the kids. 

After celebrating Christmas that morning, Dave and his parents and some of the kids went geocaching. Up in Pennsylvania, they would have had a white Christmas if they had been home, but down here we had a "white" Christmas with bright white sunshine, not snow. :) It was actually a beautiful week, although it did get cold down here for a few days before Dave's parents left.

Here we are too. :)

Now before we close about Christmas, we have been thinking lots about God's grace. What a gift of God's grace to send His One and Only Son to be the Deliverer, the Savior of all men. Dave and I have been teaching Sunday school to the children at our church. We have been building for weeks on end going through the Old Testament learning about the promised Deliverer. One of the little girls said on day, "Do you know who the Deliverer is?" I responded, "I know who the Deliverer is, do you know who the Deliverer is?" She said, "No. Does anyone else know who the Deliverer is?" Sarah said, "God is..Jesus is." The first little girl got this beautiful look on her face as it dawned on her who the Deliverer was and is. That, dear friends, is what Christmas is all about. 

Diane's 5K - A good ending to a busy week

This was such a busy week! It also ended up being a good week. The kids had a good time decorating their little Christmas village gingerbread houses. I was excited because there were 5 houses - one for each child and when we opened them, they were TINY!!!We had a good time though. (I decorated Anna's for her.)

Then we had our co-op Christmas party this past Thursday. Diane was pretty much in charge of that, so it added a bit of planning and busy-ness. It ended up being lots of fun, though. Then Thursday night was the NTM Christmas party as well. Poor Joshua and Daddy - they were sick this day and weren't able to go to either Christmas party. Josh was a real trooper, though, and really enjoyed spending the day just he and Daddy.

Then today I ran the Reindeer Run 5K in Orlando. It was so much fun. It is probably my favorite 5K. They are very festive and people dress up in Christmas decor. You can hear jingle bells all around you during the run. This year it was at Sea World, so that was an added bonus. (Not that many of the animals were out or anything, but we did run past a group of flamingos.) My dear friend Katherine ran it with me. We got to have about 3 hours of fellowship this morning - just us two. :) It was kind of nice.

Katherine and I EARLY this morning (notice how it is still dark outside)

The Evolution of a Quilt

Dave told me a while back that I should blog about my quilt, but I was nervous to do so until it was completed. I finished my little creation on Saturday night and so today I am blogging about it. I am actually entering a JoAnn Fabrics quilting contest. I have been working on it for several months and and very pleased with the finished product. Whether or not I win the contest is not a big deal, but it sure has been fun doing it.

This quilt design has a story. When I was little and we would go to my grandma's church, she would draw this little design on the church bulletin for me. She was also an avid quilter and she loved the color purple. In loving memory and honor of her, I decided to turn her design into a quilt. In doing this, I learned how to do a ton of new things! I learned how to do mitered corners, scalloped edges, making your own bias tape, and freehand quilting. It was so fun. I hope you enjoy the finished product as much as I have enjoyed making it!

This is when I first appliquéd the design onto the fabric. 

Then I sewed around them with black thread to make them stand our more.

Then I pieced the quilt together and learned the mitered corners. I also learned the freehand quilting - very fun.

My finished product.

and a close-up of one of the squares. 

Happy Birthday 8 year old!

Happy Birthday to our beautiful Sarah who is 8 today. What a blessing she is. Here are a few pictures of her growing up.

Sarah today with her Mickey pinata and her silly bands. Happy Birthday sweet girl.

Goodbye to a Merry Friend

We started decorating for Christmas this afternoon. (I know, I know, it's still November. Sigh.) Alas, there was a casualty since last season.

My sister's family got us a "Merry Monster" several years ago. (I think that's the correct name anyway.) For those uninformed among you, the Merry Monster is a jolly little critter who sings a couple of Christmas-like tunes when you press his foot. The best thing is that there is absolutely no volume control. And the speakers that must be inside this thing put Bose to shame. It goes up to 11, if you know what I mean. The kids love it. The parents love it in 6 minute increments.

Sadly, Merry Monster refused to belt out his traditional jingle-jolly-deck-them-halls-merry-sparkly-white-christmasy mirth this year. I suspect the parts I heard rattling around inside of him had something to do with that.

Goodbye, Merry Monster, I hardly knew ye.

Two Beautiful Lives

Our family left for PA almost two weeks ago after receiving word that Dave's grandmother (on his father's side) was very weak and unresponsive and not expected to live very much longer. We arrived in PA Tuesday evening and had a couple of days to be with Dave's mom while his dad was in Ohio with his dying mother. On Wednesday, we went to visit Dave's other grandmother, who was living in a skilled nursing facility in the area. We took all the children and visited with her for over an hour. The children did great. It was such a blessing to spend that time with her.

Thursday morning, Dave's dad decided to return to PA. Ten minutes before arrived home, we got a call that Dave's other grandmother (my mother's mother) had been taken to the hospital because she was unresponsive. As soon as he arrived home, he and Dave's mother drove to the hospital. Probably 30 minutes after they left, Bob called and said that Mom-Mom Hogsett had passed away. She breathed her last breath here on earth and stepped right on into eternity with her Lord. The next morning, Mom-Mom Mateer also went to be with her Lord.

These two beautiful women went home to be with the Lord within one day of each other. Their lives were so interconnected: they had lived in the same town, worked at the same school, worshiped and served at the same church, had children that married each other, and even lived at the same assisted living facility in their later years. Their lives were intertwined in a way that few people's are. Most importantly, they shared the same love and passion for the Lord and the things of the Lord. The families decided to have a double funeral service to honor and remember both of these precious women. So, after being in PA for almost a week, we had a funeral for both women of faith on Monday morning.

How we thank the Lord for blessing us with such dear Mom-Moms.

Mom-Mom Mateer with Sarah Mother's Day 2008

Mom-Mom Hogsett with Dave, Sarah and Josh Christmas 2008

Anticipation

Samuel and Anna eagerly anticipate the Sunday-morning homemade cinnamon rolls...

First Florida Camping Trip

As a kid, our family camped fairly regularly. I have many fond memories of days full of hiking trails and creating our own adventures in the woods, followed by evenings around the campfire. We've gone a few times as a family, but not as often as I would prefer. In particular, we hadn't gone camping since we moved down to Florida.

With the 149-degree-days behind us for a month or so, we thought we'd give it a shot this weekend. We  didn't go too far--just to Gemini Springs across the lake--figuring that if things didn't go too well, we could always bring a few kids back to the apartment and meet up again in the morning.

We kind of went to the other extreme on temperatures with near-record lows Friday night. But everyone bundled under the covers and did really well! We decided to only stay one night, but got the full experience: evening campfire, s'mores, games around the campsite, late-night outhouse runs, getting up before dawn, cooking bacon on the fire, whittling sticks, hiking, and lots more!

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Today was the last day of our preschool study on Community Helpers in co-op. We ended up with asking the kids "what do you want to be when you grow up?" Today was when we talked about that. Here was Samuel's answer:

"I want to be a fireman, a police officer, a doctor and a postman!" He also wants to be a daddy. :)

Sarah and Joshua learned about the Statue of Liberty. Here is a lovely picture of our own little Statue of Liberty.

Harvest Party and Zoo Boo Bash

We really had a low-key week, but this weekend we had several things going on. We have a small zoo not far from our house and they have a fall "Zoo Boo Bash" at the end of October. We went and they had little stations for the kids to get fun treats. The kids really enjoyed it. There was even a hayride, of sorts. It was indeed a hayride, it just was around the parking lot of the zoo rather than over a hilly farm. :) We will take what we can get.

The hayride

Outside the Elephant area (notice the shorts for the BRRR! cold fall weather! OK, not really- it has been in the 90's this week!)

This is actually a picture of Timothy holding his pumpkin fan in the face hole. Such a funny guy. :)

Then last night, we went to a Harvest Party at a church in the area. It was fun. It is a nice alternative to Halloween and the kids enjoy playing all the games and hanging out with their friends. They had lots of different games with lots and lots of candy for prizes. We filled up 2 mixing bowls with all the candy they got!

The kids before the Harvest Party Started

Anna LOVED the chose a duck game. You would pick a duck and the number on the bottom told how many pieces of candy you would get. She didn't care about the candy (except for the lollipop in her mouth), but she did love the ducks!

Josh and Sarah both won the cake walk - back to back. They chose Josh's number and then the very next time was Sarah's number! Josh was sweet and shared his cake with his friend.

Fun with the Fire Department

Today was an all around great day. We LOVE our homeschooling co-op. I know I have mentioned that before, but it continues to be a blessing for us. I (Diane) personally have found my calling and I love teaching the preschoolers this year. We have 5 boys and they are a joy (of course, two of them are ours, so I am really partial to them!)

This fall we are doing Community Helpers in the preschool class. (The older children were learning about Andrew Carnegie and John Rockefeller in one class and about the World's Fair in the other class.) The preschool class had the police department come a few weeks ago and then the fire department come today. It was SO COOL! The fire department came and shared with the children about fire safety and talked to the children about what to do if there was ever a fire in their home.

He put on all the gear so the children wouldn't be afraid of the fireman himself.

 (I love the way Anna is peaking over her shoulder in this picture.)

He let all the kids spray the hose too. Very cool.

Sammy after he sprayed the hose.

Josh came out about this time too. (Sarah was still in class).

The firemen also showed us all around the truck and taught us so many cool things. It was very neat. The next picture is of all of the co-op before the firemen left. 

My preschool class (one boy was sick today and Anna just tags along with everything, even though she is a little young to be considered a true preschooler.)

Since Sarah wasn't in many of these pictures, I thought you might enjoy one of the kids when they painted their pumpkins:

We thank the Lord for special blessings and fun memories with our dear children.