What's Happening?

There's been a lot going on around here but not many picture-taking opportunities. I am SO bad about blogging when I have no pictures to post.

I administered the IOWA test to my homeschool group this past week. It's funny how grueling it is to have to get up and out three mornings in a row! Gerren and Chase also took the test this year. I test them every other year beginning in 3rd grade and stopping once they get to high school, since they will then begin taking college placement tests, etc.

Landon took the CPT (College Placement Test) and CLM (College Level Math) at our local community college this week. He blew them away. I also mailed in his Dual Enrollment Application package. He hopes to take a computer course this summer then Calculus and Physics in the fall.

I need to renew my teaching certificate by June 30, 2010. I usually do this early in the recertification period. But this time, life slowed me down. I am certified in two areas: middle school math and elementary education. That means I have to recertify both areas. This involves 120 points, 60 points in each field. One college credit is worth 20 points. So, I need 3 credits in math and 3 credits in elementary education. A lot of different things count as "in field" for elementary ed, and a computer course is basically "in field" for anything. I also found out that a CLEP test will count if you have a college award credit on a transcript from the test. So, I'm debating whether to take the College Mathematics CLEP test (worth 6 credits) and send the scores to CFCC then request a transcript or taking Intermediate Algebra and Microcomputer Applications at CFCC this summer. Each is a six-week summer course. It seems like a miserable summer to me. But I haven't been an actual student at CFCC for a long time, so I'm not sure if they'd award credit on a transcript to me for the CLEP test or what. ??? I can't decide what to do, and I have no energy to try to call someone at CFCC and figure it out. Blech!

The boys are at Airfest in Tampa this weekend with their CAP squadron. So, it's much quieter here. I'm enjoying it! :)

Happy 14th Birthday, Gerren!

Gerren's birthday often sneaks up on me as it comes 10 days after Landon's. I feel like I have more time, but it just goes by too quickly. Birthdays are school holidays here, so we had the day off from school.

Chase again made breakfast as her birthday gift for Gerren. Today it was chocolate chip pancakes. (I had mine plain. I just don't like chocolate chips in my pancakes!)

Chase and Landon enjoy the food!


Finally, we got around to opening gifts. This card was just perfect for Gerren. Notice the resemblance?


Boys just love any humor that has to do with bodily functions!


Both boys have really started to love all things "Mustang" this year. Gerren requested this hat, but Greg thought the magazine would be neat, too!


Gerren was getting desperate for drumsticks. His drum teacher and given him a pile of old ones that he kept around, but he was down to his very last pair. So this was a welcome gift!


We also bought Gerren an iTunes gift card and a new pair of dress shoes for Civil Air Patrol, but the shoes haven't arrived yet. The new CAP boots we bought Landon for his birthday aren't here either!

Carys really enjoyed playing "box monster". Huh? Yesterday, she was calling Chase "Jesus". Who can figure out the mind of a three-year old?


Since Tuesday is CAP night, we saved Gerren's requested dessert, chocolate chip cheesecake, for after they got home.

Happy 16th Birthday, Landon!

Here is the birthday boy ready to open his gifts!


Chase didn't have any money for a gift (oh, those pesky management fees!), so she made breakfast for Landon with a little help from Dad - eggs, grits, bacon, and toast. She also made him this awesome card!


Awwww, thanks, Sis!


A card from the Department of Energy thanking Landon for using an alternative energy source - birthday candles! Okay, so it was really from Mom and Dad and included an iTunes gift card.


Mechanical pencils were actually on Landon's birthday list, so he got some of a little better quality than the dollar store cheapies he was using.


Hmmm.... what's this?


A graphing caluclator! Cool! Is it only homeschooling parents who give educational stuff for birthday gifts?


Landon always requests homemade strawberry shortcake for his birthday. It starts with a homemade angel food cake. (Ok, it comes from a box! My parents got this cake mix at a store in Belleville, IL, where they live. I can't find one like it down here. It comes with two packages of mix in it. The first is an powdered egg white mix that you sprinkle over cold water and whip on high speed until it forms stiff peaks. Then you fold in the other packet. It is the BEST angel food cake mix. My parents can't even get it anymore. It was a brand called Hospitality which may actually be a generic name. I used my last box on this cake, so I know I'm going to be searching the internet for more.)



Here's the finished product. It's a good thing Landon's birthday falls right at the beginning of strawberry season here. I even made homemade whipped cream this year for the first time.


Here's the King of the Day enjoying the creation!


And here's a tribute to a really awesome kid!

Carys Prays

Life has been busy. I've been reading others' blogs but not posting on my own. I've been thinking about this post for awhile since I read something on DeEtta's blog about one of her little darling's prayers.

Carys almost always wants to be the one who prays before meals now. This is how it goes:

"Dear God, thank you love for me." Interpretation - thank you for loving me. Then she begins to talk about whatever happened to her that day or whatever's on her mind. Last night she said, "Don't touch the stick. It's hard." She was trying to put the ClearPlay USB stick into the DVD player for the family night movie. She couldn't get it in, and we fussed at her and told her not to touch it. Some day it might be "I swing and slide." You get the drift. Then she finishes, "Jesus' Name. Amen." Sometimes she remembers to say thanks for the food, sometimes not. It cracks us all up as we try to listen closely and hear what she's saying. But I think she's right on target. She's just talking to God!

An Officer in the House

February 10 was a big day in the Meahl family as both of the boys were promoted that evening at their Civil Air Patrol meeting.

Gerren was promoted to Cadet Senior Airman. Here Major Shewbart pins on his grade insignia.


Major Shewbart, the Deputy Commander for Cadets, Gerren, and Greg.


And Landon was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant! He is only one of two cadet officers in his squadron at this time.


This is Major Shewbart, Landon, and the new Group 3 Commander, Major Miles.


I included this picture of the pinning on of Landon's epaulets for one reason. You can just see a tiny bit of Major Shewbart's face in the background.

If you look closely, you will see that he's talking. While he's pinning on the cadets' insignia or epaulets, he talks to them in a whisper. He said to Landon, "You're doing a good job, Landon. I'm proud of you. Keep up the good work." And I think he added something else more personal. He said something similar to Gerren. He's an incredible godly man who has had an awesome impact on my boys. I am so thankful for the men God has placed in my sons' lives at this crucial point in their spiritual growth (Keith Shewbart, Kevin Spiddle, Bob Ayton, Al Kearse.... I'm probably forgetting someone, but these popped in my head right away). Thank you for giving freely of your time to impact these young men.

Church?

I'm posting a link to an article sent to me by our friend, Jay Mitchell, who is starting a church in the Greenville, SC area. It pierced my heart, and I'd love to hear what some of my blog readers think. So, I found the article online and am posting the link here. The article is by Francis Chan and is entitled A Gathering Force.

Carys' 3rd Birthday AND The Dangers of Efficiency

First - The Price of Efficiency - I have been digital scrapbooking, and my 40gb hard drive was full. So, Greg purchased a huge hard drive and replaced the old one on my computer. Ever since then, I cannot get Shutterfly Studio to work. It cannot find My Pictures on the computer. This has been a constant source of aggravation for me. I LOVED Shutterfly Studio for two reasons: 1) It worked with the way I already had my pictures organized (in folders by year and month and event) rather than insisting on organizing them some other way (as my camera software does). 2) It had a great Screen Saver program. I gave each picture I wanted as part of my screen saver the keyword "screensaver" and the program used only those pictures. I didn't have to use every picture in one folder on the computer. I have been unable to find any other software (especially free software) that would work this way, and I don't have hours to spend learning some new software.

Greg spent hours on the phone two different times with Shutterfly trying to get this to work to no avail. One thing we noticed was that the pictures seemed to be stored in two separate places on my computer, once in My Pictures and again in a My Pictures folder which was in the My Documents folder. Greg thought that might be what was causing the confusion, so he deleted one set of pictures.

Last weekend, I saw that the pictures were still in two places on my computer. What a waste of space! So, being ever organized and efficient, I decided to delete one set. Well, I guess I deleted the wrong set, because it deleted all the pictures from both places on my computer. I lost everything. They weren't in the recycle bin, and they were unrecoverable from the hard drive even though we tried two different programs that were supposed to recover them.

Thankfully, we had backed up the hard drive to an external hard drive on 12/26, and I was able to recover all the pictures previous to that date. I also had whatever pictures I'd uploaded to my blog since then - Carys painting her toenails, Winter Encampment, New Year's Eve. Unfortunately, I had uploaded the pictures from Carys's birthday to the computer, erased them from my camera, but not yet blogged about this event. Therefore, I lost all the pictures from her birthday! Sigh!

Two of my children had taken pictures from her birthday, and there were a few good ones. So, I'm grateful to at least have a record of this auspicious event. I think I need to be less efficient. :) On top of it all, I STILL can't make Shutterfly Studio work or find anything else that works like it did. :(

Carys's 3rd birthday was Saturday, 1/17. The boys were headed to a CAP field trip, so we needed to open her gifts early. The disadvantage to a birthday so close to Christmas is trying to come up with gifts, especially for the 4th child in a family. The advantage of a birthday at this time of year is that you can often hit the Black Friday or after Christmas sales for gifts. That was what we managed to do this year.

Gerren stayed up VERY late Friday night putting this train table together. We got it for an awesome price at Target before Christmas.


I had to use a birthday tablecloth to cover it up!


Carys loved it and has had a blast playing with it ever since.


Carys's other gift was also a pre-Christmas find. She loved it also but can't figure out how to turn the handles. When she needs to turn, she stops, gets off, and picks the Power Wheels up, scooting it where she wants it to go.


After the boys got home from their field trip, we headed to Tampa for Winter Jam. We had dinner at Tia's Tex Mex first. We hadn't been to Winter Jam in several years, since it moved from a big church in Lakeland to the Sun Dome in Tampa. We thought the bigger venue would be less crowded. No way! It was awful. But the music was good anyway. We saw Stephanie Miller, Pure NRG, Francesca Battistelli, New Song, Hawk Nelson, Brandon Heath, and Toby Mac.

Carys is praising the Lord to a New Song worship song!