Run/Walk

Alex and Frank are in training for a 5K in April. We have found several more 5K's that they plan to participate in.

Sabrina and I are planning on doing the fun walk that goes along with the 5K.

Marie-Anne

Ronald McDonald House

Alex and Sabrina made Snickerdoodles for the Ronald McDonald House. The staff always raves about their cookies.

They also took turns mopping the kitchen floor.

Marie-Anne

Homeschool Co-op- Dissection

Sabrina's science class dissected earth worms. It was a very educational lesson for all of them. They all thought it was cool and gross at the same time. Sabrina decided not to become a surgeon.
 

Marie-Anne

Homeschool Club- Teen Costume Party

Alex went to his first teen party with our Homeschool Club, (he has been to several with other groups).  He had a whole lot of fun.

Marie-Anne

Baby Shower

Sabrina and I went to a baby shower for a lady at our church. Her son is a preemie, so he was born before the shower. Sabrina was thrilled that she got to feed him a bottle. She also had a lot of fun playing the games. 

Marie-Anne

Roller Skating Class

During Alex's last Roller Skating Class he practiced jumping on skates.

Marie-Anne

Chloe

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Life Skills- Washing Clothes

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Mr. Cow

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Homeschool Group- Reunion Trails Park

It was a lovely day for a park day. A little kid, who isn't part of our group, hero worshiped Alex and followed him around the playground. Alex was super annoyed, but I was laughing with my friend as the kid kept following him and saying, "Hey, Friend!" Despite that Alex had a lot of fun with his friends in the picture. 

Marie-Anne

Life Skills- Pumping Gas

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English Second Language Class

This week Alex baked peanut butter cookies and he also did a lot of the teaching during the class, because some of the students were at different English levels. As part of curriculum he asked the students about their families, helped them with their answers and then read and explained Bible verses with them. The students said he did a good job.

Sabrina printed off coloring sheets, made copies, chose the movie, and played with the younger kids.

Marie-Anne

Caring Cards

These are examples of Sabrina's Caring Cards and Cards for Seniors. (We visit a friend in a nursing home about once a week. Sabrina and Alex normally bring drawings to give away.)

Marie-Anne

Preparing for a 5K

Alex and Frank have been running three times a week to prepare for the 5K in April. They are increasing their distance each time. Today they ran a mile and a half in 14 minutes. (Sabrina and I will do the walk). 

Marie-Anne

Ronald McDonald House- Cookie Crew

Today's cookies were Snickerdoodles! Both Sabrina and Alex made two batches. While the cookies were baking they made Caring Cards.

Afterwards both siblings worked hard to clean up the kitchen.

Marie-Anne

Life Skills-Cooking

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Capture the Flag- Nerf War!

Our library had an after hours Capture the Flag NERF War. We not only signed Alex and Sabrina up, but we told a lot of their friends. Five of their friends from the homeschool group also came. They had a great time! I took these pictures as I dropped them off. Frank and I went out to eat to celebrate our anniversary. 

Marie-Anne

Finances

When we were first married we were doing well with our finances. We had money in the bank, no debt, and no credit cards. Then... we made some very foolhardy investing decisions. Have you ever heard the saying, “Look, before you leap”? Yeah, that's what we should have done. Instead we read a book or two and jumped in with both feet and all of our savings without throughly researching the investments. We wiped out our savings and racked up loads of debt that took years to pay off.

Thankfully we learned about Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps.

1. Save $1,000 for an emergency fund, (and replace any money taken out)
2. Pay off all debt, (except the house) smallest to largest using the money you were paying on the smallest for the next...repeat...repeat...
3. Save 3-6 months of expenses in a fully-funded emergency fund (replace any money that is used)
4. Invest 15% of your household income for retirement
5. Save for the kids' college
6. Pay off your home early
7. Build wealth and give

It took years to pay off our debt and get a fully funded emergency fund. There have been times we had to use that fully funded emergency fund. It took time to rebuild it.

We are now working on Baby steps 4 - 6 at the same time. We do not yet have 15% going to retirement, but we have increased our savings and have a plan to get there. Alex is only a high school freshmen, but he is already submitting scholarships that he qualifies for and we have plans for him to take CLEP tests. We started paying extra towards the principle of our house, though we had to temporarily stop due to unexpected expenses this past year. We will start paying extra again next month.

It took years of sacrifice. We have a smaller home than many of our friends. We drive older vehicles. Yet, our only debt is the mortgage and some medical bills. We have a goal and a plan to achieve it. At this point we can look back on how far we've come and we can also look ahead to the finish line. It's closer than it has ever been.

Marie-Anne

English Second Language Class

Sabrina made chocolate chip cookies for the ESL class.

The ESL class is a drop in class. More people are welcome to join at any time. Therefore, we are never sure how many people will be there. This past Thursday we showed up, set up, and waited. As we waited Alex taught me to play Spoons. We continued to wait until we were sure that no one was coming, then we straightened everything back up and packed up our stuff. 

Marie-Anne

Useful Hobbies

Our kids are required to have a useful hobby. They will be given several hours every other Friday to work on their hobby. Of course, they can and do use their free time as well.

Alex has recently started learning to make stop motion videos. Alex chose this nonfiction book for both his useful hobby and his personal development goal for the Congressional Award.

Marie-Anne

Reading Nonfiction

One of my goals for this year is to read more nonfiction books. These are my first two books of the year. Simply Clean has some good tips on cleaning quickly and efficiently, though I think her claim of ten minutes a day is garbage. Everyday Millionaires has generated a lot of discussion. It has made me stop and consider some things about finances that I had never thought of. 

Marie-Anne

Ronald McDonald House Caring Cards

Alex has developed an interest in comic books. He is using that interest to create some great Caring Cards for the Ronald McDonald House to give to the sick kids.

Marie-Anne

Homeschool Group: Whitney Mesa Park

We got to Whitney Mesa Park 30 minutes early so Alex and I could walk the trail around the playground. He is preparing for a 5K as part of the physical fitness portion of the Congressional Award Program. 

We still meet our homeschool group at a local park most Fridays. It is often the same families who attend park days. The kids have become good friends. I have also developed good friendships with the moms and dads who come. It is quite nice to sit and chat with other parents while the kids play.

Marie-Anne

Ukulele

Sabrina has been asking for a Ukulele for a while. She finally got one yesterday. She titled this song, "Blue Song".

Marie-Anne

Trampoline

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Congressional Award- Expedition at Prescott, Arizona

Alex chose to do a day trip in Prescott, since we were already there. We stayed an extra day, and I made sure that we did not do the things he had planned beforehand. He had a budget of $40, not including food. He was under budget; he only spent $23. One of the perks of planning an expedition for the Congressional Award is he gets to ride shotgun all day long. 

Alex originally had planned a hike in a National Forest, but had to change location because of the government shutdown. We ended up hiking the Constellation Trail, which was new to all of us. We hiked for a little over an hour. It was COLD when we started out, but Alex being 14 wore shorts. 

Next, Alex chose for us to walk around downtown Prescott and explore some of the quirky shops. We really liked the Galloping Goose, which features Native American & Western jewelry, art, gifts, and custom furniture. The back of the store was an art gallery. We spent a while looking at the art. The other store had a lot of touristy stuff. 

The Sharlot Hall Museum was our next stop.  It was also a day that they had living historians in period costume. We learned quite a lot. I really enjoyed talking with them, but forgot to get photos. This museum was bigger than Alex thought, so we ended up spending much more time there than he had planned. We did not even see everything.

For lunch we went back to downtown to a local pizza joint. We were in full tourist mode so I took pictures inside and at our outside table. Bill's Pizza has won Tripadvisor's Certificate of Excellence for years. I can see why. It was packed and a lot more people came while we were eating. The food was delicious. 

Even though we had been to Prescott before, (many times for Frank and me, once for the kids) we have not done the things Alex planned. We plan on going back to Bill's Pizza, Sharlot Hall Museum,  the Galloping Goose, and probably the Constellation Hike during future visits to Prescott. 

Alex's expedition went well even though he had to make a few changes to his original plans. He had to change location for the hike because of the government shutdown. Since we spent more time at Sharlot Hall Museum we did not have time for Fort Whipple. 

Frank helped him to plan the logistics because Alex originally planned to have us go out of town, then back to downtown, out of town again and back downtown.  I am thankful that the Congressional Award has him planning trips and learning these valuable skills as a young teen. His sister is only ten, but she has asked to plan a day trip too. 

Marie-Anne