We are back............

I could not believe how long it had been since I last posted on the blog. I have been so busy and exhausted that the last few months have seemed to fly by. I promise to get better at updating you all with what is going on.

In an effort to not have this be the longest post ever, I am going to just try and catch you all up........so here we go!

The kids have been keeping busy with all their ongoing activities with a few illnesses thrown in for good measure, but they all seem to be "humming" along just fine now. Russell and I are doing well, I am so thankful that he is at home and can keep up with getting Darryl here, and Rachel there, and well, poor Isaac is just along for the ride right now! But we keep telling him his day of being busy is fast approaching (more on than in the next post).

A couple of them continue to challenge us with grades and trying to do their best at school, and one of them we have a teacher that is doing her best to challenge us and makes me want to beat my head against the wall, and I don't know what to do, but the year is almost over so it is not worth losing any sleep about.

We have had a enough rain that we felt like we should have built an ark, but didn't. Youth Group is wrapping up this week, and I must say it has been a very rewarding experience to teach the K-5 kids and help with the Jr./Sr. High group. I must be totally honest here and say that I think my true calling is with the K-5 kids! I love them all and so enjoy having them as part of youth group, so with that being said, I'll be back in the fall to teach them, if the Board will have me back (maybe I think I did a good job, but really didn't).

I am sitting here feeling guilty that I am not doing something like everyone else, and am working on updating you all on the lastest, so I must wrap this up and get some laundry in and Isaac's winter clothes moved out so we have room for summer clothes and vaccuming done so I can try and put out traps to catch this "Jerry" of field mouse that seems to be laughing at us and our lack of ability to catch it.

I have some new pictures to post to, so providing the evening goes smoothly, I will be back after the sun goes down and post pictures and give a bit more of the latest and greatest happenings.

I am longing for sheets that have been hung on the clothesline, so I am off to accomplish this task, along with a few others.

Love,
Tina

I Really Haven't Deserted Ya'll

Hi Everyone,

I really didn't fall off the face of the earth. Life has been really hectic and crazy busy! The kids (with the exception of Isaac)seem to be going in 50 million different directions. Thank goodness Russell can transport them to and from everything!

Let's see, what is new...........the kids bathroom remodel is very very close to being completed. Brad is coming down on Saturday to help put the light bar in and help with the entry way light and new dining room light should it be needed. We have begun doing major cleaning of each room in preparation for Easter. We are having the Spencer family again this year - I really do love family for holidays! We are getting close to celebrating Darryl's 16th birthday, I can't believe he is going to be 16....heaven help us!

Rachel received 2nd place in the district for our Academic team in Arts & Humanities. Last Friday, Darryl auditioned for the Governor's School for the Arts. If he makes it he will be at Transylvania University (in KY) for 3 weeks this summer and it will open lots of doors for his music. Rachel will be going to the state Beta Convention next Thursday and Friday in Louisville. She will be within walking distance of my office, so I plan to stop and see her. Tennis has begun for her as well, and matches start next week. She seems to really be enjoying it and doing quite well.

I am taking a vacation day on Friday and plan on spending the entire day with my husband shopping and taking Mom Spencer out to lunch (shhhhhh......for my NKY family, it is going to be a surprise).

I was sick last week, I managed to get yet another staph infection, this time in the form of cellulitis.......I am on the mend and doing much better. Of course the meds were not cheap, try $121.31 for 10 days. I don't mind paying as long as it works.

Well, it is almost time for one of my favorite shows, CSI New York, so I must log out. I have many pictures to post and will try and do that this weekend, if I can get my computer fixed (I am very thankful for the laptop so I can post and not feel totally deprived), Russell is normally on his computer in the evening and so I get the laptop!

Well - night all!

Tina

New Pictures

Potpourri............

Hi All,

It has been a while since I updated, so I thought I better let you all know the latest.

We have been having rather strange weather, it warmed up for several days and then got very wind, which resulted in yet another loss of power! Yes, less than a week after getting our power back, we lost it again, but thankfully this time it was only for 3 hours! The winds were pretty bad and several people sustained major damage in the area.

The progress on the kids bathroom is moving along nicely now that we have electricity. Russell is doing a really nice job on it and it going to look great when it is finished. We wished we could have replaced their tub/shower, however because of how the drain is positioned it would have meant special ordering something and right now we just weren't a position to spend that much on a tub/shower unit.

The kids are doing well. We received midterms this past week..........well I won't expand on them too much, as one was very disappointing and one was exactly what we would have expected from her.

Isaac has managed to catch the "bug" that has been going around and missed a couple days of school this past week.

Today we visited the Baptist church, as it was scout Sunday (since we missed the original Scout Sunday due to weather). Darryl did a great job reading and it was a nice service. I must admit though, I really missed our church, people weren't nearly as friendly as I would have expected.

We have a busy week ahead.....Rachel as Solo & Ensemble on Saturday and Darryl has a Boy Scout Badge Day in Shelby County. The troop is working hard so that the sophomores will reach Eagle status by the time they are seniors.

I have some new pictures to post, and will get those up in a little bit. But I first must start on our taxes.

We hope this posts finds you all doing well and staying warm and being safe.

Love,
Tina

Random Thoughts.......

Well since I last posted, we received more snow that caused the kids more snow days last week and we had our power restored on Tuesday!!! I actually cried (for most I'm sure you are not shocked by that), it was such a relief to have electricity. We were actually a whole family again, I really missed having all of our children in the house. Russell did 10 loads of laundry on Wednesday and we are slowly getting the house back to normal. We were very thankful for 50 degree weather this past weekend, it melted the snow and ice that caused all the drama!

I would like to ask for prayers of support. As the one year anniversary of my Daddy's death gets closer, I find myself being so very sad and missing him so much. I guess it has taken me a while to get to this point since I was so sick for so long when he died and the many months after. I really don't think I started to really process it all for a while.

Well, before I go to far down this road, and get all sad again today, I am going to close and take care of the clothes in the dryer, make sure that all the kids are tucked in (with lights off) and I get my exhausted husband into bed.....

So with that I say goodnight from my little corner of the world.

Tina

Quick Update

Hi All,

Just a quick update while I have generator power and the laptop has battery life! We are all okay.......we were hit pretty hard by the storm here in Trimble County. The kids didn't have school all last week, and we aren't sure if they will have it tomorrow. We are thankful that we have a fireplace and a gas stove. We have been living in one room of the house. Today was my first real shower since Wednesday morning (when we lost power). Rachel and Darryl have been at our friends house since Friday night. They came and got them because we couldn't even get the van out to go and take them anywhere. We worked forever to get the truck to the end of the drive so I could go to work on Friday. The office was closed on Tuesday and Wednesday and I had to take a vacation day on Thursday.

We ran out of firewood, plenty to cut, but unable to cut. Thanks to wonderful neighbors they allowed us to get as much as we needed. Yesterday Russell went and bought a rick of wood so we didn't have to keep borrowing. Thanks to Mark and Terri Mounce for the firewood.

We now have a generator to use thanks to Jeff and Lisa Moore! They offered us theirs since they got electricity on Friday. THANKS LISA & JEFF!

Please pray that our electricity comes on tomorrow and that Russell continues to be strong. He has done a wonderful job of taking care of keeping us warm (staying half awake to keep the fire going all night and all day, hauling wood and shoveling and pushing stuck vehicles).

Well that is all for now, will update as soon as possible.

Tina

Weather Update

Just thought I would let you know that I woke up this morning to 6 inches of snow.....I know for those of you up north or Debbie in Colorado, that 6 inches isn't much, but for us in Bedford, it is a good snowfall. The kids didn't have school yesterday or today, and the biggest shock, was that they closed the office today. That meant I didn't have to go to work today! I am sure they closed because of the impending weather. Right now we are getting freezing rain. We tend to get a bit more snow than they do in Louisville. We are suppose to get up to a 1/2 inch of ice, sure hope not. I would rather have several feet of snow than ice!

Rachel took some pictures this morning. I will try to get one posted before the end of the day.

I'm off to enjoy the fireplace............thank goodness for having your endless supply of firewood.

Stay safe and warm everyone!

A New Week

Hello fellow followers........it is cold here again in Kentucky. I am enjoying the fireplace a lot today. After church, Russell built a wonderful fire and has kept it going all day.

This past week has been a dozie.....Isaac was sick all week, ended up he was having sinus issues, and he is now on Singular (at $112 a pop, that is what happens when you have an HSA). Darryl left on Friday evening for their annual Klondike outing. It is a weekend camping trip with an Iditarod, where the are the "dogs". It is a lot of hard work, but a good time. He is working hard at getting closer to his Eagle Scout. That will open many doors in the future once he has that. It was pretty cold, but they kept warm and enjoyed themselves. Rachel had all-district Academic Team yesterday. She tested in social studies and arts & humanities. She also participated in Quick Recall. She did well, and beat her personal bests. She was 2 points away from medaling in arts & humanities, and their school came in 1st in Quick Recall, so she received a medal for that. The school as a whole came in 2nd they were undefeated all season. They lost 1st place by 1 point, if they would have done future problem-solving, they would have won. I was very proud of all the students. Darryl has his all-districts this coming weekend, however the portion that he participates in will be on Tuesday night. He competes in the composition portion. He won't be there on Saturday, as we will be at Western Kentucky University all day. He is attending an Oboe day camp, but the coaches said they would call and let us know how well he did.

This will be another busy week with kid schedules, but I continue to be thankful that Russell is able to be available to do all the picking and dropping off. Otherwise, it would be very difficult for them to participate in everything that they do.

This Wednesday will be our 3rd anniversary, and while it hasn't always been easy, we are so very blessed to have found each other. Blending our family and trying to do it well has had challenges, but mostly we each feel like God shined down on us and gave us a wonderful 2nd chance at love.....I'll write more on that Wednesday.

Well, I need to go hang up my load of laundry, and put the next load in the dryer.

Have a great evening and wonderful week!

Love,
Tina

Latest Happennings

I hadn't realized how long it has been since I updated our blog.......oops! I guess the old saying, time flies is applicable here.

The kids have since returned to school and back to normal routines. Report cards for the 1st semester have been received. All in all not bad! Everyone of them improved most of their grades (this is a first). While Isaac can read, he could care less about getting a good grade, Rachel still finds pre-algebra a bit of a challenge, and Darryl still finds turning in his assignments a quest like climbing Mt. Everest. The joys of parenting, if that is the worst thing that we have to worry about then we are very lucky and blessed.

This past weekend, I had the honor (or should I say bad luck of the draw) to take Rachel to see Twilight. Russell was going to take her, but he ended up getting that nasty stomach virus a week ago Monday and it lasted well through last Saturday. We were to go to the University of Louisville to the All District Band Concert, so while Darryl was in rehearsal, he and Rachel were going to see the movie. I ended up going and while I won't put it up there in my 10 of movies, it wasn't bad. The concert was great.

Isaac spent last weekend in Cincinnati with Christopher who has been home from college and got to hang out with him and play video games and watch movies. We were surprised at how quite the house is when that special 8 year old little boy is gone! We were happy to have him back home.

I hope all of you are staying warm in this incredibly cold weather. I couldn't believe how cold it has been. Rachel even commented that it must be cold if I am wearing the coat to the car and leaving it on while driving (not something I normally do).

Hope everyone has a good rest of the weekend and stays safe and warm!

Love,
Tina

Christmas 2008 Pictures

Time to Relax

Happy Saturday....I hope this post finds you all well rested after a busy Christmas holiday. We had a great day and are extremely blessed! All the children enjoyed their gifts and were appreciated everything that they received. Russell & I were up until 3:30 AM Christmas morning wrapping presents (every year we intend to have this finished well before Christmas, however that never seems to quite happen). Rachel & Isaac were the first to wake up at 8:00, so we were thankful for a few extra hours of sleep. We enjoyed our Christmas morning (I'll post pictures later). While Russell fixed breakfast, I got ready so we could begin our morning of cooking for the Spencer family Christmas. We love have everyone for holiday and enjoy the time we spend with them all. Russell & I enjoy cooking together, and we each have our specialities. We made waldorf salad, turkey breast, ham, baked corn, mash potatoes, sweet potatoes, pretzel jello salad, macaroni and cheese and pumpkin pies. Brenda (better known as Queenie) made her famous cheeseball by request - we all love her cheeseball! We munched on all the goodies that we made weeks before, cheeseball and chips and salsa. Everyone appeared to have had a great time! We are so thankful for family and being able to spend time together. We missed our family that could not be with us, but am sure they enjoyed their time with family and friends as well.

The house is now quite and it seems a bit odd, as Rachel and Isaac are visiting their Grandma & PaPa Schwarz in Cincinnati and having Christmas with them. I'm glad that we are able to work things out so that they get to spend quality time with them.

With Isaac gone there have been no garbage truck noises (he wanted this garbage truck so bad, and Santa came through), no nerf gun wars going on - both Darryl & Isaac got a nerf longshot for Christmas. Darryl received a voice recorder that he can use to play back how his music sounds when he is practicing. Rachel has not been nearly as social now that she has her new iPod - this year Santa brought her a Nano (so I get the cast off shuffle - yeah for me!) and reading her new books - the Twilight series, she received the first and second one in the series.

Well, I guess it is time to think about making dinner for the troops that are here, as the 15 year old is always hungry.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the day and weekend!

Love,
Tina

Merry Christmas

So much has happened at the Spencer/Schwarz home since my last post. We have been busy preparing for Christmas (as we are sure that everyone else has been too). All the candy has been made; english toffee, bon-bons, chocolate fudge, peanut butter fudge, chocolate peanut butter fudge, toffee bars, peanut butter blossoms, peanut clusters, white chocolate party mix, Chex mix, seasoned oyster crackers, and lastly Russian tea cakes. It was a lot of fun making all the goodies this year.

I am so greatful to God for being so selfless that he sent his son to earth to give us hope. While the holiday comes with mixed emotions and really missing family members who have passed this year, I know that they are having the best Christmas ever as they get to spend it with Jesus!

Just wanted to send you all a Merry Christmas wish as we are getting ready to start the process of getting ready for church. Once we return from church the children will get to unwrap one present. It is the present that Russell purchased and wrapped without my being involved. This is a really neat tradition that we are starting this year. Growing up we always go to unwrap one present too, and it was always from Daddy. Daddy was always on the road (he was a truck driver) and he would purchase something special for my sister and I. Those were always extra special to me, so we are hoping to pass that tradition on to our children.

Tomorrow will be very busy as we prepare for Russell's family to come and spend Christmas afternoon with us and have dinner. Russell and I love having his family are excited about being able to cook together in the kitchen.

We wish all our family could be with us tomorrow, but know that you will be with us in spirit.

So, for now I must leave you and I'll try and post shortly after Christmas.

With much love!
Tina

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM RUSSELL - TINA - DARRYL - RACHEL - ISAAC

Busy Week

Good Evening.....

I hope this finds everyone doing well. We have had a hectic week at the Spencer/Schwarz house. Isaac's had his Christmas program on Tuesday night. I am so thankful that we attend a public school that isn't afraid to remember the reason that we have the season - Jesus Christ. It was awesome to hear them sing music that I remember singing growing up when you could call it a Christmas Concert and not a Holiday concert. We had practice on Wednesday for both the elementary and Jr./Sr. High Christmas program that was today. Friday night Russell and I had a date night and went to Cracker Barrel for dinner (my all time favorite place). We then finished up the majority of our shopping. All I need to pick up are a few odds and ends and stocking stuffers to round everything out. Saturday we spent the day rearranging furniture in the parent family room and cleaning top to bottom. I hadn't really cleaned that well since I've gotten better.

Today we all attended church as a family. I sang a solo this morning that went okay - I always manage to get a cold right before I am suppose to perform. Tonight we had the Children's program. I had about 15 elementary children who performed Majesty and then sang 3 songs. The Jr./Sr. High group did readings, scripture reading, Rachel sand a solo and then did a little skit. It was really simple, but nicely done.

I am soon off to bed, I am fighting this cold and we have a hectic week that will start again on Monday. Darryl's holiday concert is Monday, we have a band board meeting on Tuesday, Wednesday is the Jr./Sr. High for Christmas caroling at the nursing home and then their Christmas party at the Pastor's house. Thursday evening is Rachel's holiday concert, and on Friday we are going to just veg and then I will hit hard again on Saturday to finish up my baking.

Well, I'm off to take my medicine and get snuggled up on the couch.

Love to all of you!
Tina

P.S. I will try and post pictures before I hit the bed tonight, if not I'll post pictures tomorrow with time permitting.

Holiday Baking

Happy Tuesday.......

Well today is a vacation day from work, but has been busy thus far. Russell and I attended the school performance for Isaac today at 9:30 (he was the back-up for the cow) because he was performing (back-ups perform in the morning). He did a great job and we found out today that he had to "try-out"! He is coming into his own. When we returned home, we started on the holiday baking. I try to do this with Laura, but it didn't work out this year...:( On Sunday I went through all the recipes and put together a list of ingredients. For those who don't know this fact, when I was growing up Christmas was a big thing in our family. We could count on Mom and Granny to make all sorts of goodies. Mom would never make sugar cookies, because a friend of hers did them so well, she would pay her to make them (I sure wish I had Krista McWhirter's recipe), but we made all sorts of other goodies. We would play Christmas music and go to town on making things. My favorite as child, was making bon-bons. I actually got to help and would roll the balls and get to dip them in the chocolate.....I'm sure I've bored you with my walk down memory lane!

So we have made chex mix, seasoned oyster crackers, and new recipe this year, cheesy ranch chex mix, up next is good chunk of the fudge and a couple of Swedish Tea Rings (Grandma Barcus used to always make these - one of the few things of hers that I mastered the recipe).

The greatest thing about today, is that Russell and I are getting to do it together. We both enjoy cooking and it is fun to do it with the love of my life....we are of course listening to Christmas music (not his favorite, but for my benefit he is tolerating it). As soon as the chex mix comes out of the oven, we will be running up to little local grocery store to purchase a few things that we forgot, I am not certain how we could have forgotten something with a list that 2 pages long!!

Well, I must sign off for now, the timer is beeping at me and that signals time to stir the chex mix.

Love,
Tina

Pictures from Isaac's Birthday

A Birthday Party for 3...........

Birthday Time - Guess who is 8????

Happy Monday All......

Today is my baby boy's 8th birthday................I cannot believe that this time 8 years ago I was waiting to hear the results of the aminocentisis to see if the little man could be delivered. He was not doing well and Dr. Smith felt it better to bring him into the world than take a chance that something might happen. So as the day went on, the results were in and his lungs were developed enough for him to come into this world. So at 6:33 PM on December 1st, 2000, Isaac John Schwarz was born weighing a whopping 4 1/2 lbs. He looked like a little old man and was so tiny (compared to his sister who was 10 lbs. at birth).

Tonight we will have our birthday celebration for him. He has requested Spaghetti for dinner and a John Deere cake (after much searching, a John Deere shaped cake pan was not found - so it is up to Russell and I to try our hand at shaping a cake to look like a tractor - wish us luck!). I will post some pictures tonight - I can't seem to put my fingers on his new born pictures, which of course will need to be scanned in. So the picture below will have to do for now, I took it this morning of him and his big brother!

Have a wonderful day!

Recent Happenings..................

Hello All............ I hope that this post finds you all well rested after a blessed Thanksgiving and shopping like crazy on Friday. The last few weeks at the Spencer/Schwarz house has been a bit crazed. A week ago Saturday I flew back to Iowa for my maternal grandmother's funeral. While it was a sad occasion to go back, it was refreshing to see family and friends again. It was a beautiful service and the weather cooperated as much as it could for Iowa. I returned to Kentucky on Tuesday. Of course Tuesday there was car drama........while Russell was on his way to pick me up at the airport a wooden post hit our van gas tank (apparently it was laying on the road and when the tractor trailer went over it, it decided to flip and flop and puncture our gas tank. We made a mad dash to a dealer (our normal dealer has closed, we had to seek out a new one) that we didn't know to get it repaired. We rented a car and were certain that we wouldn't see our van for a while. Thankfully this dealer gets customer service and we had our van back late on Wednesday! We were all excited that it was repaired quickly! However, the bank account was not thrilled......:( Now we are waiting to see how much our car insurance will cover, as we didn't have time to get multiple quotes to their dismay. We spent Thanksgiving with Russell's family and had a wonderful time. We even got to spend time with his sister Debbie who is currently living in Colorado (she and Richard normally reside in Arizona). We then left the Spencer family in Northern Kentucky and drove across the Ohio River to land in Finneytown (Cincinnati, OH) to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Horn family. We had a wonderful time there as well! That evening we celebrated an 8th birthday for Master Isaac - whom most of us could not believe that he is going to be 8 on Monday........it just doesn't seem possible that the little 4 1/2 lb. baby boy that was brought home from the hospital could have grown up this fast!!! After the kitchen was cleaned, the party over, Laura and I mapped out our attack for Friday. While neither of us really had anything that we just had to get, we couldn't pass up our tradition of shopping on Black Friday. In fact we didn't need any of the super deals that we had to leave the house at 3:00 AM, instead, Laura, Don, Benjamin and I left the house around 6:15 and were finished for the day by 3:30. Yesterday was another travel day for us, as we celebrated Russell's, Max's (our great-nephew), and Isaac's birthday with the Spencer's, so we took another road trip to Northern Kentucky and spent the afternoon eating (yet again) and having a birthday celebration. We had a great time, however were ready for home! We all vegged last night....the boys played Runescape (thank goodness for 3 computers with internet access), Rachel watched a movie and I read my book....by the fire! Well, I am off to get ready for Russell and I to run out and pick up a few things for Isaac's family celebration with us tomorrow (I still can't believe my baby boy is going to be 8). Until Later.............hopefully I will get some pictures posted this evening (since I don't have to work tomorrow - vacation day for me)! Love, Tina & Russell

My little girl is growing up

Good Morning......

This is to share my thoughts about my little girl (I know....she isn't little anymore - after all she is 13, but she still is my baby girl). Last night she had her first babysitting job. This past summer she took an all day babysitting course and has been anxious ever since to have a job to make money. Rachel loves to shop and the best thing about her is that she is such a giving child. When is shopping she likes to buy something for others and not just herself (I give credit for that and her love of reading to Grandma Hattie). We drove her to Clarksville, Indiana yesterday afternoon (an hour away) to babysit for someone that I work for. She spent the night and will be coming home some time this morning. She was not nervous or anxious, I think I was enough of both for both of us. I guess maybe this is what my felt the first time I babysat, or maybe not.

Well, I hope that you all have a blessed and wonderful Sunday! I am off to get ready for church and later to help a little lad (Isaac) with a habitat project for class.

Love,
Tina

P.S. Those of us in the house that have a lot of Iowa blood running through us are thrilled we had a light dusting of snow last night. In fact the little lad was up and dressed and ready to go out and "play" in it by 8:30!

Pictures at long last

Sharing the beautiful fall color that surrounded
us until this weekend!

My latest attempt to try scrap booking online

I think I need a better software, any suggestions

would be nice.........

Oh and the concert was AWESOME!!!!!! We all had a great time, but I think Rachel had the best time of all. They all gave a great concert - James Otto has the cutest dimples, and Rachel thinks he is cute. Trace Atkins is just loving what he does and of course Alan Jackson is just happy to be doin' what he is doing and loving every minute of it.

Well, it is late, so off to bed with myself! Have a great week everyone!