Video From The Homeschool Band Concert!

Alex plays his recorder solo, "The Trolley Song".

The Beginning Band performs "Regal March".

Advanced Band performing "Imperial Overture".

Final performances

We had our final performances for our Friday classes last night. What a blessing these Fridays have been to our family - so many good friends and SO much fun!! Amanda played in her first ever piano recital - and did a great job! She also played in band, sang in the choir, played in the percussion ensemble and performed with the drama group. Alex did drama as well, plus played in the recorder group. Andrew was in charge of taking pictures and helping Daddy video tape - great job!! :-)

Fun AND educational!

Here are some pictures from our latest Stuhr Museum class in Grand Island. Amanda and Alex, along with Elisa were enrolled in an Overland Trails class. They loaded up these hand carts and pulled them across the prairie. They stopped along the way to build a fire and cook their lunch - beans,

pork, biscuits, and for dessert- pickles! Bruce, Andrew, and I enjoyed the time as well - played glow in the dark golf, played Guitar Hero at Best Buy and had a yummy lunch at Whiskey Creek!

Too Funny!

OK, this is not a story from my house, but it certainly could be! Great for a laugh if you need one today!

A small boy is sent to bed by his father. Five minutes later.....'Da-ad....''What?''I'm thirsty. Can you bring a drink of water?'' No, You had your chance. Lights out.' Five minutes later: 'Da-aaaad.....''WHAT?''I'm THIRSTY. Can I have a drink of water??'' I told you NO! If you ask again, I'll have to smack you!!' Five minutes later......'Daaaa-aaaad.....''WHAT!''When you come in to smack me, can you bring a drink of water?'

No cavities!

All 3 kids had dental appointments this morning and we had NO cavities! We have a fabulous Pediatric Dentist with movie screens in the ceiling and the whole 9-yards of fun. Amanda is getting her 12 year molars and Andrew is getting his 6 year molars. Amanda has 3 baby teeth left to lose, then she will get braces.....AGAIN! The kids are sad that they have to wait a whole 6 months to go back. Andrew wants to know if we can just go there sometimes to hang out and have fun.

Neat Repeatz

OK, I am so excited about this that I want to tell everyone!! If you live in Lincoln, you have to go to Neat Repeatz - and if you live somewhere else, it's probably well worth your trip! :-) Basically, it is a GINORMOUS consignment sale that they hold twice a year...once in the spring then again the fall. You can sign up to sell, or you can just go shop - or both! Everybody who is selling brings their things in and then they are sorted neatly by girls/boys and into the various sizes. They are inspected for spots or stains, missing buttons, broken zippers, etc. And, they all set their own prices - which are almost always VERY reasonable! We got ALL of our kids' clothes (and shoes!) for summer, plus some fun games, too. And, this spring for the first time, they had an adult's sale, too. I had SO much fun buying some new things for myself - what a treat!!

So, if you like garage sales, you will LOVE Neat Repeatz! Check it out at www.neatrepeatz.com if you are interested - the fall sale will be in September, I think!! I highly recommend it!

Spring Red/White Game

We spent today at the Husker Spring Game - got tickets for us and for my Mom for her birthday and had a great time! We got there PLENTY early and got really good seats, and left early enough to tour the Heisman Room and see all of the National Championship Tropies! Very Cool!!

Wrestling!

Alex and Andrew got to wrestle each other this week in wrestling class! They're not usually in the same class, but Coach Penn brought them in together so they could go at each other - and they had a great time!! Bruce was even there for his lunch hour, so he got to watch, too!

A death in the family

Last year for Christmas, Uncle Jerry bought hamsters for the kids. We loved on them for a good long time, then, as with most toys, the newness wore off and we began to neglect them. So, we sent them off to live with some of our friends in "foster care". They LOVED them...especially Mac who thought that his Mom should call the police when they woke up one morning to find one of the hamsters had died. The Keeslers had a nice little hamster funeral for him and buried him in their backyard. It was a good lesson for us here that death is a part of life, and we need to always be ready to meet Jesus. We're curious to see if our little hamster will be in Heaven when we get there!!

Here Fishy Fishy!

We were recently given an aquarium and it is a hit at our house! We got this cool tank, the heater, the light, the pump, tons of chemicals and food, plus the fish! There are fancy guppies, snow-somethings, neons, an upside down catfish, and a bristle nose plecostomous that is apparently REALLY big and worth a lot of money. We are all enjoying having it around - especially the boys who insist on eating breakfast next to it every morning. Alex even did his school next to it the other day. Thanks to the Braunings for sharing!!

It IS who you know.

There's a song that's been playing on the radio quite a bit lately, and every time I hear it, I find myself more annoyed than inspired. The point of it is to live life to the fullest....which I'm obviously all for. Jesus came that we might have life abundantly. But, the song says that "it's not who you know, it's how you lived...." and I think that is, at the very least, pretty misleading. Knowing Jesus is the ONLY way to Heaven and the key to real, true JOY here on earth. So, while I acknowledge some of the fun ideas here....I kiss my kids every day and would LOVE it if my husband would dance with me....I am still annoyed by their message.

So...I'd love to hear your thoughts! Am I being overly-analytical? Am I just plain wrong?

Point Of Grace - How You Live (Turn Up the Music)

Wake up to the sunlight with your windows open
Don't hold in your anger or leave things unspoken
Wear your red dress
Use your good dishes
Make a big mess and make lots of wishes
Have what you want but want what you have
Hmmmmm
And don't spend your life lookin' back

[Chorus:]
Turn up the music
Turn it up loud
Take a few chances
And let it all out
Cause you won't regret it
Lookin' back from where you have been
Cause it's not who you knew
And it's not what you did
It's how you lived

So go to the ball games
And go to the ballet
Go see your folks more than just on the holidays
Kiss all your children
Dance with your wife
Tell your husband you love him every night
Don't run from the truth cause you can't get away
Oh No...
Just face it and you'll be okay

[Chorus]

[Bridge:]
Ohhhhh
Wherever you are and wherever you been
Now is the time to begin

So give to the needy
And pray for the grieving
Even when you don't think that you can
Cause all that you do is bound to come back to you
So think of your fellow men
Make peace with God but make peace with yourself
Oh yes
Cause in the end there's nobody else

[Chorus]

Cause it's not who you knew and it's not what
You did
It's how you lived

SO Thankful!

Miss Amanda is thankful for flowers, thankful to be vertical, thankful to be home, and thankful for many things today that she completely took for granted until now. She was rock climbing at the Y on Monday afternoon when her rope came untied and she fell 20 feet. She was unconscious for a time and was taken by ambulance to the hospital where they x-rayed and scanned and poked and tested nearly every part of her little body. Thanks to God, she was not seriously hurt at all - today she is only stiff and sore and is moving very slowly.

It is amazing how quickly these things can happen and almost scary how fast life can change. We are thankful for a God who is in control of all things, who knows our names, and hears us when we call on Him.

Celebrating Easter

We had a wonderful day celebrating Christ's Resurrection! Bruce's folks were here for the week-end and went to church with us, then we had lots of friends join us for lunch and an Easter Egg Hunt. Thanks to Beth and Sherri for stuffing all those eggs!! We are thankful for our "New Lincoln Friends" even though we still miss our "Old Beatrice Friends".

I remember being at Girl Scout camp and singing "Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other's gold" and although I thought it was catchy, I never really understood it....now I do. :-)

Afternoon Snooze

Alex (and Molly), Grandpa Bond (and Max) enjoy a nice Saturday snooze! Life is good!!

Great Friends!

Amanda and her dear friends Sarah and Elisa had a great time celebrating Amanda's birthday! We are thankful for such truly wonderful friends!!

A day at the ballpark

Bruce and Alex spent the afternoon at a Husker Baseball game - in the Ameritas Skybox, no less. Huskers won on a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 9th. What a great way to spend the day!!

Andrew's Easter Story

Today at lunch, we were telling Daddy all that we had learned when we played with the Resurrection Eggs this morning. When we got to Andrew's egg, the last one which was empty, he had a fun version of the story. He says that "Mary, Jesus' Mom, and two other ladies went to the tomb to take some food, but when they got there all they found was an angel who said 'There's nobody here - not even a dead guy'"

Matthew 28:6 "He is not here, He is risen, just as He said."

Happy Easter!!

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Best Brothers

Alex and Andrew and I have had some fun talks lately about how lucky they are to have each other. We talked about how cool it is that they can have their BEST friend over for a sleep-over every single night! They decided that they are even better than just "best friends" because they are "Best Brothers." I pray all the time that all 3 of them are always as close as they are now.

Check the DNA!

Amanda has been learning about molecular genetics in Science and recieving dominant and recessive genes from your parents. This baking gene she has is CERTAINLY not from me....so it must be one of her grandparents!! This recipe is "Laura's Golden Wheat Sheaf Bread" from the Little House on the Prairie CookBook. It is supposed to look like a sheaf of wheat - and it turned out great! Tasted even better than it looks, too!!