Year In Review: 2010 Edition

Since I didn't manage to get out a Christmas letter this year, I thought I'd at least blog about the year's activities.  I'm going to try and keep this missive coherent but I make no promises.

During the early part of the year, we were busy schooling.  We completed our first year of homeschool and started our second.  We had great plans to school year-round.  We quickly found out, during the summer, that it is hard to accomplish when your friends are on a traditional school calendar.  School just doesn't work when kids want to spend the night or hang out during the day.  So, we changed our plan and went to a relaxed approach to summer school.  On days that we didn't have plans we did school.  This allowed us to be about six weeks ahead of the public school.  We've been using those days for some extended holiday time off.  It's been really nice to have that luxury.

We have stayed active in our homeschool co-op, Great Plains Christian Home Educators.  What a blessing this group has been to us.  Drake was able to learn to run a sound/light board for the high school play production.  This is something that he really enjoyed and has continued to learn more about.  Jilly learned how to crochet, cake decorate, and embroider. She, also, has participated in the co-op elementary musical and has started piano lessons. Steve has officially become the gym teacher at co-op.  He loves it and the kids LOVE "Mr. Teeve"!  I help Steve with the gym class.  You guys know me well enough to know that I'm just there to make sure the kids stay in line and pay attention.  Gym is not my forte. LOL!

In April we were able to take Steve's folks to Disney World for their first time. It was so much fun to be able to take this trip with them.  Talk about building memories!  We dragged them around the World for four days and made them do all the things that all Disney nerds must.  We are already planning on where to take them next.

In the early summer we had a wonderful surprise.  Steve's parents moved back to Hammon, OK.  This is just 30 minutes away from us.  I'm sure it was the trip to Disney that convinced them that it was OK to move that close. We really like having them near, so that we can drag them to every event in which the kids participate. 

In August, my inner pioneer came out and we got some chickens.  We built a chicken ark and bought four hens from a friend.  The chickens are all named (Henrietta, Hermione, Helen, & Hester) and are great pets.  I had no idea how much fun they were going to be.  As Steve says, they are pets that actually give you something a back for feeding them. They don't take any more effort to care for than a cat does.  It's great.  They did end up costing us a bit more than expected.  They looked so pitiful penned up in their coop that I asked Steve to fence in our backyard.  So now we have a privacy fence and free-range chickens. LOL!

Now we've come to the part of the review that I get to brag on the children:

Drake has been drumming for about a year now.  He seems to have a natural talent for it.  Needless to say, the drums have been moved outside into the "man cave."  He was able to play with the church youth group during the Christmas program. He did a great job!
He has also started working up at Thomas Drug this year.  He works two afternoons a week and every other Saturday.  He is really good at his job, and we've received a lot of compliments on what a great young man he has become.  Let me tell you, sometimes those compliments save my sanity when dealing with my dear teen!
We'll be starting divers-ed this year and it makes me weak in the knees to think about it.  Thus, that is all I'll type on the subject.
Drake was able to attend the Oklahomans Without Limits (O.W.L.) summer camp this year.  He went as a sighted partner.  The camp is for blind/visually impaired children. His partner had cerebral palsy. Drake really enjoyed his time at camp, and he sure learned a lot from the kids that attended the camp.
His studies are moving along really well, and he has done great on his standardized tests.  I can't wait to see what he is able to accomplish in the next few years.

Jillian turned eleven this year.  She is just as sweet as pie.
She still takes art lessons from Ms. Lynn and loves it!  The art work she brings home is amazing.  If you have facebook, look at my photos and you'll see some of her stuff.  She has won several ribbons in the county fairs around the area and even placed third in the State Fair of Oklahoma.  She was super excited about that.
She went to the O.W.L. camp this year, too.  It is her second year attending, and she just loved it.  She met some great kids and had a blast learning theater type arts.  During the camp, she was interviewed by the local TV station.  What a shock it was to get phone calls, at home, telling me they saw my baby girl on television.  You should have seen me scramble around the Internet trying to find a video.  Since then, we've found out that Jillian is featured on NewView Oklahoma's, formerly the League for the Blind, website.  Can you tell that we are proud of her?

As for Steve and I, we are continuing our semi-retired saga.  We are privileged to work with all the stores and people of Thomas Drug Inc. We work two days per week and whenever they need some additional help.  I am so grateful that we've been able to follow this road.  It really has been a "meant to be" kind of thing.  I won't get too preachy here, but it is clear that God has wanted us to follow this path at this point in our lives.  We aren't sure what the future is going to hold for us but we are willing to ride the wave wherever it takes us. 
We've also started to help out with our church's A.W.A.N.A. program.  This is a bible study type program.  It has been a lot of fun for us.  We've made some good friends at church, and the kids are fun, too.  We are stretching our (read MY) comfort zone. 

We did take a summer vacation this year.  We drove up to Michigan for a Chapdelaine family reunion/graduation party.  Of course, we took the long way there.  We first drove to Anna's house in Ohio and stayed the night.  Then we went on up to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.  It was a lot of fun.  We did find that we've warped our children into knowing all the "old" rockers.  After Cleveland, we continued on to Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.  We wanted to get our passports stamped but I was sad to find that they didn't stamp them.  Oh well, the falls were astounding!  After spending a couple of days at Niagara, we weren't sure where to go next.  For some strange reason, we completed the circle around Lake Erie and went to Cedar Pointe amusement park.  This park was NOT Disney World. It was roller coaster heaven!!  If you like that sort of thing, then it's a must see place.  We ended the trip by going back up into Michigan to visit family.  We had a wonderful visit and we can't wait until we get to see them again this coming summer.

After our summer vacation, we took a fall vacation, too.  Yes, we are spoiled!  We met my sister Anna and her family down at Disney World at the end of September.  We've done this several times now, and we always have a blast with them!  I just wish we could go with them every time.

Well, that is about all that I can think of to type about this year.  It sure seems like a ton of stuff.  It is obvious that we have been blessed beyond measure this past year.  I know if we keep following the path, we'll continue to prosper.  Thank you to all of my friends out there who have made these blessings possible.  You know who you are!