January to July, the time does fly!

Oh my, the time does fly!  I haven't posted for many a month and many a thing has happened.  Let's start at the very beginning...well close to the beginning of the year anyway.  Here are a few of the things that have been happening with the LaFroths the past eight months!

LaFroths in the Press

Marsha in the Washington Post

In February, I had the opportunity to be in a Walmart commercial.  It was so much fun!  They had me go shop at a competitor's store, then they compared it with Walmart prices and made a commercial about all the money I could have saved shopping at Walmart.  It was a really fun day and it was especially fun to hear from people I haven't talked to in years who saw me on the commercial.  I wish I could do this again, but it was a one time deal.

Kayla in Gainesville Times

Kayla was in another play with Gainesville Community Theatre--Bye Bye Birdie.  She played the role of Rachel Macafee (changed from Randolph Macafee).  It was a fun musical, very well done, and she had a few solos.  She couldn't have asked for nicer people to work with in her directors and fellow cast members. I love those people!  It was a great production and our family enjoyed watching it multiple times.

Kayla's in the red poodle skirt

Kayla hugging Pauline

Oma, Kayla, and Me

Birthdays

Tanner turned 6 in February.  My little man is growing up so fast!  We had family and a few friends over for a pancake party, followed by a visit to Build-A-Bear.  I love my Tan man!

Archer turned 2 in April. Have I mentioned that time is going by so fast?  Archer is delightful and entertaining, he is also destructive and exhausting (maybe one day I'll post all the "destructive" photos I've been saving up!).  We need new carpet and paint and he has contributed greatly to that need!  Well, toddlers are talented like that.  I'll miss the fingerprints and messes one day, right?  He is smiley, squeezable, full of new sentences every day, and a delightful part of our family.

Jason also had a birthday in April.  We won't mention his age since he is age-a-phobic.  He is the same wonderful, caring, funny man I fell in love with, I'm so lucky to be married to him.  He took the day off of work for his birthday so we could go on a family hike to Chapman's Mill.

Hunter with his buddie, Nathaniel

Kayla turned 13 in May.  Yes, I have a teenager!!!!  What a delightful teenager she is.  I love to talk and hang out with Kayla as much as any friend.  She is often the one giving me sound, practical advice on how to handle certain situations.  She started her own pet-sitting business this summer, complete with her own website that she figured out how to make herself!  She said it was easy and tried to show me how to do it--it didn't seem easy to me!  We went to the LDS homeschool conference together in May and had a great time staying in the college dorms at SVU.  I love to hang out with Kayla and feel extremely blessed to have her as a daughter.

Special birthday breakfast--crepes, bacon, and hashbrowns

Sweet Carolyn showed up to surprise Kayla with a special treat!

Special cookie/cake made by Carolyn with groovy candles!

Birthday lunch at Cheesecake Factory with Olivia

Kayla's favorite--Red Velvet Cheesecake

Me with my sweet girl

Beautiful girls growing up too fast!

Going to work

Jason's company made some changes this year and cut off the overtime we had grown accustomed to the past 10 years.  Whew!  This made an impact!  We are thankful he still has a good job, but we needed to make changes ourselves to work with the new situation.  Jason was willing to get a second job at night, but I decided I would rather go to work in the evening than have him gone all the time, the kids would miss him terribly...and I might go crazy!  It was a hard decision, but my friend, Angie, helped me find a great part-time job at a chiropractor office.  Going back to work was harder than I thought it would be for many reasons, but the learning and growing experience was good for me.  I really liked the people I worked with and the patients I saw regularly, but the time came for me to leave that job in favor of my new passion--teaching piano!

Teaching Piano

Shortly after I started working, and around the time Kayla's piano teacher was retiring, my friend encouraged me to teach piano.  I immediately dismissed the idea, but as time went on, I couldn't get the thought out of my head.  I have loved playing the piano since I was young, but I have been rather a closet player.  I never considered teaching before.  I ended up doing a lot of research on piano teaching methods and a lot of praying about whether or not it was something I should do.  If I was going to do it, I wanted to do it well.  I received an answer that I should pursue it, and so I went forth with much faith and not a little trepidation. Well...I absolutely love it!  I have always liked teaching children, but piano teaching is especially nice because it is one-on-one teaching, it involves fun and beautiful music, and I get to build a relationship with some precious children (including my own) and hopefully be an influence for good in their lives.  I think I've found my life calling!  I am grateful to my friend for encouraging me, the many piano teachers out there who have advised me, including those who have shared their creative ideas online, the friends who have referred students to me, and the Lord for always leading me and guiding me.  He often leads me down unexpected paths (such as homeschooling), but these paths bless me in ways I never dreamed of and I am so thankful.

Homeschooling

Speaking of homeschooling, we just finished up our 7th year!  Wow!  I wasn't sure I would last one year when I first began, and now it has been 7!  Ha, ha, I still feel new in so many ways.  These are some of the things we did this past year.

Kayla participated in the Challenge program with Classical Conversations.  Her class met all day once a week, covered 6 subjects, and then the rest of the week she did all of the assignments at home.  Kayla loved her teacher and her class mates.  She worked really hard and received several awards at the End-of-the-Year-Ceremony.  It was nice for me to have someone else do the majority of the teaching, while still knowing she was getting the benefits of a small classroom and more personal instruction.  She was able to do things that we wouldn't have done at home--like dissections!  It was a great program and I'm so glad she participated in it.

Hunter and Tanner didn't take any formal classes outside of the home, but we did several clubs and co-ops--poetry, geography, history, and five in a row.  I was going to share pictures from the various clubs we did this year, but they've all disappeared from my computer!  Tanner finished his 100th reading lesson in March. I used the book "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons,"  and every time he finished 10 lessons, he got to pick something from the $5 Below Store.  At 100 lessons, he got to go to Chuck E. Cheese. Those extrinsic motivators really help at times!

Tanner's 100th lesson!

This is how I wanted our lessons to go, just Tan and I...

This is what usually happened once we began..the monster attacked!

Tanner celebrating at Chuck E. Cheese

Homeschooling my children--learning together, discussing, playing, laughing, studying--brings me a lot of joy. Stress?  Absolutely!  Do I ever feel like giving it up?  Plenty of times.  I keep at it because the benefits, for me, outweigh the difficulties.  Why I homeschool and how it blesses my family is a whole post that I'll save it for another day.


Family Visits and Vacations

We didn't do any big vacations this summer, but we spent a few days at the end of May at a Yogi Bear campground in Southern Va.  It was camping in style--a cabin with electricity, bathrooms, T.V. a kitchen, etc.  Okay, so it wasn't really camping, but it was a fun place to stay.  We made campfires, went swimming, and floated down the river--the drama of which really merits another post, but I probably won't get to it.

My sister and her husband visited us in June with their six children.  It was wonderful for me to have time with my sister and for the cousins to be able to spend time together.  I wish we lived closer.  I'm so glad we have the phone and internet to help us stay connected.  I had to work while they were here, so I couldn't join them for many of their excursions, but we did get to have some outings together.

LaFroths and Petersons at Gettysburg

Little Emma with Archer, my only blondie

Pretty Girls

The kids had fun with "Just Dance" on the X-box kinnect

Trying on armor at Jamestown

 

My cute sis with little Emma and baby William.

Hunter and Jared on a ship on Jamestown

Good buddies

Family photo before the teary parting

LaFroths and Petersons at DC Temple

My Reflections

Looking back on this post, I realize I have used the word "blessing" over and over.  It's interesting how life appears when we look at it 8 months at a time.  Moment to moment, day to day, it feels crazy, stressful, and even confusing at times...perhaps that is why I haven't written for 8 months.  It has been a period of time with a lot of changes, adjustments, and feelings of constant overwhelm.  To be perfectly honest, I cried quite a few tears as it was all happening, but now I look back and see the Lord's hand in everything and feel overwhelmed with gratitude.  As the song says, "Count your many blessings name them one by one...and it will surprise you what the Lord has done."  Blessing counted!