pics

March madness

well, time flies when you are busy with 5 kids. Especially when you have them all day every day. It is definitely a journey, and I see them growing much slower. Two of my kids are complaining of growing pains, so I know they are still growing! As you can tell, we have been too busy homeschooling to do anything else. Larry has been doing a ton of overtime and working weekends. That should end here soon. I make sure I have my girl time on the weekend and every friend is thankful for our friendship. Gideon and Liberty tried gymnastics, they are both good at it, but only Liberty wants to continue. Trinity is still doing her guitar lessons. She is getting good and may do some music writing next. Aiden is a full teenager. He looks and acts the part. Scary as it is. I think he grew 2 more years above himself. I am glad I have him home to spend time with him instead of missing him. Levi is 20 months now. I am amazed at how much he talks and does. Right now he is a climber. Scary! as well as walking down the stairs by himself. WE got 3 angora rabbits and love them! they are so fun to watch and pet. They are as big as a cat now, but won't bite or claw at you. The only bad part is you may get peed on. I did yesterday... I guess we still need to work on litter training them. they don't stink and the kids are not allergic to them. I noticed I am allergic to their hay they eat. They are fun! Larry only wants one, but he is a dog- lover. Maybe he would feel better if we had a pig. He had a pet pig as a kid. I am considering getting chickens. Larry loves his eggs, but I will have to do more research on them. Many of our friends have backyard chickens. We will see. Well, that is what is up with us. Just homeschooling along with a few fun days here and there. Maybe I can teach the kids to write their own blog, they may have more fun with that instead of journaling. love you all. pictures to come.......

August fun~ what is in store for Sept...

Well, looks like Summer is over. I am not quite accepting it yet though. This weekend, we planned to go to the Spokane fair, and a homeschooling picnic at the park. Next weekend we are going to Sandpoint, ID to watch Larry run his half marathon. We will take all the kids, they have a family friendly beach there, plus the hotel will be excitement enough for the kids! Maybe after that I will settle in to a typical homeschool week. I figure weekends are for "field trips" anyways right? Last weekend we had some birthdays. Mine was on a Saturday, we did a pool party at a friends house and Larry got take out for dinner! yum yum! Sunday we went to Silverwood and played all day in the sun! Perfect weather and the kids had so much fun! Last year I went, I was pregnant, this year, I could ride with Levi. He had fun!! This week we are starting Homeschool. The other schools are starting as well, so I will probably mirror their calendar so the kids will be off when their friends are off so they can still meet up with their friends for playdates. Of course there will be room for flexibility. New this fall- this week- Aiden will be going to youth group! Trinity will start back up with her guitar lessons weekly and Gideon will be doing gymnastics. He got tired of Karate saying it was too much work! So we will see how he likes gymnastics. As a family we will all be going to BSF bible study in the evenings. I am looking forward to how this will work out for our family. Still praying for a babysitter, I am sure I will find someone this week. We have now gone to one car- Larry sold his broken Rodeo. We are just sharing, the sad part is that insurance may go up after 6 months. ouch! Well, we did have a good summer, with free bowling, roller skating, camping, swimming, picnicking and movie watching. The fun will not end with homeschooling, we can still have our field trips when most kids are in school, ours will be available! no crowds, and more one on one learning. I have a feeling we will do more field trips this year thanks to http://www.exploringfamilies.com. So actually summer does not have to end for the Chagnon's. :)

July goodness

well, July is over! What a month! shoosh! Now we have one more month of summer left and I am thinking and planning what to do for our school year... I already have a schedule. July we had Birthday fun Levi turned one! Now he is walking like a pro! The kids loved playing with their cousins! They loved Grandma Kris' Garden and swimming at the lake. Now that we are home. The balance in our home is better. They are getting along better and playing together. I can feel they are anxious for school to start, so I better get my act together as teacher! Exciting stuff here! I am letting God lead the way.... Happy August!

June

well, one more week until we go to CA. I wanted to send off some cute pics. Everything is happening so fast. Now that school is over we are adjusting to being home and trying to find balance in our day. Levi will be one in a week! Shoosh, where did the time go? Our next new adventure ahead of us is that we will be homeschooling all of the kiddos. I may do a new blog about our homeschool adventures. There is a ton of information out there as well as blogs to help encourage and support. So why not do my own and journal our adventure. here are some cute pics of the kids....

oops.... been a while

Hello family, sorry it has been too long. I am sure you are wondering what is happening with the Chagnon's these days.... Where do I start? Lets start with me :) I am homeschooling Liberty Preschool, which is challenging. Just her. we have our good days and our bad days, she tends to want to run the day according to her likes. She is a sponge and I am surprised at how much she does remember. I also started a bible study Sunday evenings which is First place 4 health. It is good accountability, but is making me busy with the BSF I have Wed mornings and then squeeze in whatever leftover time I have to clean house, cook food and exercise. Lately I have been doing Michael Jackson experience on the wii. It is fun and a workout! We also do Life group every other Mon eves. I didn't want to get this busy, but is is good as well. Building relationships! Larry is good. He is training for his half marathon in May. He likes a good challenge! He is also doing a ton of overtime still. Sometimes he works on the weekends, or into the evenings. He does love what he does, so that helps! He has also just connected with his Brother in NY. It is good to hear them talking on the phone. He also has no family on their end, so we may have them come visit us for a holiday or so. Aiden is 11 now and starting to act his age and be more responsible. It is very encouraging and helpful. He is also showing more independence on his part, which scares me the older he gets! Trinity is good. She is acting like the little mom lately wanting to help out with Levi. She fed him baby food the other day and was proud of helping out! She is my next babysitter in training. She is also doing wonderful with her guitar lessons. Looking like a pro now! Gideon just started Karate. Ju Jitsu. He likes having something for himself. It is helping him to be more responsible and accountable. Being the middle child, he can easily hide and get out of responsibility because someone else will do it. Not so much with Karate. He earns his stripe with approval from home, school, and Karate. Liberty is our little ball of fire. Lately she is testing us with obedience and is learning the hard way. I am establishing a routine with her which will help her know what to expect in her day. Levi is growing and growing. He is 8 mo old now and is sitting up on his own, eating baby food, and saying da da. I can see his teeth bumps and know it will be soon he will have teeth. He has his own little personality, being very quiet and smart at what he does. The thing that amazes me is that he does not want a bottle, he does not like a sippy cup, but loves drinking from an open cup. That is most of it for now. We can see spring sneaking up on us. Most of the snow is melted now. love and hugs to you all. Cant wait to see you this summer. Already making the plans!

October

I have not posted in a while. I am trying to find how to download videos. I have one of Levi giggling. I just don't know how to download it, or it is too large for facebook. All is well here. Very busy now with 5. Larry has been doing a ton of overtime at work, so we are thankful he has a job, however it feels like he is deployed. We only see him briefly in the evenings. It is only temporary, but taking a toll on our family. Other than that. Levi is 3 months now and we are going to get him dedicated at the end of the month. Looking forward to his first Christmas. He may not get it. But it will be fun! love you all.