Summer happenings in Neyville

I thought I would update on what has been going on here in Neyville so far this summer. We have been working on school, hitting Storytime at our Ceres library on Tuesdays, swimming, playing games, lots of baking, and a bit of sewing.

The children have really been enjoying storytime and they have been "playing" storytime at home quite a bit. The boys love having storytime with the little girls. They read some fun books and then end it with giving Poppet and Lolly stamps on their hands just like the library does.

During summer school I have been having them do lots of "school" in ways other than just bookwork. (they already have their fair share of that) To fill in the other hours of their days and still have things count for school I made a list of games that count for either math or language arts and everyday they pair up and play some games. Fun!

I have also been having them do lots of baking. Of course that clearly is to my pregnant benefit! I have been giving one or two children a recipe a day to make. So far we have had:

Cherry pie (made by Shelbie)
Chocolate chips cookies (these are made weekly, mmmmm!)
Ranger cookies (made totally alone by Shayden, he did a great job!)
Snickerdoodles (group effort here!)
Brownies
Peanut butter icecream pie (oh, my! Shelbie scored on this one!)
Chocolate chip icecream pie (another score for my pregnant appetite)
Homemade pretzels with cheese sauce
Cupcakes
Strawberry shortcake
Magic bars- Mmmm!
Banana bread
I won't tell you what the scale says!!

This is our last week of official summer school. Next week we will be doing lots of "hanging", and of course I will let the kiddos continue on making their wondeful recipes! ;o)

Shaylah showing off the quilt she was working on.

Shelbie in charge of craft time with the kiddos. Painting rocks for Mama's garden!

Okay, someone had to much free time! Poor Ricky and Lucy! All the other animals are laughing at them.

A Ney household staple: chocolate chip cookies!

Making snickerdoodles

Shaylah having "storytime" with the little girls

Shannen having "storytime" with the little girls

Must be an interesting book!

Shayden making a cake for dessert. Strawberry shortcake! Mmmm!

More reading!



Showing off their stamps after
"storytime"

Shelbie's yummy cherry pie.

Today was a good day!

Today was a big day for us. I got to enjoy a truly special moment. I got the opportunity to help my little girl purchase her first car {sniffle-sniffle}. I had the enjoyment for the last 4-5 months of helping to detour her away from would be cars and not seeing Shyloh's frustration, but feeling her trust in our decision to not buy one that I didn't feel would be a good choice for her. At her age most kids with money to buy their first car are chomping at the bit and in such a hurry that they get frustrated at waiting. That was never the case with Shyloh. She continually asked for my opinion and then took it to heart with such a great attitude.
I'm excited for her as well as sad that she's growing up so fast. I left the choice of what kind of car up to her, but received the pleasure of her asking for advise. The whole experience was wonderful and unforgettable. By the way her car was $3300 total including taxes and licensing, she bargained well.

As Poppet would say "today was a good day". We're very proud of her.
~Duane~

(You know it is a big day when Duane actually decided to post on our blog!! Shyloh already posted on her blog, so click over on the side bar to hear from her and see some pictures!)

Matchy, matchy!!

Shyloh has been trying her hand at sewing over the last couple of weeks. She has made a couple of small quilts over the years, but she decided that she would try to make a dress for her and then decided to use the left over material to make a dress for Poppet. Poppet LOVES to have matching outfits with Lolly! She will say, "look, we are matchy, matchy!" When Shyloh presented her with her new dress out of the same material as Shyloh's she was just thrilled beyond words! Shyloh did a great job and even started another dress yesterday and finished that one today. She is talking about making a little matching skirt for Poppet out of the leftover material.
Shelbie started a dress for Lolly right before school ended in sewing class and didn't get it quite finished before class ended. She pulled hers out a few days ago and finished that up for Lolly. Shyloh and Shelbie had used the same pattern so we added a little ruffle to the top of Lolly's dress to make it look a bit more like Poppets. The little girls are so excited about their dresses and both big sisters are feeling pretty good about their accomplishments as well.
Matchy, Matchy!!!

Busy, Busy Days!

Summer is supposed to be quiet and laid back. Unfortunately ours has been just the opposite so far. Things will be changing in July though!
We always continue doing school thru the month of June, but since Shelbie wanted her summer to count towards her high school credits we officially signed up for summer school. Since she was officially enrolled I figured, "why not just sign everyone up?" It has been a much bigger task than I thought. Every little piece of work they do needs to be turned in. Our E.S. (educational specialist) comes bright and early every Monday morning at 9:00 to meet with us. The only silver lining in this is that we have been able to get to know Mrs. Edwards (our E.S.)this summer. She is a sweet lady and has been great to even work with Shadd one on one.
We have two weeks left and then we are taking the month of July off. I am so looking forward to sleeping in, (guilt free) lots of swimming, and getting some of those projects done that we don't have time to do during the regular school year.
I am compiling my list of projects already. Some will be paid projects for the children who are looking for ways to earn some extra money. That is great for me because I would certainly rather pay them and I can focus on things they can't do. Here's a few of the things I hope to acomplish:
1. Paint the upstairs hallway.
2. Finish painting the master bathroom. (this was started months ago!)
3. Sand and paint an outide bench and also a patio swing.
4. Make curtains for the boys room.
5. Go thru the new school years curriculum and see what I still need.
6. Get my lesson planner together for the new year.
7. Put together a new M.O.T.H schedule for the new school year. (this always varies depending on the season I am in, but since I will have a new baby, a toddler, and a preschooler this school year I am feeling that we will definately need a bit more structure)
8. Organize all kitchen cuboards.
9. Do some sewing. (maybe a new baby sling, a new shopping cart cover, and a few little outfits for a few of my kiddos)
10. I would also like to have Duane make me a new bookshelf for the schoolroom (then hopefully pay someone to paint it!) and then do some organizing in there. (this will take a bit of beggin from me!!)
I'm sure my list will grow a bit and then some things will not seem quite so important when I get there. I may end up just doing the things necessary for the new school year and then throw the rest out the window and opt for lounging my pregnant body in the pool all month! (By the way, I am 24 weeks today!!)
Shyloh has been working on a couple of cute sewing projects. Hopefully I can get some pictures and get them posted tomorrow.

Ricky and Lucy

Here are a few pics of our little goats. They have grown quite a bit. Duane calls them his little "raptors" because they are escape artists. We enjoy them so much!

Take me out to the ballpark!

Here are some more pictures from Saturday. Shannen had a game at 8:00am and Shayden had one at 3:00pm. Shyloh took pictures for me of their last game. Notice Shadd and Shaynah eating sunflower seeds in so many of the pictures. I think they will miss those seeds the most! After the game was over we hit AM PM for some sugar filled slurpees! How else do you celebrate a good day at the ballpark?

To view the slide show again just click the x in the upper right corner.

Baseball is OVER!!

Today was the last day of baseball for Shayden and Shannen. This was the first year the boys played. The jury is still out as to whether or not they will play again next year. They were both on separate teams which meant Duane had practice with them four, sometimes five days a week. Then games started and we had to juggle those as well. They had fun, but it really wasn't very family friendly for us. It made our already busy family almost chaotic! We will wait and pray about what to do next year. If we could somehow get them on the same team then they may do it again. The other option is letting Shayden do soccer this fall, as he has showed an interest in that, and then letting Shannen do baseball in the spring. Doing it that way would cut down on all the running, we would be able to focus on the one playing at that moment and still maintain those things that are important to us as a family, such as all of us eating dinner together at night, and not at 8:00!
Overall the boys did very well and had lots of fun, they also had great attitudes. They were exposed to quite a bit of things that they have never been around since they are homeschooled. They witnessed lots of bad attitudes, poor sportsmanship, and language that was less than great. We are very proud of how they handled themselves. They were very good sportsmen, whether they won or lost, and they showed their coaches lots of respect. It gave us lots of springboards for some good conversations with them.
Shyloh put together a slide show of each of the boys. They are just to cute in their uniforms, or costumes as Shayden called them for the first half of the season! If they stop and you want to see them again just click the x in the upper right had corner.
There are more pictures over on our photo page.

Shayden Reese Ney



Shannen Reed Ney

Fellowshiping through suffering

As Shyloh sat with her head by her kittens little body crying on Monday night she said, "why would God give me another kitten to just have this one die too?" My heart is sad over the loss of the kitten, as I fell in love with it too, but any parent can understand when I say my heart was truly breaking for my little girl. As a parent we want to make everything okay and protect them from getting hurt. As I prayed for her that night and this morning I was reminded of something a friend said to me about being "acquainted" with suffering, because it brings us closer to our Lord. Our children usually don't have the experiences of suffering, but maybe this little kitten was put in Shyloh's life to pull her closer to Him, so He could comfort her and love her like no one else can. I Peter 4:13 speaks of rejoicing in our sufferings, because that is when HIS glory is revealed. I pray that for Shyloh today. That through this time of pain for her, HIS glory will be revealed in her heart and life. I know many people will say,"it was only a kitty", but I believe He can and will use anything to reveal Himself to us. When you're only 16 and life is full of fun and ease, maybe a kitty is just the way He will choose to show her His glory? For her this is a very big deal. As parents we do our best to keep our children from experiencing pain and suffering, but this really has me thinking. I don't ever want to block my children from experiencing fellowship with the Lord, even if that is through pain. That is hard to say and more hard to step out of the way and let the Lord have His way with them, but I know that He is the perfect parent and loves them so much more than I ever could. He knows what He is doing with Shyloh and He knows what He is going to teach her through this. I am just going to continue praying for her and pointing her to the ONE true comforter. I pray that I can and will always step out of the way when the Lord wants to do something in my children's lives. It is hard to "let go and let God", but that is always the best. He is refining Shyloh and going to show Himself to her again, this time it may be through pain. His mercies are new every morning! He will take away her sadness and replace it with rejoicing when this is through. I am telling myself this just as much as I will be reminding her, because there is nothing harder than watching your child deal with pain, whether in their hearts or in their bodies.
Phl 3:10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.

Bubbles

Shyloh's second little kitten, Bubbles, died last night. She is just heartbroken over this. This was the little one that was supposed to fill the pain in her heart from losing the first kitten, but instead has left an even deeper wound.
Shyloh threw her whole heart into this little kitten. We are feeling very frustrated over this. She got this kitten on a Saturday night and tried to get it into the vet for shots and a check up on Monday, but they wouldn't see her because it was "only" shot clinic day and they told her on the phone that the kitten was to young to get the feline distemper shot. She worked the next two days, so on Thursday her first day off we took Bubbles down. The vet said he was a little dehydrated, but thought it may be from fleas. They did give him some electrolytes, treat him for fleas and ear mites and sent us on our way. They told us to bring him back in 2-3 weeks for his first shots. We told them that we had just lost a kitten two weeks earlier to what we thought may have been feline distemper, but the vet wasn't worried. Yesterday morning she took him back to the vet, but this time a different one, because it was obvious he was sick. The put him on antibiotics, and gave him more electrolytes. For the past two days we have set the timer for every hour and given this kitten more electrolytes and mixed up kitten formula and used a dropper to get it down him. Shyloh has even set her alarm throughout the night to continue this. With all our efforts this little kitty still died last night.
Shyloh went to work with puffy, swollen eyes today, a combination of crying and not falling asleep until almost 4:00am. Today has been full of bleaching down floors and anything that can be bleached that the kitten came into contact with and washing all laundry, blankets, and bedding the kitten touched. We ordered something online called, Kennel Care, that vets and kennels use to kill this disease. We will continue doing a big once a week cleaning for a month or so just to be sure we have killed everything. Apparently this disease can live for over a year! I really wish that we had fully known the seriousness of feline distemper before we ever brought Bubbles into our home. I told my sister in law, they gave Shyloh the kitten, that I would have kept him at her house for a month until it had its shots and I could clean everything.
Please pray for the rest of the cats in our home!

speaking of "usgusting"

On Monday Poppet had to go potty and was standing in the hall whimpering outside the bathroom door because Shadd was using it when Shyloh saw her and said, "go use the bathroom in the girls room." A few minutes later Shyloh goes into her room and sees that Poppet is still in there so she tells her to go out. Poppet vacates the room quietly and quickly! We have had to make a rule that she isn't allowed to go into the girls room because she has been so naughty about getting into their things and making big messes. Shyloh happens to notice that the bathroom cuboard door is open and her perfume bottles are all missing. She walks over to investigate and turns to see the toliet lid still up. She goes to put it down and to her horror sees all her perfume in the toliet, which I might add that Poppet didn't flush and there wasn't just pee in this toliet!! Shyloh starts hollering for Poppet and comes out looking for her. Shyloh looked like she couldn't decide if she was mad or wanted to cry. She finds Poppet, gets a yellow kitchen glove and heads back to her bathroom. I walk in to see Poppet standing over the toliet with glove on retrieving Shyloh's perfume bottles. Poppet is crying and saying, "gross Shyloh, there's poop in the toliet. I don't want to touch the poop!" Shyloh remained firm and made her take out every bottle! I know Poppet was naughty, but I just couldn't help laughing. I grabbed the camcorder to film it! Shyloh found NO humor in it at all! Today she is laughing a little about it. I told her it will make a great story to tell her own children about when "auntie Poppet" was three!
When Shyloh got home from work yesterday Shaynah ran to her and said, "Shyloh, I was good today!!"
We will definately have to work much harder on training her to stay out of the girls room and when she is in there to leave their things alone.
Yuck!!

Notice she is wearing her princess dress!

Chickens and eggs

This morning I told Shaynah that Shaylah was making us yummy eggs for breakfast. She came back with a "ewwwww, I don't like eggs". I said, "why" to which she said, "because eggs come from chickens!!" I asked her why that bothered her and she replied, "that's usgusting!!!". Tonight I was telling Duane about it and she heard me and said, "I love eggs!"
Silly little girl!