All in the Golden Afternoon...

Little bread-and-butterflies kiss 

the azaleas, 

and the sun is like a 

toy balloon. 

There are get up in 

the morning rosies, in the golden 

afternoon. 

strings of violets 

are all in tune, 

Turf lillies love 

the dandy lions, in the golden 

afternoon, the golden afternoon.

There are dog and caterpillars and a 

copper centipede,

where the lazy 

daisies love the very peaceful life 

they lead... 

You can learn a lot of 

things from the flowers, for especially 

in the month of June May.

There’s a wealth 

of happiness and romance, all in the 

golden afternoon. ...

All in the golden 

afternoon, the golden afternoon...

 I could not resist...out in my garden today. So many lovely plants there to greet me. This is the time of year when I disappear from the people world. You can find me in the garden world. School is over, and homeschool for kiddos is coming to an end. We will have our noses in flowers, hands in dirt, and our eyes on bugs and nature. I no longer have to be tied to the laptop for assignments, so I figure it's a good time to put it away ...except for blogging :)

C'est la Vie ...and I don't want to miss a moment of it!  

Turn it off, put it down, and go out and enjoy! 

   

Juste Parce Que

I just finished writing a paper on the Hagia Sophia...

It's nearly midnight and I have to get up in the early morn, so for the sake of  brevity, this will be but a few pictures long.

Why?

Well, Just because...

 Because I just love this family to bits...

Because time goes by too quickly and I love looking back at memories...

Because every smile is like fuel in my engine...

Because...look at her...

Because I need to be the one to tell you, that this is one of the most beautiful pictures ever!

Because of times like these...

Goodnight and God Bless!

An Epiphany...

You know when you think about something many, many times, but then, that one time you understand it more than ever! Heck, you understand everything about everything, for that split second! 

...happened to me this morning. If I don't hurry I'll lose it all, but here goes:

I am a very sensitive person period! I've tried over and over to grow thicker skin, but it doesn't grow on me. It's like trying to cultivate apples in the dessert (or something extreme like that, please don't message me and tell me you grew an apple tree in the dessert). 

The past week I've been bitter, not friendly, and I fit in so well...I realized that I can either conform to this unfriendly, unloving, ungrateful society, or I can...not!

I seem to get more respect when I'm frank and unemotional. If I keep this up I could really finish this whole game in the lead. Take my winning to my grave like King Tut. 

There is a gentlemen I used to work with who we call Mtn. Man Dan (You know who you are) who inspired me with a post he made a week or so ago. I may not have gotten his exact point, but I did get this. I'm tired of phoniness. I'm tired of feeling like I have to be that person who wins the race. I don't want to conform to this world, this society, this game. No, I'd rather be with the losers, the ones who come in last. The ones who knew that they never had a chance of winning, but came out anyway, worked hard anyway, and finished anyway! Can you imagine running along side someone who finishes last! Seeing the emotion, the joy, the love, the faith, the "impossible". That's where I want to be. I want to be real. I want to be genuine. I want to be happy, and joyful, and kind, and loving, and living the impossible.  We've always been taught the opposite, so I may only make sense to myself right now, but it's the way I feel. 

So, I think that's where I'll be, I'll be the nice "guy" who finishes last. If you want to find me, I'll be over here, enjoying what I call wealth, the fruits of the spirit~ JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GENTLENESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, SELF CONTROL...

and above all 

LOVE!

+

May God Bless you all, wherever you are and want to be...

We Caught our Second Wind!

Boy, I must say 2013 was a tough year. I know I've said this before, but I really over-pushed my limits. 

I'm glad to say goodbye...

I had a nice, well-needed rest from it all. The holidays were very lovely and joyful.

 Now I'm ready to roll into the New Year

...like a boss!

{K} had his first basketball game last weekend and he did so well!!

We were THOSE parents yelling so loudly and over-doing it with cheers for ever bucket his team sunk...

Back to schooling...

I'm really looking forward to the last half of the year with the kiddos. I realize that even on the days when we don't seem to get anything accomplished , the children are still progressing at a rapid pace! 

I love love love being able to organize their curriculum. I also love the freedom that homeschooling gives us. 

Lately, I've been having to skip through lessons because I keep getting the response, "I already know this"...

I make them prove it every time, sure enough, we skip even more lessons....

I feel like that is something we struggled with a bit in public school, especially with the oldest...

Even if he knew it, he was still required to do it again. Don't get me wrong, repetition is very important for some things, but there is a point where boredom gets the best of us and does more than cause a little trouble.

I was looking through the pics in my camera and I was laughing so hard at the silly face poses...

         ^that's {J}'s silly face...ha!

My children really take their silly faces seriously. They give 100% effort in making a silly face, it almost looks painful...

So yeah, we've caught our second wind and are feeling like we're cruising right along merrily. 

We haven't been very social, but when the weather gets a bit nicer we'll be out more.

We're also looking for good book recommendations for {M}. She's read so many books already, but here's what she has left on her reading list for the rest of the year:

• The Phantom Toll Booth
• The Great Gilly Hopkins
• Because Of Winn-Dixie
• The Whipping Boy
• Caddie Woodlawn
• Anne of Green Gables
• Tuck Everlasting
• Sounder
• The Last Invisible Boy
• James and The Giant Peach
• Pippi Longstocking

Do you have any other awesome books around the same reading level that you highly recommend?

God Bless all of you and yours!

~The Zeres

Clean and organize my life...

{This happens to be the title to one of my Pintrest boards}

I always look forward to the New Year because yes, I plan to make 'a new.
One of the biggest projects that I have lined up is PURGING PURGING PURGING!!!

My garage is an impossible mess and my house is busting at the seams.
This house eats library books and entire sections vomit their belongs while I'm distracted.
I'm so tired of picking up the same stuff over and over...

It's not working, it's too complicated for the children to comply with the organization of it all.
Most days I feel like I want to take all the baskets and combine them into a giant toy box because I'll find "accessories" mixed in the "figurines" bin or the "cars" will be in the "doll clothes"..nothing stays where it goes, so who cares about labels?
There is this kitchen drawer that jams up every time I open it to use the foil. Really, the foil is the only thing I use in that drawer but all the other stuff is on standby...just in case the need arises...

I'm at the end of my rope!

I know where I need to begin. I need to minimize EVERYTHING! There are too many accessories, figurines, cars, doll clothes, and things in the foil drawer.

...but it is such a big project it's hard to begin...

When I look around there are many things that I love...those will stay.
Everything else will need to prove it's usefulness, if not, GONE!

I have to remind myself that it's difficult for a family of six to keep tidy and organized {especially when Dad and Mom are both full-time students and both work outside the home}

I'm coming up with daily cleaning schedules for everyone in the house, I think this will help a lot.

I also have to remind myself that the youngest member in the house is a  two year old who tends to turn into a tornado if he's given too much freedom to roam....

His chores will include picking up and sorting {I'm sure more chores will come along when the ball starts rolling}

I'm going to test out a lot of those Pintrest ideas and see what works for us!

HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Do you have a really effective cleaning/organizing system?

Tell me, tell me, please share!!

Merry Christmas!!!

This is a pretty photo-heavy post, but hey, it's Christmas, it's to be expected right?

The kiddos said that this was their favorite Christmas!

 They feel that way every year...not because of the gifts{we never go crazy with gifting}, but because they feel the great love and joy from us and each other.

We made Kobe go on a scavenger hunt to receive his last gift...everyone thought it was pretty funny!

The children always get to experience the gifting part of Christmas twice, after we do it at home we go to Vince and Mema's house and do it all over again!!

 We wish you a Merry Christmas!

...and a Happy New Year!!

T'was The Night Before Christmas...

T'was the night before Christmas with the Zeres, all through the house not a creature is stirring except the 13 year old who can't sleep. 

He keeps asking, "what can I do to get to sleep?"

I remember those Christmas nights as a kid tossing and turning with excitement...

I remember thinking about all the presents awaiting my arrival...

As I've grown I realize that the best gift of all was one I had never opened. 

The gift of Jesus's love for me was always there, unopened. 

That gift has been torn open and gets better every single day!

It's not about religion, this gift, no...it's about a relationship. 

God bless you all and have a 

Very

Merry

Christmas...

Love,

The Zeres

Tis' the Season

Tis' the season for LOVE and JOY!

Even though the temperature outside (70 degrees right now) doesn't feel like Christmas, Love knows no season. 

We have really been soaking up the Holiday love around here.

Instead of snow-kissed noses, we have sun-kissed cheeks. Instead of  white-covered hills, we have green-tinted fields. I've come to learn that the Christmas cliche is not at all important to me. The Christmas miracle  that happened 2000 years ago is the most important thing, and without Him, Christmas doesn't exist. 

Where there are no snowflakes, we create them...

My lovely girl had a Christmas concert this past week and I couldn't be more proud of her. Her youth choral has been working so hard every week and they really blew our stockings off! 

They were AMAZING!! Not just because I'm MOM, but because the pieces of music they chose were incredibly challenging. They all put in 100% and it wouldn't have been possible without their directors. The directors put so much faith in these little people and they really knew what they were doing. I'm am wildly impressed!!

My little lovely really enjoyed raising her voice, and that big voice will resonate in many hearts for time to come. 

 I'm so so so proud of you little dear...we love you so!

 You have a heart of gold and you will touch so many people through your journey in life...

Thank you for always being you, and for all that you do!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good day!

PS.  Trees are not the only things we've been trimming around here. 

It took me a really really long time, but Oscar finally got a fur-cut!

He looks like a totally different dog...ha!