December Pack Meeting for Pack 30

Our Pack meeting was this past Wednesday night, and we really did have a lot of fun. It was a Christmas/Pizza party. We had Scout budget that we needed to spend, so Little Cesears was calling our name. Boy was it tasty.



We had pizza, Christmas desserts, games, Pinewood Derby car presents, and lots of fun. Here are lots of pictures of the fun and craziness that is a Pack meeting!

Joe building his puzzle. It's cut up xmas cards. Pretty neat, actually.
10 pizzas. Everyone left super full!
Not Jimm, but Spencer. Don't they look similar?
Eme and Mayle, building xmas puzzles. I'm sure glad that she's here for Eme at the pack meetings. They have a lot of fun.
Jacob loves babies. Isn't he sweet!
Tom and his buddies, doing their skit.
Eme with Laura and her baby brother. Laura is in Eme's Primary class, and has brothers in Scouts too. Lucky Eme.!
Eme and the Tyre baby.
Jimmy and his food. Piz! as he calls it.
Jimmy, after getting knocked to the ground by Spencer. This is a change. Usually it's my kids knocking someone to the ground, not the other way around. Poor Jim.

Jacob, and his Scout Xmas gift. The Pack bought Pinewood Derby cars for all the boys.
Tom and his car. See it in his fingers there. Nice pose, Tom.
Jacob getting his Scientist badge. And Joe giving him bunny ears :)
No, Mom. I don't want to be in this picture. Maybe if I lean back like this, I'll be out of range!
The boys in the Closing Ceremony.

Recital Time

OK, so I don't have a venue to let my kids perform, so you all are it. I'm gonna be recording my kids, and showing them to you all. Sorry, if I have to watch it, then so do you. And they really are cute....right? I'm not the only one who thinks that, right?

Here's "Little Red Riding Hood", performed by Eme, Joe, Tom, and Jim. Well, Jim is mostly "un-performing" it, but hey, he's still in the thing. We read Little Red Riding Hood for Eme's Lit. assignment, and made puppets. Then, a few days later, we were supposed to do a puppet show. Boy did the kids have fun with this one.

Of course, they had me do the narration. Eme was Red, and Tom was everyone else. Well, Joe was someone, but I don't know who. Jim just kept trying to take "Grandma Lyn". He didn't understand that it was a grandma for the story, not his grandma. Oh well. He likes his grandma!

So, here it is. I hope you enjoy the show!




And here's Tom, reading a Christmas poem. He didn't write it, but we sure thought it was cute. While watching it, I noticed that he started off real strong, but it kind of deteriorates (if this is spelled wrong, Brent did it) towards the end. Poor thing. Who could concentrate with Jimmy in the background! Good job, Tom. We love you!

What Do the Younger Siblings of Homeschool Kids Do All Day?

Well, here are our studious homeschoolers. Don't they look busy as work.

Eme is practicing her handwriting.

Jacob is working on his spelling words.

Tom is working on his spelling words, using Eme's phonics magnetic letters.

And where are Joe and Jim, you say? Well, this is what we found when we went into the other room to see what all the commotion was. So funny!

Blogger is Having Issues

If you've visited my blog in the past few hours, you'll notice my several attempts to update my header. Failed attempts, I might add. For some reason, they're all looking quite pixelated. Pitiful, really. How many new headers have I made? And why did it pick today to stop working. Oh well. What can I say. I tried. Below are the headers that I tried, and blogger, not me, failed at.


See, aren't they cute? I took about an hour this afternoon after school making them too.

Harty Boys

Lazy Sunday Evening

After getting the kids to bed, Brent and I are taking the evening off. He's playing some computer game, and I'm blogging and watching online TV. Have I mentioned that I like doing that. Anyway, after taking a picture of him at his game, I proceded to take a few random pictures of myself. I like to take silly pictures of myself sometimes. OK. I know I'm weired. Anyway, he looks over after about 4 flashes, and says

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing," I quickly reply.

I've been caught being weird. Don't you love me?






Don't you love my new apron? It's from Grandma Ida. Great color! And, she made a matching one for Eme. When it stops raining, I'll go and get hers from the truck, and we'll take our pictures together.

Friends are Special

Here are a few of our Ohio friends. I love being in the church. It's so easy to make friends where ever you go. An instant set of friends!

Eme and Laura Tyre

This picture is hysterical! Jimmy loves Shirley. He talks about her constantly. And yet, when I put him near her for the picture, this is the response I got. From both of them. Sooooo funny!
Shirley is a Graham. Bro. Graham is a doctor, and they're moving to Utah on the 21st of this month. They have 7 kids, and are awesome. They'll be greatly missed!

Here's Joe and Jacob Graham (yes, another Graham). Joe really likes Jacob. They're in Sunbeams together for one more week.

And here's my friend Ashlee and her husband. Looks like baby Will is in there too. Or that's just a jacket. No, I think it's a baby.

Ward Christmas Party

Our ward just became a ward a few years ago, so we're pretty tiny. But our building is even smaller. It used to be a Baptist church building, but it was converted to an LDS church. Pretty tiny. Better than nothing, but small. It doesn't have a gym, but a small basement with kitchen where you can have a group of 25-30. We had the primary Halloween party down there, kids only, not parents. Tight fit.

Anyway, where I'm going with this is...we didn't have enough room for our Ward Christmas party. We were going to rent a banquet hall, but that fell through. So, we went to the Brower's barn for the party. Big space, really. They curtained off half of the barn, with their tools and equipment and such, and put up tables and chairs in the other half. We had a small rented propane heater on the half we were using. About every 20 minutes, we'd turn it on, and blow warm air for us all. But talk about noisy. Lots and lots of noise....and fumes.

But you know what. It was a great time. You don't need bows and ribbons and fancy times to celebrate Christmas. That's not what it's all about. It's about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, and spending time with our family and friends. And that's what we did. We were in humble settings, and we all enjoyed every minute of it.

The primary did a little presentation, and sang a song. Well, most of them sang. Some of them had a little puppet war. You'll see in the video. I'm the one in the red puffy coat.



Away in a Manger. That was sweet. Then, I led the ward in a sing-a-long (would have been nice to let me know before I was told, hey, lead the group in some songs...). Then Santa came. The kids liked that. After Santa, the teens and a few men went outside for a monster snowball fight. They seemed to enjoy themselves.

All in all, it was a great Christmas Party!

Joe and Santa

Tom and Santa

Eme and Santa

Jimmy and Santa

Eme and Santa

Jimmy and the food

Joe and the food (he ate the most of all the kids, I think)

Jacob, and Joseph Tyre
(his dad is in the bishopric with Brent, and his mom homeschools their 5 kids too)

Thomas and the food

Eme and her food (notice the big coats....it was cold when the turned off the heater)

Generic or Name Brand?

I go back and forth on this one. I really hate spending money, so the generic is always so tempting. But the quality is almost always inferior. Well, in the case of make-up, I've decided to go with the name brand.

While my parents were here, I decided to buy some generic make-up at the local dollar store. Cheap it was. Good, it was not. Look how white it makes my face look. And not good white, as in Snow White. Dead white, is more like it. Anyway, not so good.

So to fix the problem, I went to Wal-Mart last night, and bought some name brand make-up. Maybeline, I think. Not sure. Anyway, see how it smoothes out my skin. Much better. And I absolutely love their eye shadow combos. This one is Emerald something or another. Like it!

A Night on the Town

Brent received a forward the other day about Rednecks, complete with pictures. They were quite funny. One was a photo of a clip from a newspaper. A lady was talking about the new dollar store that had just come into their town. She said something to the effect that she liked the store becasue she didn't need to get dressed up to go there, like she did for Wal-Mart. Funny, eh?



Well, here we are, eating dinner and Wendy's, getting ready to go to Wal-Mart. And yes, we did get dressed up. I guess we're slightly Redneck :)

The Nativity Song

Check out this neat video. I made it for part of my music time this coming Sunday. I'm the Singing Time Leader, you know. Last week, I had the kids draw pictures that went with this song, then photographed the drawings. Then, I edited them into the song, with other pics I found on the web. I thought it turned out very nice. I especially like the last picture of Mary and Jesus. It's called "Kissing the Face of God", or something like that. Precious. I hope you enjoy!

My Grinch Name

My mom sent me this link (My Grinch Name), and, well, I thought it was pretty funny. Here are a few of my favorite results:

Me (Bethany) - Moodytroll Crustyton

Brent - Scroogeywhiner Crustyton

Jake - Crabbymonkey Crustyton

Tom - Peevishcrab Crustyton

Eme - Miserlygrinch Crustyton

Joe - Meanfrown Crustyton (how appropriate)

Jim - Grumpycrab Crustyon

My mom (lyn) - Frownwhiner Fussybottom

Dad (Steve) - Moodygloom Fussybottom

Terry - Miserlygrinch Fussybottom

Taylor - Wretchedgrump Fussybottom

Madi - Crabbygloom Snippyham

Joe - Grumpyfrown Snippyham

Ella - Frowngrump Snippyham

Carol - Crabbymonkey Crustyton

Paul - Crabbyurchin Crustyton

Aunt Shirley - Woefulgrump Wickedshorts (so funny)

Grandma Ida - Woefultroll Snottynose (hehehe)

Grandpa Lucky - Dismalscrooge Snottynose

Aunt Sue - Meanfrown Onerypoop

Steve - Moodygloom Onerypoop

Tom's Poem

Here's Tom Tom reading his poem. He was embarassed by how much fun he had reading it the first time, so we re-did it. The second time, though, he messed up on the ending. He was tired to taping it by that point though. Poor thing. I think he did a fabulous job!!!!

Public Speaking

The internet give us a whole new idea of "Public Speaking." Here's Eme reciting her poem that she leanred today in Literature. Isn't she just the cutest thing that you've ever seen!

The First Real Snow of Winter

What a great day it was. We woke up to find a quiet blanket of snow on the ground. How peaceful it is in the morning. I just love it. And I was glad that I didn't have to leave the house, but could do school from the comfort of my own home, and not have to brave the cold and snowy conditions outside.

At AM snacktime, the kids decided to eat really fast, and then go outside to play. They got a good 20 mintues in before it was time to come back inside and work some more. After we were done with school for the day (about 3:25), we checked the forcast and the radio station, and found out that Waverly had cancelled school for the day. Oops. No one gave us homeschoolers that memo! I didn't pass that little tid bit on to the kids :)

Scouts was also cancelled for the night, so we had a nice evening at home. We played "Scene It: Jr." That was a lot of fun. Thanks, Grandma Lyn, for buying us this fun game!

Here's a nice little clip from the boys making the snowman.

Here's the snowman that my kids made. Didn't they do a good job. Complete with carrot nose and Cincinnati Reds hat!

Eme's so cute!

Jimmy's a little blury, but you get the idea!

Joe, the loner.

Eme, making a snowball to throw at someone or another.

Jimmy in his warm winter coat. This was before we realized that socks make good mittens!

Tom making a snow angel. Hey, who left the gate open!

O.K., Jacob. I know that's not how we make a snow man. What are you trying to do? Throw the ball over the fence?

Eme's definately throwing that at someone!

All the kids together, working on the snowman. But wait, where's Joe?

Christmas Card 2007

What a busy year we had in 2007! First off, we moved from the Chicagoland, Illinois area to Southern Ohio. That was a big move, but a very good one. We are so grateful to be out of the city and into a small town. It suits us much better!

Brent was called into the Bishopric in our new ward after attending church two times. Crazy, eh? He’s doing a great job. He is now a District Director for the Simon Kenton Council, Chief Logan District. He is also in charge of running the Scout Office down here in Chillicothe. He also switched from Infantry to Cavalry this fall. He is learning to ride a horse, and is doing a pretty darn good job! We attended participated in several Reenactments this year.

Bethany, that’s me, had fun with our Cub Scout pack in Illinois, acting as the Committee Chair and a Den Leader. We did a lot of fun activities in that pack. Now, I’m Primary singing time leader, and the church Cub Scout Committee Chair. I do like Scouting. I decided to pull the kids out of regular school, and enroll them the Ohio Virtual Academy. Home school is fun, but hard work. It’s only my first week, but I think we’ll survive.

Jacob is getting so old. He turned 10 this year. In Illinois, he was in Orchestra, and learning to play the cello. He was doing pretty good when we had to leave. He had fun at Cub Scouts, with the Pinewood Derby, the Hot wheel Derby, Campouts, Service Projects, and Achievements. He earned his Webelos 1 badge this year. Jacob loves reading, hanging out with friends, and playing on the computer. Good job Jacob.

Thomas turned 8 this year, and was baptized. We are so proud of Thomas, and this big step that he’s decided to take. He did very well in school, and almost always got straight A’s. ! He was very pleased with himself. After only a week in school, he made friends with everyone in the class. He’s a great reader, and loves people.

Emeline turned 6 this year, and grew so much. She’s such a cute and tall thing! She started Kindergarten this year. She was so excited to go to school, and make new friends. She is a very quick learner. She had a lot of fun this summer playing in the pool for hours on end. She really browned up! She is very excited to have her first loose tooth. It should be out soon!

Joseph turned 4 this year, and got to go to preschool for 2 months. It was a lot of fun for him. He was a little nervous the first day, but loved it after that. He is now in the Sunbeams, and gets to go to primary with his big brothers and sister. He has a different body style than the rest of us, and is unusually skinny “for a Harty”. But he’s sure cute!

Jimmy turned 2, and hit that all important “18 month” age. Nursery! He loves it in there. He is starting to talk, more and more each day. Lightning McQueen from Cars is his very favorite thing. He also likes candy, cars, and Grandma Lyn. Off all the kids, he’s learned to “SMILE” on cue the earliest. So funny.

We hope that this Christmas Card finds all of you in good health and spirits. Know that we think of you often, and pray for you too! We miss you all!

Brent, Bethany, Jacob, Thomas, Emeline, Joseph, and James Harty

You Know You're Old When....

....Your kids watch The Beverly Hillbillies (1993), see Dolly Parton, and get excited because they recognize her.

"She's from Hannah Montana!", they say. "She's Hannah's Aunt."

Yea, that's what I was gonna say.

Our Thanksgiving Vacation

Well, my mom was so kind to blog our Thanksgiving vacation for us. For now, just check out her blog to see all of the fun and exciting things that we did the week they were here. Jimmy learned to say Ma-In real fast. He knew where the money was coming from, eh? Silly boy.

Mom's Blog

My Lovely Singing Angels

Just think, they asked my family to sing in church for Christmas. That's right, my family....for Christmas. Nice, eh?

Happy Birthday Aunt Sue