School Is In Session!

I cannot tell a lie:  I AM SO GLAD SCHOOL HAS STARTED.  You know I love my kids, but even moms need a couple of hours once in a while to recharge.  During the summer those hours are few and far between.  Like teachers who need their summer breaks, I need my school time.  I also enjoy helping my kids with homework.  It reminds me of how much I do not remember (anyone want to explain direct objects {DO} and indirect objects {IO} to me.)  It also helps me keep my mind sharp.  (Math is my favorite!)  This year it also has told me (in eight days) how quickly things are taught now.  I do not remember learning DO and IO until high school and my oldest is only in 7th grade!  This year is also the first year that all three of my kids are excited to go to school in the morning!  Homework gets done every night.  This is a big deal because for the past two years Chris has been on a "homework strike."

Here is a quick health update:

Cassidy's asthma is at it again!  She had a major attack last Saturday in Chicago.  It was bad enough that I almost called the paramedics.  Since then she has had decent days and horrible nights.  She is up most of the night  and day, so she is extremely tired.  This week has also been very hot.  Ninety plus temps everyday with the humidity close to 90 percent.  It has made things uncomfortable for everyone.  (Some schools in the area closed early due to the heat.  They did not have AC.)  Hopefully now that the weather is cooling off she will start to feel better.

Family Tree

I have found that searching for family members you know almost nothing about is an interesting experience.  I did not realize how many Stinebaughs there have been in the United States.  From my perspective Stinebaugh is an uncommon name.  The only Stinebaughs I have ever heard of are from our family.  And now I have figured out where some of our family names have come from ~ Daniel, Samuel, etc.  These names have been around for a very long time.  And do you know how many Marys we have had in our family!!!   Even with all of that, I am enjoying every minute of of my search.

On another note, when it rains like crazy in a very short period of time DO NOT go shopping!  Parking lots flood in minutes!

Family Genealogy

Why is it that family reunions can make a person really think about where their family came from?  I think I know.  I just returned home from Oklahoma where I attended my family reunion with 45 other crazy family members.  I say crazy because most of us drove for quite a while for a one day event.  (Fyi ~ there is talk that it will be a 2 day event in 2 years! )  As always everyone asks how we are all related and it gets a little confusing.  I enjoy every bit of the confusion, but sometimes it is hard to keep track of everyone.  We have a very big family, even if only a small portion comes to the reunion.

Because no one, not even me, can keep everyone straight I decided to start a family tree.  Now mind you I have done a family directory every couple of years just to try to keep everyone current.  Although the last one I did was apparently in 2008 and so it is VERY outdated.  (Lots of new babies and marriages, etc.)  I love doing it and will continue to do it as long as I am able to, but this year I came home and went to work on a family tree.  I have only been home since Monday afternoon (I got home after 1 am Sunday night and I spent the night at my mother's house.)  There are so many different ancestry websites on the internet that will help you find people and research connections.  I have looked at lots of them and kind of got discouraged with the cost.  However while I was in OK, my cousin's sister told my about a website that allows you to go up to 250 members of your family for free.  Great!  I can get started and see how I like the program.  (Most sites I have looked at don't let you do much for free.)

Here became the problem:  Our family is just too big.  I got one branch of our Stinebaugh family into the system and was already almost out of room.  When I added the two other branches I had already written out I ran out of room.  Mind you, my great grandmother's parents had NINE kids.  I had only put in 3!  Well, the site allows you to invite family members to look at your tree and add to it, comment on it, add pictures, etc.  Now here is why my family is so terrific ~ one of my cousins asked if he could pay the fee because he thought the site was so cool and we would use it a lot.  I love my family!

As of right now we have 400 people on our tree and that is just the start.  I have been working on it a little every day and keep finding new members of our family.  So much fun!  I have a feeling that when the next reunion rolls around our tree will be gigantic!!  I cannot wait to see.