Georgia and Florida

I didn't get a chance to blog about our vacation in October, but it was awesome. We had such a fabulous time.

 We stayed right on Clearwater beach and walked everywhere we went. The kids rode their scooters and we got lots of exercise, especially after all the meals we were eating out!

 Picnic on the beach.

 Shane and I in our new Georgia Tech shirts. We stopped there on the way down to see his alma mater. It was a beautiful campus and it was fun seeing were he went to school. It is also very convenient for me because they are the same colors and mascot as Cedarville. So it works for me to sport their school stuff.

 My sweet Ellie had so much fun.

 The whole family at the campus of Georgia Tech.

Sleepover!

Avery and Reece love having sleepovers in each other's rooms. And I love that I don't ever have to say no since we homeschool. And thankfully they both fall asleep quickly!

Here you can see the start of Reece's room re-do into a big boy room. We got his bedding, Casey from pbkids, which is the same as his nursery bedding. The chair sitting next to his nightstand was a find at goodwill. The wood finish was nasty and the metal parts were metal finish. There was even a few stickers and even the word "hell"carved into the top piece. Thankfully it easily sanded out, restained, and painted the metal navy. Eventually his walls need painted, his headboard will be navy too. I am also on the hunt for a smaller dresser for his room so that his room isn't so crowded. It's getting there!

Homeschooling Update

So it's half- way thru the year and I have ended up changing a few things.

Math

Saxon

Geography/History


RoadTrip USA


Literature
In Grandma's Attic-Sept.
Swiss Family Robinson-Jan.
Five Little Peppers-Oct.
Little House in the Big Woods-Feb.
Wind in the Willows- March
Anne of Green Gables-April
Peter Pan or Robin Hood-June
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm-May
Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe-July

Handwriting

A Reason For Handwriting

Phonics

Explode the Code
AlphaPhonics
Primary Language Lessons

Science

Apologia: Land Animals

There are days that I get a little overwhelmed with not having a pre-done curriculum. But most of the time it is awesome.

Silly Baby

Mommy LOVES my dress because it has a navy blue stripe ribbon. That's one of her favorite colors. Grey is also her favorite as most of her family members roll their eyes as they read this.

 Here I am showing Mommy where my ears are. I have gotten really smart about all the things on my face and I am finally saying the words too.

 Here's my head. Like my pigtails?

 Talking on the phone is my most favorite thing to do. And I usually yell really loudly while I do it.

 Here's me saying Cheese! See ALL my teeth?

Four Times....

I have changed my handbag today. I know ridiculous. And this is only a fraction of the handbags I have. I have been switching through them so much to see which ones I really love and which ones I need to get rid of. I did recently get rid a GARBAGE bag full of them, but alas there is still a whole shelf of them in my coat closet. I haven't allowed myself to buy a new bag for over 7 months. This is HUGE for me. I was buying them every few months. So anyway. Now that I have quit accumulating them I am ready to narrow down the pile even more. I have learned that really I should have spent my money on a few high quality purses then a bunch of lower quality ones. I am a purse snob. I like real leather and those seem to be the ones I use the most. So now I am weeding through the others to see what should go. All in all it is a push to purge our house and whittle down the quantity of stuff that seems to accumulate with kids. We've been slowly getting rid of bags of stuff and trashing broken toys and random pieces. And this is just one area that hurts a little bit, but it feels good to let go all the same.

Energy

Some of you may not know that I have spent the last almost year dealing with some nasty ovarian cysts. Basically they are extremely painful. I have had natural labor...I know what pain is. And they would knock me off my feet for a couple of days at a time. By summer I was having three a month. You do the math. That's a lot of days. So after many different meds I have been cyst free for almost three months. (praying it stays that way). 2011 wasn't my favorite year, but a lot of fun things still happened. Our favorite thing was when we took the kids to Florida for a friends wedding and spent days at the beach.

Anywho, just the last two weeks I am finally starting to feel like myself again. Lots more energy. I have lost 10 of the 15 pounds I gained during the last year, and feeling happier. One of the meds really messed with my emotions so very glad to not be dealing with that anymore!

So this week has been awesome. I feel so much better that I have been on my feet, busy as a bee. Rearranged the basement. Redid the nook in the master bedroom. Switched around all of the accessories in the house. The list goes on. But finally I feel like me. And please pray they don't come back! :)

The Three Munchkins

A New View

So New Year's Eve most people are out partying and eating yummy food. They're dancing the night away and drinking cocktails at midnight. Not me and my hubs! We rearranged furniture and planned out ideas for our basement renovation. So today my chair is in a new spot in the living room and I am liking it. First of all I can see out the front windows and be nosy on  my neighbors. I am also no longer next to the t.v. cabinet and have saved some hearing for the future! Always a plus.

But thanks to pinterest.com  it didn't stop there. We completely rearranged the basement including the beginnings of a big purge. Thankfully the kids didn't notice all the broken pieces of junk going into a trash pile! But hopefully school will run more smoothly out of the dining room and back down into the schoolroom. (it's been too chilly for mama and her little bears down there.) And as usual with kids, once you reorganize everything it is like Christmas morning and all the toys are suddenly amazing again.

And I now have a little slice of peace of my own. We moved the treadmill up two flights of stairs to our bedroom and I am much more motivated to use it now. Especially with the beautiful view out to the mountains in the background.

So... New Year, new views. And a blog that is working....mostly.

I'm BACK!!!!

My genius brother-in-law Nic discovered that the code for my blog design was somehow outdated and was preventing the page from loading. I had to delete everything...huge bummer and lost $50 in the process, but at least I can blog again!