Busy Season

Busy season has started!! We are busy with getting everything caught up in school in time for Christmas break, decorating, winter-proofing, celebrating birthdays, and thinking of some gift ideas ( yes, I do realize that there is less than two weeks until Christmas, but.....this is how we roll EVERY year!) We also have lots of church events to attend and other things to look forward to, I love this time of year! I hope that you are having a wonderful time getting ready for this Christmas season too and taking time to remember why we celebrate! I will be back ( hopefully tomorrow) to show some of the ways we are keeping our focus this year, and more of what we have been up to! 

( we are all honestly feeling a little bit of this though too!! ;) )

Fall Lovin'

We are loving this fall weather- its so beautiful out and has been for the past couple weeks- we are gonna have a 60 degree Thanksgiving!!  The kids have still been outside playing a lot and tracking all kinds of leaves and dirt in the house. Fun.  But I wouldn't have it any other way! I love that my kids love playing outside, do you? I have to admit though, that there are times where it is beautiful out and the kids don't want to go out and I threaten them that Im gonna kick them out and lock the door ;) No, but I do sometimes make my kids go out and get in the fresh air even if they don't feel like it.  Its good for them and great for my sanity :) Here are some of my favorite pictures of the kids on the fall.

This one of Jude is probably one of my favorites of him of all time! I love it!

Love these kiddos- hope you enjoy your week and the weather is beautiful where you are! 

Have a great weekend!

This is a picture from the first day of school- they are so happy! We are feeling that way today too because its the weekend!!!  Next week we only have two days of school and then thanksgiving break!! I hope you have a wonderful weekend and enjoy your rest and your family!

living literally

I read lots of blogs.  Usually I read blog's of other stay-at-home-moms, of course, because I can relate.  I love finding new ones and reading through their archives and "getting to know them."  This one has really encouraged me this past week, as far as being deliberate with being a mother and living the term stay at home mom literally.  We often, especially as moms, and as women in general feel an overwhelming pressure to be able to "do it all."  And I am really really being proactive about shunning that pressure to be supermom.  There really is no reality in being great at everything- we can try, but something will always be lacking, something always gets the leftover energy and time.  I want to do these few things, these things that have come to define me, as well as i possibly can.  I want be the best woman of God I can be, that takes my time and energy and God's grace, but its something I have committed to doing, and its not just for my benefit, but I notice when I really take the time to spend with the Lord, my whole day is better, my patience is greater, my love given more freely.  I want to please God.  Next, I want to be the best wife I can be.  Sometimes with everything else going on, this is the relationship that takes a back burner a lot ( especially when you have small children that take a lot of your attention.)  After our covenant with the Lord, this is the most important covenant we have, the one with our spouse.  If things are going on in your marriage, that effects everyone else in the family- your kids will notice.  Work hard to protect your marriage! Make time for your marriage! Time doesn't just present itself in this day and age- you have to make it and make it work for you and your spouse- it is vital to the family!  Next, I want to be the best mom I can be.  I LOVE being a mom- does that mean Im perfect at it? Absolutely not! I have small children, so I am still learning everyday.  One thing that I have done, and I really enjoy doing is talking to other moms- gleaning advice and encouragement has helped me so much.  Asking for advice and help is somethings we should never be ashamed to do- we all fail sometimes, we all are clueless about things, or just need that extra little encouraging here or there.  Soak in the wisdom that so many people are willing to share if you only ask!  If there is one thing I hear from parents of grown children, it is that us women and mothers ( parents in general)need to shrug off that burden of having to be amazing at multitasking- especially with our kids- enjoy them, and enjoy that precious time that goes way too fast!!  No more supermom syndrome!!  Enjoy your days and see what a blessing your life is!!

new school year, new schedule

This is our schedule from the very first day of school.  We still use the same basic routine, with little changes here and there.  I have gotten a little lax with writing down our schedule EVERY day, I write it down once for the week and only add daily things if it is different from the everyday schedule ( does that make any sense??)  I also use iCal a lot for everything that our family is involved in so i can get to it easily while Im at the computer during the day.  Alright, Im going to go ahead and show you what our schedule looks like right now.  

8:00 am- I try to get the kids up around this time, but if they have had a late night, or aren't feeling very good then I will just let them sleep.  We eat breakfast and brush our teeth and get dressed before we start ( the kids do anyways, Im usually still in sweatpants)  

9am- try to get started with school around this time, but again, it depends on what time we get up and get done with breakfast

We usually start with handwriting and the kids do that while I read the Bible.  We have been using the Reese Chronological Bible ( you can find it here)  We did order the KJV.  Im not a stickler for KJV, but I thought the language would be good for the kids to hear and get used to. We discuss what we've read then we pray together.

After Bible we do our presidents song.  I tried last year and the beginning of this year to just do straight memorization with no help. Just didn't work for us.  I now use this song ( you can find it here) and its been making it a lot easier for us ( yes, us, I need to learn them in order too!)

If its a Monday, we will do the pledge

Language Arts is next.  Their K12 curriculum is pretty basic for Elsie, just read a story and recall what happened and answer questions- she loves it and most of the books are really cute and enjoyable for her. Jude's is more in depth as far as beginning writing and learning the parts of a sentence and how to really structure one on his own.  He has been learning subject and predicate and also, how to write and invitation.  We also started the Little House on the Prairie series and we are to book 4 now On the Banks of Plum Creek.  I do this as extra reading and we have all loved this series! 

Next we usually do the extra or enrichment subjects.  Jude has History ( he is learning about ancient history-we did ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt and now he is to Judaism)  He also has social Studies ( learning about money- supply and demand, needs vs.wants)  He has Art ( he learning about landscapes and landscape artists)  And last, he has Music ( learning stick notation)  and Science ( we have been keeping a weather log and keeping track of rainfall starting today)  Elsie has Language Skills ( right now she is learning kitchen words- this subject to me is extremely below her skill level and so i just let her enjoy doing the online activities and don't really spend a whole lot of time on this)  She also has History ( learning world geography and about different cultures) and Social Studies ( learning about families and working together as a community) These are the courses that have the most online activities for the kids and they really enjoy them.

11 am- we usually have lunch around this time, sometimes later if we are still working, but for the most part its always around 11.

12- Thatcher goes down for his nap, so the kids get about 30-60 minutes to play and have free time, but around 12:30-1:00, we start back with school

12:30- I usually have the kids do the opposite subject of each other, one will do Phonics, while the other does Math, that way one can be on the computer doing their activity while I'm working with the other one.  Jude has been learning letter blends for Phonics and has improved so much from last year- Im so excited and proud of him!!!  Elsie is learning the double oo sound and is a natural reader ( typical girl).  Jude is doing addition past 20 right now and is very good at math and enjoys it, but just has a hard time keeping his focus- Im going to try and few different things for him to kind of switch it up and not let it get monotonous to him.  

Last we do journaling every other day, so Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  This is just extra practice that I make them do, its not part of their curriculum.  And last we usually do sight word practice- takes a little while for Elsie b/c I have her learning the same words that Jude is learning, but she is doing remarkably!  

K12 has a program called Reading Eggs and my kids LOVE it- they are required to do 5 lessons a week and this is what the kids usually do while I clean and get ready for dinner.  

On Mondays Jude has Karate so we leave the house around 5:30-6:00 and get home around 8-8:30

Tuesdays are our free night as a family until next week, b/c Thad is starting back to school.  

Wednesdays, I drop the kids off at 5:30 for piano and then they go straight to church from there so I don't see them again until around 9pm.

Thursdays, Thad and I have FBI youth service and the kids stay with their Papaw :)

Fridays is pizza and family night- we order pizza and just hang out- this is when the kids usually get to watch a video :)

The kids bedtime is around 8- or whenever we get home and get them to bed ;) Thad has also been reading The Hobbit to the kids and we are so excited to see the movie!  

Shew!!! Well, I hope this was helpful for someone and if you have any questions, please comment!!! Blogging feels very one sided a lot of the time! Hope you have a great rest of the week!

homeschool- new year

Well, we have been rolling along ( more like bumping along.) Its been hard figuring out homeschooling with two students this year- alot more challenging than I thought it would be.  We have changed our schedule two times already this year so far and we're not even to Christmas break yet!  I have been trying to work out the kinks and get it all figured out and its been a kind of "try this and see if it works approach."
I so very much enjoy homeschooling my kids and figuring out their learning styles. Sometimes we have really great days, where everything runs smoothly and we are all in good moods.  Those are the days where I am so glad we tried this approach or that approach and see that its really working well for us.  Then there are those days where it seems like nothing is going right and we are all getting frustrated with each other and just plain ready to quit- those days are hard. Really hard.  Those days I think, "My life would be so much easier if they just went to 'real school'" ( thats what we call brick and mortar school) I think of all the things I could get done throughout the day, how much more organized I would be, how much cleaner my house would be and fantasize about all the free time I would have.  But then one of them will have something on those days that just clicks and they really understand what they are learning, or Jude will have a rough time focusing and I can sit down with him and help him get through a math worksheet and thats when I think " THIS is why I love having my kids at home learning and schooling with me."  I cannot think of anything better than having these sweet babies here with me and helping them learn in their own individual learning styles and giving them the one on one attention that they wouldn't get anywhere else.  And to be honest( I may have blogged about this before? who knows?) I have a really hard time trusting ANYONE with my kids.  I know that no one can love my kids like I do and will put up with my kids like I do.  No one knows their personalities like I do and what really motivates them or really shuts them down like I do.
This has been a more challenging year than I had anticipated so far, but like most things in life that are hard, its SO worth it!

( crazy kiddos:))

We're Baaaack!!

I feel like I have maybe titled a post this already, but, you know how inconsistency is....inconsistent, so I have probably had a few We're baaack posts ;) We had a long, sweet summer and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  Im going to share our summer in pictures :) Enjoy!

we did quite a bit of swimming this year- the kids did swim lessons this year, but when I got my iphone, i forgot to download all of my pictures off my evo onto the computer, so they are all gone :( but you can check them out here, and we can also be frieeeends ;)

Elsie was OBSESSED with Underdog pretty much all summer long, and wore a cape all summer  long....she is going to be Underdog when she grows up ;)

building tracks and plating in the back room have been some of our favorite things around here this summer....

Some of the kids collections in the back room window :)

LOTS, LOTS, LOTS of trips to the library!

still kicking it at karate!

 We decided to get rid of our internet for the summer and tried to unplug in alot of areas- we had a specified day for movie watching and we haven't had t.v. in about 5 years.  We have truly enjoyed spending time together this summer, and we hope you did too!

Here's to you Summer!

Here is our life...in a few words, bc Im tired and my blog is neglected, and ....Im tired!  Summer is busy for us with our students at FBI with camp, pivot, fundraisers, end of school events, graduations.  Jude is thankfully done with school with k12, so we are going to be a little more lax for the summer.  I bought him a journal to keep over the summer, a sketchpad, and he has alot of worksheets for extra practice and they do the summer reading program for the library.  We are also still doing karate Monday nights and looking for a piano teacher.  The kids also have swim lessons this summer- Elsie is excited bc she is old enough to do them this year!  We also have Jude turning 6 at the end of this month and Thatcher turning the big 1 at the end of July, so got some birthday plans in the making :) Im so sad my kids are growing up :( Its amazing to see though and we are SO proud of them!  I love having things to keep us occupied, but   I am thankful for pools, and walks in the evening and good books in the summer time too ( the mundane things, what you always think of when you think of summer) Hope you all have a great weekend!

Food Friday

Hello!! Its Food Friday.....buuuut...for some reason, I cannot load pictures and it would be a really boring post if I just listed what we ate :( I am going to try my phone and see if I cant get it to work for me, but, if not, Im sure you're not too disappointed bc I was sick this week and didn't cook a whole lot anyways

Life

well life around here had been mostly out of doors for my children. As soon as they get done with breakfast they are ready to go outside. :-) I really don't mind, my house stays cleaner! Elsie had been really into coloring sticks with chalk and we now have a whole collection of them. The kids also, a couple of weekends ago wanted to make tie dye shirts so daddy bought the kit and we made some pretty sweet shirts! ;) Jude is completely done with kindergarten and is loving the more relaxed days. I am going to keep doing things over the summer, but I'll share that in another post . I just want to try and keep a pretty good routine down, and don't want him to forget what he has learned this year. Sorry if this post is all over the place, I am trying to blog from my phone, and I'm feeling horrible today (sinus infection, I think) I'm gonna end for today, pray for me if you think about it, see you for foooood Friday!!

what a character

Do you ever read something, or watch something and think- "what a character!"  I do this alot and one of my favorite books and movies is "To Kill a Mockingbird" I absolutely love the characters and think of it often when I am doing certain things. Atticus Finch is an iconic father figure and I think of his character alot when disciplining my kids and telling them stories.  I also really wanted to name my kids Atticus and Scout, but Thad wasn't to keen on those names ;)  My all-time favorite character from the book is Scout though, and I can see a lot of her in my Elsie

Scout HATES wearing dresses and Jem (her brother) teases her on her first day of school bc she has to wear one.  Elsie doesn't mind wearing dresses, but she wants to change into pants or shorts as soon as she can- Scout likes playing with the boys, Elsie very much likes playing with the boys and playing boy things, she really has never been interested in dolls or Barbies.  She likes Hotwheels and Legos :) She loves to hunt bugs with Jude and would play outside all day if I let her.  Elsie, on the other hand, isn't as stubborn as Scout, and her favorite color is pink :) But I think of Scouts character a lot when I think of how Els is and I have to say, I don't mind the comparison!

What character  ( in literature or in the movies) do you love?

Food Friday

Alright folks, I know that you may be sick of me talking about food, but here comes some more!  I am going to start doing weekly posts with specific themes to keep myself motivated to blog! The first one being......drum roll.....FOOD FRIDAYS!!   I will probably only be posting recipies here and there, mainly I am just going to kind of show you what we have been eating ( mainly the kids)  for that past week.  So, I am going to just jump right in :)

Shrimp Alfredo- Jude usually only eats the shrimp, Elsie, the noodles

Organic, green beans, and broccoli cooked in coconut oil, organic strawberries, and cornbread with unsalted REAL butter- this was our lunch for me , Jude and Elsie

This was Thatcher's :)

Dinner- Panini

Lunch- Organic Peanut butter-crunchy, Organic Broccoli, raisins

Baked chicken with Italian dressing, and parmesan cous-cous 

Veggie stir-fry cooked with coconut oil and unsalted real butter

I didnt give Thatcher the veggies, just bc of how they were cooked, so he got this- kiwi, organic zucchini squash steamed, and baked chicken cooked in red wine vinegar- turned our chicken pink- Elsie loved it! ;)

Here are a few things we have been snacking on

Thatcher's all time favorite snack- Blackberries!

Craisins and organic creamy p.butter

Thatcher and Elsie love this stuff- Jude, not so much, we also ALWAYS have the dried salted edmame and the wasabi peas

We have been trying really hard to eat clean throughout the week, but here are a couple weekend snacks that snuck in :)

so yummy!

Thad and I had this snack after pizza night with our movie :)

Well, there you have it, the first food friday- hopefully this will maybe just give you some ideas to incorporate into your own meals :) Have a great weekend!

goings on

Right at this moment, I am blogging ( or attempting to) and Jude is at the top of the stairs peeking around the corner and waving to Thatcher who is cracking up, Elsie is dressed in a cow costume ( that actually moos) and pretending she is a dinosaur?  Dinner is in the oven and laundry in the dryer, schooling is done for the day and I am ready to see hubby and just chill for the rest of the day :)  We had a fun weekend over here and it went something like this:

Friday Thad took the day off and took the kids and I out for pizza ( yes, I totally had a cheat WEEKEND!) Thad had to run errands and get ready for the youth camping trip that night.  You remember, hubby LOVES camping and backpacking

So, anyways, we got all the things ready for the trip and made sure we had all the permission slips and all that good stuff and we said goodbye to daddy for the night.  The kids and I went to the dollar store and got some goodies for the night- soup and popsicles :) We came home and had our food and went to bed right at 8 o' clock! I wasnt going to miss out on a whole evening to myself!! I hung out with my friend Ericka until about 9 then she headed off to work and I got some hot tea made, and climbed in bed and just vegged out! It was bliss :)

Here is a peak at my bedside table the next morning (ignore the retainers!!)

I never got around to my nook, but I really need to get back to reading- I have like 4 or 5 books on my goodreads.com currently reading list that I have only just started.  Sigh, I'm working on it!

The next morning (Saturday)  Elsie went with my Mother-in-law and sister-in-law to a girl scout outing- they went to see the movie Chimpanzee :) Jude had a day out with Papaw and I laid Thatcher down for a nap and got back in bed too!! It was wonderful!! haha, you see a running theme here of how going back to bed is such a great thing! :)  Anyways, Thad got home from his camping trip around noon and we just hung out with Thatcher and had lunch.  We got ready and headed to Thad's cousin Ashley's little boys birthday party ( Jude and Elsie stayed at Mamaw and Papaw's the whole day until we picked them up for the party.)  We had a great time getting to see everyone from that side of the family :) We stopped at the grocery for baby food and then headed home, put the kids to bed, and Thad and I followed not too far behind!  Sunday morning, up for church , and then relaxed for the day :) It was really a great weekend!  

We have been outside as much as possible- playing out in the backyard, riding bikes on the sidewalk, and heading out to the bike path

I have been really trying to cook more- I am spending so much on groceries trying to eat organic and just healthier in general, that if anything goes to waste i am so mad at myself!! We have been limiting ourselves to our Friday night pizza night for out to eat and thats it- most f the time ;) There are still occasions where we stop and grab something quick but, rarely anymore.  Here are a couple things I have made lately

Guacamole (which I could eat 24 hrs a day) We make this all the time at my mother- in-laws house- she is who I copied ;)

2 whole avocados mashed

cilantro-to taste- which for me is a whole bucket full ;)

lemon and lime juice-I used one whole lemon and about 5 squirts of lime juice

tomatoes- i used about a handful of grape tomatoes- because its what i had and they are sweeter

seasoning packet- one whole packet ( regular or mild flavor)

you can add onions and other veggies too, but I like mine simple

We used Garden of Eatin' organic Blue Corn Chips- YUM!!!

This is a crock-pot dish that my best friend told me about

Frozen chicken breast- I used about 4

1 whole jar of salsa

Pour both into the crock pot, turn on, once it is cooked, shred chicken with a fork

We put ours on the Smart Sense Tortillas- 13g of fiber/tortilla!!

with cheese, spinach and a little ranch

The kids didn't want tortillas, so they did spinach wraps with theirs

I LOVE to eat, but I DO NOT enjoy cooking, so these things i love b/c they are so simple, but super tasty!

Jude is 100% complete with all his courses except for Phonics, so we will probably be finished with Kindergarten by the beginning of May! :)  He had his Spring testing, and they said he is completely ready for 1st grade!! He is so excited and we are so proud of him!

Here is a few more little things we have been up to lately

Last, but most certainly not least, this is what I saw when I was walking out to my van Sunday

This cat has a sandwich bag on it's head!  I tried walking towards it, but it ran away hahahaha- that made my afternoon- crazy cat!!

Hope you are having a great week!!

Easter weekend

What a week! I feel like I run around all day chasing after kids, cleaning up messes, doing laundry, and all that everyday stuff, that, I, like people who work outside the home, look forward to the weekends! Well, I knew this weekend would be a busy one, but fun also, getting to spend time with family and good friends :)

Friday night I participated in the Good Friday Night of Worship our worship leader ( and my brother-in-law) put together.  I think this is the 3rd year our church has put this together and it has been such a blessing each year!  I am so proud of Steven for listening to the Lord and really putting something of quality together that can honor God on this important day.  Then Saturday, some of our ladies did a bake sale ( which I totally forgot about- I'm a horrible president!) so, I went to check in with them at around 8, grabbed some milk at the store and another egg coloring kit.  Got home to eat some breakfast ( maybe this is another reason I look forward to weekends- Thad cooks!!)  The kids wanted to color some more eggs-Thad had done some with the kids earlier in the week- so daddy boiled about 2 dozen more eggs and we colored all of them! 

 Then we decided to take a walk down to the bake sale and get some goodies!  I bought a can of pop ( I am still pop free!! I haven't had pop for about a month now) to make my beer bread and another carton of eggs, because we boiled all of ours :)  We got home, put little man to bed, and I put my beer bread in the oven and the kids rode their bikes for a little while.

We headed over to Steve and Mendy's house for dinner and an egg hunt.  Lots of good friends and all our family- so much fun!

We spent all day eating, playing, and enjoying spending time together.  We headed home about 7, made a pit stop at the dollar store for some pecans and wipes.  We got the kids' baths and put Thatcher to bed.  Jude and Elsie stayed up and made resurrection cookies- the link to where I found this recipe is here. It was so neat to see their reactions and an awesome way to make what Jesus did for us very real for the kids.  

After we sealed up the oven, the kids went to bed and so did we!! The alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. the next morning and we got the kids up and brought them to sunrise service in jammies :) We ended up getting home about 8:45, enough time to get the kids in their Easter outfits ( which I forgot to take pictures of!) and headed back to the church for sunday school and morning worship.  We came home, ate leftovers, and took naps!! At 3:30 my mom called and reminded us to head over to my aunts house for dinner and another egg hunt:)  We stuffed ourselves silly and the kids got MORE candy ( which they are still eating!) It was a beautiful day!

We had a wonderful weekend, and are so thankful for what Christ did on the cross! Praise the Lord! 

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend!