Summer Fun!

Yep, I said "summer" fun! Easter weekend through today, we've been having some VERY hot weather for April. Upper 80s and breaking 90 once in a while! We went Tuesday and spent the easter egg money (plus a small addition from mom and dad) on some serious water fun! Add a few friends and the water hose, and you've got great "summer" fun in April. The first day we set it up for our friends, the slide kept turning over. It was so annoying and I was getting extremely aggravated since it wasn't a super cheap thing $$ wise. Well, when Corey got home from work we inspected it more closely and discovered some columns made into the bottom for filling with water and weighing it down. Would have been SO NICE to know when the kids were turning it over every time they slid down, ha ha!




We got it out one more time yesterday to try out the new improved weighed down slide and it was awesome! But today, spring has returned with April showers and lower temps, so the slide has been put away until summer returns!

This is Katie the first time she actually went down the slide. She said, "That was awesome!"

We discussed bringing the slide part to the beach! What do you think? ha ha! I picture it on the edge of the water facing the beach...dig a pit at the bottom that will fill up with water when the waves come up! With the water in the slide now it wouldn't float away... what do you think? ha ha!

My First Pumpkin!

I have never carved a pumpkin myself before tonight!!!! Isn't he cute?

The kids also had two small pumpkins that they worked on painting while I cleaned, scraped, and carved the big one. We all drew a picture of our pumpkins, weighed them, measured how tall and how big around they were... then we got busy decorating! (they are still working on their painted pumpkins..you have to work in layers you know! ha!)

I took ideas from Katie and Noah about how to design the eyes, nose, etc.
Noah is going to be a great pumpkin carver one day I know, because he was advising me how to make sure the triangles in the eyes and the teeth "stayed in" while I carved.
And he was right!

Katie, for some reason, really enjoyed picking out the pumpkin seeds. She is actually still working on separating all the seeds from the rest of the insides. To each their own, right?
She hasn't complained once! ha ha!

Sunday Update

I've worked two days on my job at the Pumpkin Patch Farm in Adairsville. It has been great! The first day, I helped with school groups by leading them in a ring toss game. I was there almost 4 hours. Yesterday I worked all day, from 10am-5pm. I basically sat in a ticket booth all day and sold tickets. It was quiet, but intermittently busy. The one bad thing is that they don't have cash registers so I have to use a chart that they have to see how much it costs for however many people they are paying for, then calculate the change myself from what they give me! AGH! I have never learned how to count back change and it made me feel like a 2nd grader!!! I did have a calculator to use, so I used it when I needed to and then counted back the change. Oh, and what makes it a bit more difficult, is that they don't have pennies in their cash drawers, so we round everything to the nearest nickel in the customer's favor.
I am afraid I rounded it incorrectly a couple of times, which made me really nervous!
Why have I never learned how to do that? Really, I have never felt so dumb! Maybe by the end of the month I will have it down! Oh, and maybe our kids will get to go up there and we will get a new photo... this is Katie and Kaitlyn from last year.

My job for today:

Sanitizing and cleaning everything! I love Clorox greenworks! We switched to all natural cleaners a couple of years ago, which has done WONDERS for the allergies of everyone in the house! When Clorox came out with their own line about a year ago or so, it was a lot cheaper than the other organic/natural brand, so we gave it a try. I'm telling you, I can tell a big difference when I use a "regular" cleaner, even if it is to just wipe down a mirror..Katie will start coughing as soon as she goes in the bathroom afterward if I just used it.

Noah was sick earlier in the week, (getting worse after our big day outdoors of course) and then Katie started Friday. They both seem to be on the mend, just have a lingering cough, so I am keeping them home from church for one more day of rest to be sure they are over it. Noah has his last soccer game Tuesday (we skipped yesterday's game) and I didn't want him to not be able to go to the last one. I will be cleaning and sanitizing all day today. The toothbrushes have already been boiled and today will be sheets, couches, blankets, etc.

I may get called in to the Pumpkin Patch if they need help as well. It is SO convenient to work there! It is about 5 miles from our house and they gave me a t-shirt to wear, so if they call I just have to throw on my shirt and head out!

Happy Sunday everyone!

The Secret

Katie's and Noah's latest poetry recitation.
Noah almost sneezed at the end! lol. This was about take 22, so we plowed through! ha!

Soccer and Scouts

Activities are in full swing around here! I am so thankful for the way our schedule has worked itself out this year. We are enjoying plenty of at home time with just the right amount of "going" and "doing." Now that the summer musical is over, and the fall schedule is going, I can see that we made the right choices about what to cut out and what to add in. I feel like we are getting more quality and just the right quantity.

Our music curriculum came in last week, and the CDs have been added to my Ipod, so this week will be week one of that! I am so thrilled for the kids, they are going to love it! We still have our art curriculum. We have actually completed 38 or so days of school already! We are well past the first 6-week mark! Yay for a head start in July!

Noah is playing Upward Soccer with the same league he was in last year when I coached. It is AS EXPECTED going much better with an experienced coach at the helm! lol. Noah is such a great athlete! He really gives his all at every single practice, never complains, and follows directions very well. He is getting better and better each week and actually scored 2 goals at the last game! GO NOAH! I actually missed the last game because Katie and I were at a very important meeting....about...

DAISY SCOUTS!

Katie is beginning a journey with Girl Scouts with the kindergarten/1st grade group called "Daisy Scouts." A local homeschool mom heads up a troop that meets at a hotel just 10 miles down the interstate from us! I thought that Katie might enjoy being a girl scout and after the meeting I am even more convinced! Here is the tunic she will wear (for Daisies they can choose this tunic or a vest, but the tunic stays on better from what I hear! lol)

She will be working toward earning all the petals on her daisy and the patch that is actually shown on this one.
Daisy Learning Petals --- girls are given petals when they demonstrate understanding through their words and deeds their true meaning.
Blue Center: Learn the Girl Scout Promise
Light Blue: Honest & Fair
Yellow: Friendly & Helpful
Spring Green: Considerate & Caring
Red: Courageous & Strong
Orange: Responsible for what I say and do
Purple: Respect Myself & Others
Magenta: Respect Authority
Green: Use Resources Wisely
Rose: Make the world a better place
Violet: Be a sister to every Girl Scout

Their first journey will be all about flowers and gardening...something that Katie just ADORES already! When we went to the meeting we discovered that there are some girls Katie already knows from the homeschool group in our area and one in particular that is part of our play group and her mom which I have spent a lot of time getting to know already through dance classes. I am so excited for her! They will earn other patches as well and participate in FUND-RAISING for their troop so get ready everyone! lol.

Katie is already so serious about being a girl scout. I think that is going to really help her be receptive toward what they are trying to teach them and I know it will be good for her to learn about and demonstrate all the qualities on the petals. I am optimistic that this will be a very good and healthy experience for her!

Thinking, Pondering, Musing....

I have several things on my mind as of late. Things that have been in the works and thoughts for a while. I hope to share them sometime soon when a decision is made, but I would like to ask for your prayers toward us every so often if you happen to think about it.

And now on to something completely different!

I made an exciting discovery tonight....I was getting out the fall and winter clothing bins and discovered that Katie and Noah both have plenty of clothes for the cool weather. I will be picking up a few things for Noah because he didn't end up getting quite as lucky at the post winter sales this past spring, but as cool weather comes they will be warmly provided for and I am so thankful for that! They both have a very nice 4-way coat that will probably last them each two more seasons. Katie has enough shirts to wear a different one every day for a few weeks probably! Osh Kosh was VERY lucrative at their end of the season sales last year for her! I am just so very grateful that they are already provided for this year with only a few odds and ends to add as far as dress pants or sweaters.

The bad side of that is that I really don't have a lot of clothes to put IN the sale! :( However, they did both decide finally grow some bigger feet, so we have lots of shoes to put in! AND we have cleaned the basement out a little more and have found some more things to put in. I hope to have a yard sale at the end of the month. Is September a good month for a yard sale??

Anyway, keep us in your thoughts please, and be thankful for the little things... like not having to go out and buy new clothes for fall!

Racing To Win!

This was the big weekend!
Katie and Noah have worked with this cast/crew since JUNE on the musical:
Race to Win!
They performed in front of an audience of probably near 250 or more.
They all did a fantastic job!

Here is Noah in the line waiting to start the show...

Katie waiting....

Katie's big part...performing in the trio.
(I hope to get better pictures later from others, I was standing in the back)

Here is Noah with his big part...reciting a Bible verse for one part

Posing with the car after the show.
It (obviously) was a racing theme. Car racing.

They are having a cast party on Wednesday. I was so proud of all the kids, they have given it their all this summer and their hard worked paid off! The show had a great message and I know that hearing it from the mouths of children really touches some people's hearts in a way that other means can't.
We took Katie and Noah out for pizza, frozen yogurt, and to pick out toys for doing such a great job all summer. Katie picked out a prince doll from the Disney store, and Noah picked out a video game. We are so proud of them!

Sickos

We have been sick around here lately. Nothing too terrible, but nasty colds. I guess we are spoiled. I blame all the kids that went back to public school this week and have now contaminated my kids on Wednesdays at musical practice. OR it could be leftover from the weekend at Meme and Grandpa's...or the sugar spoiling they got when they went out with their Uncle and Aunt er....their Uncle's forever girlfriend.

At any rate, it started last Thursday with Katie's cough and runny nose. We started the Vitamin C/Echinacea/tons of water/tons of hot green tea ritual and fortunately she was recovering mostly by Sunday but then Noah was going down fast. By Monday Corey couldn't breathe though Katie was over it and Noah recovered pretty quickly.

I am hoping that it does not come my way. We really need to get ourselves back to the chiropractor.... I can tell a difference in so many things! First of all, we got colds! When we are going regularly to the chiropractor we really aren't as susceptible to getting sick! With the fall allergy season coming soon that will be really important for us!

Also, when we are going to the chiropractor Corey doesn't snore! And...he has been snoring again recently... ugh! That alone is enough reason to get us back in there! ha ha!

If you live in Rome, you should go visit Dr. Robert Manna at Manna Family Chiropractic. He is a really nice guy and is a "bells and whistles" kind of chiropractor...just quick, comfortable adjustments for the entire family!

If it wasn't for the "what-if" of someone breaking their leg or something like that, I would trade my health insurance for complete chiropractic care any day! I am such a believer and "experiencer" of its benefits!

Artistic Pursuits!

Have I mentioned that I absolutely love our art curriculum? I have had such grand intentions each school year to teach art and I guess this is really the first year that both of them are old enough to REALLY do it anyway. I am so happy I found out about this curriculum. It is so easy!

Tonight's lesson was one of the more labor intensive ones as the kids had to gather nature earlier in the day for the project. Usually, you don't have to do any "ahead" work. The main thing I love about it is that it doesn't try to cover EVERY art medium in one year. Grades K-3 have three books and each one focuses on different things. The one we have for this year will mainly use "drawing" "painting" and very few clay sculpture techniques and materials (sketching, pastels, watercolor pencils, air dry clay), so our supply list didn't cost a ton of money (a main complaint/deterrent I had from going all out with art in the past couple of years). The front of the book also has a list of the weeks that you use different supplies so I was able to get most everything we needed but put off a couple of the more high priced materials for when we need them later.

This year's book is divided into three parts: "What Artists Do" "What Artists See" and "Where We Find Art" We will learn about shape, form, line, color, mixed colors, art in caves, art on roadsides, art on pots, art in books, and MANY more topics! The only thing we will do that isn't drawing is some sculpture with air dry clay. Next year's book focuses more on sculpture and "other" mediums.

Anyway, our lesson tonight was about "Artists Look." We learned about how artists look at the details and draw things around them like from nature. Each lesson also shows a famous piece of art and asks questions to get the kids really looking at the art...the beginnings of critique at their age. It then gives us something to do to use that method in creating something of our own!

I am also enjoying the fact that we have chosen to do our art lessons after Corey is home and we all participate together (since art is something Corey and I both have fun doing as well!). Here they are working on their nature drawings from the specimens that were collected earlier in the afternoon.

Katie's finished artwork. She also included herself in the top corner.

Noah's finished art.

They really enjoy their art classes. I really enjoy the family time and the time of de-stressing!

Welcome August!

We finished week #3 of our school year today. 15 down, 165 to go.... I am unusually preoccupied with the counting this year since it is our first year of reporting attendance..sorry!

It has been an extremely busy summer! The kids have been working on a musical at Graceland on Wednesday nights, Noah's t-ball was every Monday and Tuesday, and I had book club every other Monday night. Combine that with Corey practicing until very late on Wednesdays and *something* going on about every other Thursday and THAT made for a fun-FILLED summer that breezed by entirely too quickly!

Noah's t-ball has ended, and there are only a couple more weeks of practicing left for the musical. We have really enjoyed both of those things, but it will be nice to have dinner at home more than once a week for a while! Soccer will just be one weeknight and then games every Saturday, so hopefully that will keep us at home more.

So many of my friends are posting (on facebook) how sad they are that summer is gone. Well, I don't know where they live, but it is just now about to be August, so summer is FAR from gone here! In fact, it will be summer all the way until September 22nd and I am betting it will still feel like summer for a while beyond that point as well.

With all that being said....I have to say... Welcome August! Welcome to meals at home together and soccer season.

Welcome to another month of school and days of learning, playing, and just being.
I want to say another welcome to a dear friend of ours as well. Welcome HOME Andy! He got home yesterday from a 5 month deployment in Afghanistan, so I know he is enjoying his homecoming and we can't wait to see him soon! Head over to Bethany's blog to post a message to him if you want... I know I am so thankful and proud of him for what he has sacrificed!

1 Down, 179 To Go!

I promise this isn't what we did ALL morning, but I can't very well take a picture of myself with them! ha!

School At Home

We are starting school Monday. I am so excited and refreshed and READY! Katie will be doing first grade and Noah will be doing Kindergarten. As I explained in an earlier post, yes it is the same "grade" they did last year, but the material is really a grade ahead by using Abeka. SO anyway..I spent all day today cleaning out our room and getting it all ready to begin Monday morning! Here is the view when you walk in....

Here is the area where my children will learn this year. From me, their mommy. The best teacher in the world! *smile* ha ha. Really though, who could know them better? This little carpet is going to be the launching point of all kinds of new discoveries...Noah learning to read, Katie improving her comprehension skills, both of them learning about God every single day and beginning their days with family prayer. I am just so excited I can't stand it!

Here is a view from the other corner of the room. I should have closed the door to get a better picture. I brought back a little wooden table this year, just for fun. Not really their work space, but more of a play spot. I also removed some of the bigger things like the HUGE white art cabinet/table and the kitchen playset and created a play area in the room right outside this one. I didn't take pictures, it is just a basement room with toys! ha ha!

Here is my most favorite spot in our classroom...the books! I love putting out new books based around the theme or season. Also, on the top of the bookshelf is my framed degree in Education from Shorter College. I am proud to have such a prominent spot to place it!

So, the countdown is on! 4 more days!
They are so excited also...Noah asked all day if we were going to have school today.
I think that is a great sign!

A Tree Like This One...

Have you ever sat under and looked up at tree like this one before? As I was doing that today I was thinking about many other very similar trees and similar weather days yet very different circumstances surrounding the occasion. Many different ages, stages, places, settings. I don't know, it just made me think and remember and it made me so thankful for the occasion that brought me under this tree on this very day of July 3rd, 2009.

Not too many years ago this week I was hastily putting together a wedding! If you have read the story on my blog before you know that Corey and I moved our wedding up and decided the weekend before July 7th that we were going to go ahead and get married! So, this week is a sentimental one for me even if not already because of the holiday. (Today is also the 90 day milestone in our Disney trip countdown, so you can click here to read more about that!)

This week, 8 years later, we are enjoying a sunny afternoon at the park with our two beautiful and sweet children! Here is Katie with her umbrella "to keep the sun away."

Our two kids, tree-hugging!

Goofing around...doing "absodutely nothing" (Katie's words)
That's Corey sitting under the tree.

Sweet.

Tonight, getting a ride on Daddy's back to their bedrooms for bedtime. Doesn't everyone have a picture like this? They have done this so many times, but I finally got a picture tonight. That's 111 pounds of cuteness on his back! (yeah, it only happens about once every couple of weeks! ha!)

Sweet day and priceless moments!

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y-!!!!!

(if I sent you a message on your blog about an award, please scroll down to the "Friendship Award post! thanks!)

(this is not a photo of our actual dish, but our's was pretty identical to this one, without the fancy garnish)

I have to share the awesome dinner experience we had tonight!!!! It all started yesterday...around 1:30pm..I decided I finally wanted to try making the dried lentils I had in the cabinet. It was a bag with a seasoning packet included...but called something like "confetti lentils" or something like that. Anyway, I threw them in the crockpot but of course by 6pm they were no where near done and tasting not very good at all! I had added some frozen carrots, vegetable broth, dried onions, and turned it on high. Well, we went out out to eat instead and by the time we got home after running by Kroger, they were smelling pretty good!

Today, I got them back out, put them on the oven and added some frozen spinach, ground beef, as well as some more spices (savory, garlic salt, onion powder). When it was all said and done, the stew was DELICIOUS! It had the flavor sort of like a beef stew but more like a bean/minestrone twist. I also made buttermilk biscuits to go with it which actually turned out to be GREAT! My first success with homemade biscuits!!!

AND....the BEST IS YET TO COME!!! GUESS WHO ate SIX bites of the lentil and spinach stew!!!????

NOAH CARTER THOMPSON!!!!!

We have a new initiative around here where he is required to eat six bites of whatever vegetables we are having for dinner. We discussed it with him and he knows it is just expected...I told him it is now his job to eat bites of vegetables because we are his parents and we have to make sure he is eating healthy foods and he just doesn't have a choice. The first night was BAD! It took a very long time for him to eat his 6 bites of chicken pot pie with vegetables it it.

Tonight, he was awesome! He came in while I was cooking the stew, and as you can see from the photo above the stuff doesn't look very appetizing. It actually doesn't have a super pleasant smell either. But he did it, though he got very sluggish with the last 3 bites, he actually said that "the last two bites were easier than the first bite." No tears or complaining. It may have helped that he lost his games for an entire day last time because he pitched such a fit and he also ended up having to eat about 12 bites because every time it was a major ordeal of talking back over a bite we added another bite to the requirement....but ....ANYWAY.....

We were all so proud of him! No tears and no feeding it to him, he did it all by himself and I do believe that is probably the most of any green vegetable his body has ever had in it at once!!! His stomach may go into shock!!!