Update

Wow, it has been way too long since my last post. I guess Facebook has taken priority with quick updates. I miss my blog and always think I will start to plan ahead posts but with the crazyness of my life, it never happens. So where do i begin...

Since the beginning of school we have had our ups and downs. Since I am the VP for our local homeschool support group, that has taken an enormous amount of my time out of my day. I have planned lots of events, but am lacking alot of help from people in the group which is dissappointing. We have had an overload of activities which have been great, yet time consuming to say the least. Here are a few:

Chrissy's reading has seriously improved and she is now reading chapter books. Her new favorite series is Judy Moody. I was worried since she was struggling with it a little last year, but this year she has really blossomed! Her comprehension is much better with silent reading which I was a little surprised by. She really enjoys reading her Bible. She saved her money and bought herself a new pink one. I am very proud of her!

On to vacation: Before we left to go on our first family vacation, Oscar got something into his eye and his cornea had an allergic reaction to it. That resulted in lots of Dr. visits, a leave of absence from work, lots of expensive meds, no sun exposure, no going outside and 3 1/2 weeks of recovery with no going to work. Glad that is over with. However, in the middle of all that the Dr. okayed his vacation (not a good idea in the end since his eye got worse) and we went to San Antonio for a few days. We had a good time looking around the city, going to the awesome zoo, visiting The Alamo and going through Natural Bridge Caverns. Here is Chrissy at the zoo.

Ok, below is a picture of Chrissy's Rodeo Art for this year. She didn't move on the show but I am so proud of her for trying her best! I told her I'd post it on Facebook and apparently that makes me the best mom ever. Interesting how many other things don't win the award of best mom ever!

Drawing and A New School Year

A couple of days ago we were headed out to the store and before we left my brother, Kort pulled into the driveway. So I left the car running for Chrissy and hopped out to talk for a few minutes. Well it ended up being like 45 minutes, but we were talking about books we each have been reading. As we were chatting, Kort kept rubbing the sweat off his head. I mean hey, it was 100 degrees outside and the humidity was ridiculous! Then we look back at Chrissy in the car and she holds this picture up to the window. HILARIOUS! It's Kort sweating! See the beads of sweat on his head? LOL! Ok, so now that I've shared only one of her MANY drawings lately that are too funny, on to other things.

Next week begins a new school year of homeschool. Super excited for it to begin. I can't believe she is going into the 2nd grade. My baby is growing up.

We are doing things a little different this year and some of the same as well. We are adding a more structured curriculum. This is the different curriculums we will use for this year:

Bible: Leading Little Ones to God and AWANA
Spelling/Poetry: ABeka 2
Language Arts: ABeka 2
Math: ABeka 2
Phonics: ABeka 2
Handwriting(cursive): ABeka 1 (beginning cursive)
History: The Story of the World Vol. 1 (Ancient Times)
Science: Classic Science by Scott McQuerry

We are still going to use our workboxes this year as I found it extremely helpful in keeping Chrissy on task and moving along on her own. She will have the full 12 boxes this year. She also has a bigger desk, a few new binders for her different subjects, a chore chart and lots of new school supplies. I'm really excited about the upcoming field trips with our local homeschool group as well. We have several scheduled for each month. I think I would say I have been anxiously awaiting the school year all summer. I'm also looking forward to cooler days when we can do school outside or even in her playhouse. I think one week I might even turn the whole thing into our school house. I'll take our posters, word charts and dry erase board out there.

I am also going to start a little bit of a new routine. Due to the heat we haven't been taking our daily bike ride like we should but I'm ready to start back in on those as well as a bible study for myself called Nine Fruits of the Spirit. It is a 9 book series that I will work through each morning in my quiet time with God. I'm really looking forward to doing more studying in the Word and more jounraling as well. I am already an early riser but I think now I am going to try to even wake up an hour earlier so that I can have my quiet time and time to prepare myself for the day. I also think it will help us go to bed a little earlier than we have been this summer. I know Oscar sure could use the extra sleep as he has only been getting between 4 to 5 hours nightly. Not good! So here's to a new routine for the entire family.

Homeschool

A wise blogger, Misty Krasawski, said "You may have already learned it, but if not, let me make it clear:as you homeschool your kids, GOD IS HOMESCHOOLING YOU! God has a plan for you in homeschooling. He does not want to make you cry. He does not want your eyes to glaze over when someone calls "Mommy" for the zillionth time. He does not want you to feel like you are the only one bearing this burden, because He has a plan."

Here she also has some very interesting printables to help with planning. I am going to be using some of them and working some more on planning the school year. I have almost all of the books I need and now I'm waiting on the back-to-school sales to start.

The Big Reveal!

Today was Chrissy's 7th birthday. Where does the time go? We have been working on her gift for months now and today was the big reveal. We stayed up extra late to add the final touches.

Love the wooden swings we made for the outside. They are wide enough to last a long time.


The day bed with book shelves behind it. What do you think of this awesome chandelier. Yes, it is a working chandelier in a playhouse. It has a dimmer and everything. LOL


This is the adirondack chair me and Oscar made to put on the porch. Perfect kid size! I got the plan from Knock Off Wood. She has some amazing and super cute plans for all sorts of stuff. And the best part, ITS FREE!


This was a mailbox I made a while back. The lady in the paint dept gave me a spray paint to seal it and waterproof it. So taking her word for it, I went home and shook it up and sprayed it right on top. Ya, it wasn't a clear coat but a black laquer. Ruined the whole thing. I had to strip it and repaint. It's not as cute as it was but it works.


We made this bed out of some 1X2's and a crib mattress. I made the quilt from scrap fabric and the tiny pillows out of Chrissy's old T-shirts.

I bought these old maple syrup jugs at a resale shop thinking they would be a cute decoration. I hot glued them to the board so that they wouldn't be knocked off and cause a potential hazard for the kids.

This was an amazing project I got to work on with my husband. It was a time we will never forget sharing together. Even through frustrations we had a great time building it for Chrissy and hope it will give her many wonderful childhood memories!

The ..uh...tool shed...

This is Oscar's new "Tool Shed". We have been working on it for months now just to get it ready for Chrissy's birthday...I mean for Oscar's tools. I am still working on the inside but right now it has a bed and a table and chairs and some wall art. We still have to hang the chandelier I bought and spray painted and make the stove and sink area. It is so stinkin cute. I would have fell over if I got this as a kid! We have actually kept her out of it and she still thinks it is a tool shed. I'm so glad! It is going to be a big surprise.

Chrissy said" Dad why does your tool shed have pink flowers?" Oscar says,"The flowers are for Mommy."

That was a close one. But with the flowers and landscaping and yellow paint, I thought she would have caught on by now. We put a lock on the door and pillowcases over the window so she couldn't take a peak just incase she got curious.

Official VP

Last night I was so nervous about the vote for board positions of our homeschool group! I really had to pray that God would let it happen if it was right for me and my family or lead me where I was suppose to go if it wasn't where I was supposed to be. Well, I guess he felt I should be there because I got this amazing calm come over me before the meeting and I really wasn't very nervous anymore.


They took nominations and voted and I am one of the new VP's. I am so super excited about upcoming events and plans for this next year. I do realize I am going to need lots of help and I have recruited my SIL, Beka as being my right hand woman! She is always awesome about helping me. Especially right now we have this big event planned and she has done an amazing job helping to coordinate it with me. We are a great team!

In other news, I am really busy today since it's Oscars birthday! The big 27!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE! WE LOVE YOU! Got a lot to do. He wants me to cook chicken and dumplings, candied yams, cabbage greens, corn bread and you know I have to make him a Chocolate cake for the chocoholic!

A few highlights...

This is a picture of Chrissy with her new inline skates. She begged for these for Christmas so I ordered them. Several days went by without them shipping so I called TRU. They said that the website had oversold the skates and they wouldn't get them in stock till mid January. I was so frustrated because they had already charged me. They agreed to take the shipping off which was $10 by itself. I agreed and said I would wait for them. Then 2 days later my order was cancelled entirely. So I called again, and this time I was pretty irritated because they said all I could do was wait until they got them back in and then reorder. So needless to say one of the things that was on the top of Chrissy's list was now at the bottom because i couldn't find skates in her size anywhere this late in the game. Well, when I got an email at the beginning of January saying they were in stock, I jumped on the phone to call them. The customer rep this time was soooo nice! She even gave me half off with an additional 10% off and free 2 day shipping. I really got a steal on this one! When they arrived Chrissy was so happy! We immediately went to the road to skate.

Side note: No, I don't let her play in the street alone, we go with her and our neighborhood is very quite with traffic!! We have taught her to get way off the street when they hear or see a car coming, which is rare.
This was taken at my grandma's in the Hill Country. We had a very nice Spring Break there visiting with family. We have been 2 years in a row and plan to make it a tradition and go back every year for Spring Break! Oh, did I mention I actually fell in the river that same day. We were supposed to be jumping across the rocks, trying not to get our feet wet in the cold water. Well I made it across but on the way back I lost my balance and fell in. I broke 2 toenails really badly! Super painful to say the least, but at the same time I couldn't help but laugh. It was ridiculous and funny at the same time.

We took a field trip to the Health and Science Museum after studying the human body at our co-op. It was really interesting and the kids had a great time. This picture was of Chrissy riding a bike on the outside of the glass box and it shows you what your skeleton looks like riding a bike at the same time. Really cool!!

We have had an amazing time being a part of this co-op this year! We have covered some really great topics and the kids have became good friends. Chrissy looks forward to going to co-op every Friday.

This is Chrissy's car we made for the AWANA Drive In. I thought it was pretty elaborate with the rims, VW symbol on the front and back, and even a rag top on the back, flower in a tube and cup and popcorn holder inside. Ya, well I was seriously mistaken!!! There was a kid that had a transforming car with lights and everything and the kid that won first place had a Navy Jet. It was seriously elaborate!!

Ok, I am going to try to be better about posting to my blog more. I have been lacking in communication since Twitter came about. I twitter almost daily and forget to type on my blog. I'll do better, promise!

Snow- 2 years in a row!

Yes, it snowed here in the south for the second year in a row. I couldn't believe it! We went out and played for a couple of hours and then came in for some hot cocoa. This was the most snow I've ever seen in my life. I know, I know, anyone more north than us would be laughing right now. Seriously though, it was amazing and so beautiful!

Then we went out ice skating. I was a little worried about the ice on the roads when leaving but there was only one spot that was icy and other than that the roads had been sanded very well. Anyway, the ice skating was nice. I didn't try it but Chrissy did and she was amazing! I was so proud of her. She only fell a couple times but she skated around mostly without holding on to anything.

Well, here is one of my projects for Christmas. I found the pattern here. I hope my niece will like it and hope it will help her learn her name and help with her buttoning skills.

I decided this year to do more homemade gifts. I have a few more to make. I made the cutest monkey with a pattern here. I changed it up a tad with a bow instead of a beret and added a pink pearl necklace. All I have left is to paint on the mouth. Then my daughter crawls behind my bed and emerges with it saying "Wow, it's so beautiful." AHHH!!!! I was so frustrated with her! I was so excited about putting it under the tree but now she has seen it. Oh well, still gonna give it to her for Christmas.

I am also making a bug collection case for my nephew. I hope he will like it! I am going to put together some bug collecting things and add it to the case.

More to come soon...

Black Friday is here!

Thanksgiving was wonderful. I totally love my family! I love seeing them and laughing with them! I love hearing my brothers play guitar. It used to make me really sad to hear them play old songs that my dad used to sing and sometimes it still does but today it was more calming than ever! Forgot how much I love to hear them sing together. Cooking took longer than I expected and I even had prepared days in advance. And uhhh my rolls didn't really rise but Beka's were delicious so it was fine!

So I was going to sleep since I had a severe lack of sleep last night from baking and smoking a turkey. Well, what can I say accept my friend called and told me about some Toys R Us deals and I stayed up to try to get some of them online. I wanted to get a couple Littlest Pet shop Vip plush dolls but they were out of stock 2 minutes after it went live. Go figure. But I did get some skates!! YAY! I thought those would be the easiest thing to find but actually they were proving to be quite difficult. Now me and my SIL are off to Walmart for some other deals. We do this yearly and even if I could get it online, I'd still rather us go out in the cold and stand in a crazy ridiculous line for a few hours. Just cuz it is tradition now.

I have a few pics to share but they are going to have to wait till later. I keep forgetting to load them so I can post a new blog post. Sorry for the long period away! We have been doing really well with homeschooling and I'm really glad we made that choice. We have made lots of new friends in the process, one which I will be seeing shortly in the crazy long lines at Walmart. HAHA We even started a co-op with a group of other families that are just starting out homeschooling. We have lots of activities during the week so its really nice to be off this week for the holidays. Back to the grind next week though.

OK, off to get dressed, go shopping and get one huge coffee!! Did I mention it is actually cold here. Ya, like in the 30's. That's chilly for us. I actually have to wear a jacket finally. LOL

Pumpkin Patch '09

We went to visit family last weekend and on the way we saw a sign for a pumpkin patch. We haven't ever gotten to visit a real pumpkin patch with pumpkins still on the vine so we decided that on our way home we would stop and visit since we are studying pumpkins this week.

It was such a beautiful day and the farm was awesome!! It cost $5 a person to get in. You begin by going through a corn maze which is called the Rivers of Louisiana. Each path is labeled by a river name. When you exit out the back of the maze you are in a big pumpkin patch where you can pick any pumpkin of your liking (included in admission). There are big ones, little ones, short ones, fat ones, tall ones and ones with deep ridges and regular smooth one. Chrissy kept choosing different ones and then she would see another she liked better.

She ended up picking one she could barely even carry.LOL I is a pretty one though!

I picked a different one too! I couldn't resist the deep ridged ones. They are so unique and you never see those in the store.



After you pick your pumpkin you get on a hayride that takes you to the front of the farm to a washing station. The lady told us that you have to clean them really well and get all the dirt off or it will rot quickly.

After you have washed your pumpkin you can either take it to your car or take it back on the hayride over to the play area where they have a building you can go in to paint it or put Mr. Potato head pieces on it to make a face.

The play area was really neat. It had 2 sandboxes filled with dry feed corn. There were lots of kids diving around in that. Chrissy didn't want to get out. Then there was 3 wooden seat swings hanging from a tree, climbing trees, an old time water pump with shoots to wash plastic ducks down to your partner and then they wash them back to you and there was even a train ride too.

After you do all the playing you want, you can also go over to the pond where there are ducks to feed and huge catfish. When I say huge I mean ridiculously huge! I have never seen any catfish that enormous before in my life.


This place was so worth $5! I mean seriously, pumpkins at the store are at least $3.99. We got a fun family experience, lots of memories and a huge pumpkin of our choice. Chrissy did not want to leave.

The owners were extremely nice people! They talked to us when we first arrived and while washing our pumpkins. They invited us back during the holidays to cut a fresh Christmas tree. They said they have had people from San Antonio all the way to Chicago stop in for their trees. Since our tree farm closed last year after 20 years of service, we are looking for a new tree farm. Since it is really far I will have to think about it but they are going to have sleigh rides!! Might be worth the trip!