Fall Fun

We have visited a pumpkin patch with our homeschool group and jumped in lots of leaves!!

Fall and Friends

 Fall has definitely arrived here in North Carolina and I am loving all that it brings to our house- the cooler weather and even the shortened days.

Our fall activities are in full swing.  Maggie, Ellie and I are all participating in AWANA at our church again this year.  Ellie is enjoying her first year of Cubbies, Maggie her second year of Sparks and I am teaching three year old Cubbies for the third year in a row.

Maggie is taking Sign Language Through Song and American History through our homeschool co-op.  Ellie and I have an hour of playtime and then an hour of Kindermusik together while Maggie is in class.  Maggie is also LOVING her Beginners Tumbling class.  It seems to suit her a little better than dance did.

We are also going to Storytime at our local public library.  Maggie feels a bit old for it, but there are a few other homeschooled kids her age that are there with younger siblings and she still really enjoys it.

Last week I was able to enjoy my first night out with my friends with NO kids in over five years!  My last night out was when Maggie was a little over a year old and I went out with my former co-workers.  This time it was a night out with my besties!  We have never been alone without at least one child.  "A" came to visit me in the hospital on the day after Ellie was born.  When "A" gave birth to her baby 4 months later, "K" and I visited her a few hours after delivery.  To be together without kids was so much fun.  We ate at Cracker Barrel and then found ourselves at Walmart.  We were only together for 3 hours, but it was blissful.  I am SO thankful for these two special friends.

Lots of people think that "mommy bloggers" are lame, but for some of us (me included) it is one of our ties to the outside world.  Even though you may not have any real interaction with the bloggers, you often feel like they are one of your friends.  Reading blogs is sort of like touching base with a friend anytime that you have the time to do it.   Big Daddy was watching a movie with the girls yesterday when I ran across this post from Kelly.  (There is info at the bottom of the post if you feel led to help out.)  I was heartbroken.  The outpouring of love and support is reminder that sometimes these relationships that are formed are more than just on-line.

Family Vacation

Since our June beach trip was full of rain and we decided not to go to Disney again this calendar year, we decided to go to the beach for a full week.  Saturday to Saturday.  Eight days and seven nights.  Maggie was probably more excited than any of us!

We had lots of fun, but had a bit of bad news on Wednesday.  Our hamster passed away. Olivia had been acting normal and extremely active for the past several weeks.  I had found a little bit of blood in her cage a few weeks ago.  Maggie saw it too and had asked if she was okay.  Since she seemed fine, we hadn't thought too much about it and wondered if it was some coloring from some of her food.  All of my hamsters had lived for over 2 years and we had only had Olivia for 15 months, so Maggie was especially devastated and I admit that I was too.  I could write pages about the conversations that we have had about her since she left us.  More than anything, Maggie wants to know what caused her to die.  All of the people that Maggie has lost in her life had some sort of sickness beforehand.  To the girls, Olivia was truly a member of our family.  Maggie wrote her notes and both girls prayed for her every single night during their bedtime prayers.

And now...beach happiness!

WHY does blogger turn pictures the wrong way sometimes????

For Better Or For Worse

I feel like it's safe to say that this week has been AWESOME!   It is Thursday, homeschool work is complete and we have a Park Day on the schedule for tomorrow.

Last week was a nightmare that became worse with each passing day.  It's mostly attitude (Maggie's) and homeschool related, but I made changes (to my attitude) and raised my expectations and started new chore charts and became quite a bit more strict. And we have been much happier.  I seem to have become a little too relaxed over the summer and certain little people were taking advantage of me and running me ragged...and I may have threatened Maggie with sending her to private school.  Sometimes I show my love for Big Daddy and the kids by taking care of them when they really need to take care of themselves.

I decided that we would evaluate our decision to homeschool at least every year around the time that traditional schools get out for summer break.  If there is ever a time that it truly doesn't work for us I will gladly enroll Maggie and Ellie in school.  Of course, we're not going to give up with every little bump in the road, but I know that Maggie enjoys the flexibility we have and I want her to always realize that this is a choice and we can go a different route if we want to.  When she thought it would be fun to go to daycare everyday, I also explained that I would get a job and that she would most likely spend at least 8 or 9 hours there every single week day.  I think it's important that the girls understand that this is a choice.  Sometimes I need to be reminded of that too.  The part that is most frustrating about our homeschool-related problems is that we would have the same issues if Maggie were in a traditional school and having to do homework on a regular basis.

Our activities are about to be in full swing!  Maggie is taking sign language and American History through our homeschool co-op and Ellie will be in a preschool class.  During the last hour of co-op, Ellie and I will be taking a Kindermusik class together.  We are both so excited since it is something that Maggie particiapted in for two years when she was little.  Maggie has Tumbling on Friday evenings and as soon as we return from our week at the beach, both girls will start AWANA.  Storytime at the library will also be in full swing.  Our free day will be Monday for this semester.  We are excited about falling into a new routine and learning lots of new things!

In the past two weeks

The last time that I posted was two weeks ago!  It seems to get harder and harder to document our daily lives.  Here's a recap of the past couple of weeks.

My last post was on my birthday.  Big Daddy surprised us by coming home at lunch.  We dropped the kids off at my parents' house and we went shopping and to dinner.  Big Daddy is passionate about sunglasses, so he bought me my first pair of expensive sunglasses (Ray Bans).  I like them, but I also like the Isaac Mizrahi sunglasses that I bought two years ago for $4.  Unfortunately, they are scratched and new ones were in
order.

Maggie has officially started Tumbling classes.  She is in a beginner class and has been practicing cartwheels and bridges like crazy since her class last week.  She smiled every second during her hour class and can't wait to go back!

We picked Big Daddy up at the airport last week.  The girls wanted to roll his luggage to the car.  As they were helping out, Ellie asked if we were going to have a pool.  She was a little confused and assumed that we were going to a hotel since we had rolling luggage.

We are hoping/planning for a week-long family beach vacation in September.  The month's calendar is quickly getting full.  We are hoping to finalize everything tomorrow.

Big Daddy will be out of town a lot over the next few weeks.  A trip to Brazil is the most exciting place that he'll be.  Other than that, just Maryland or Pennsylvania.

Just when I think that we are used to all of the time apart and that we have adjusted to it, there is some sort of issue that comes up.  So many people judge the way things are for us, but what it all comes down to is that travel is apart of the job that supports or family.  I get tired of people acting like we enjoy it or that Big Daddy is off on vacation when he is really working long hours on different projects.

In honor of my birthday, I went out of town to meet my besties for dinner.  We were at Chick-fil-A and had five kids in tow, but it was still a night out with my girls and we still had THE best time.

This past Sunday, we decided to take a family trip to the zoo after church.  We were able to see the 6 day old baby gorilla and the giraffe that was around a month old.  I'm planning on taking the girls again after the temperatures cool down a bit more.

I have decided that I want/need an iPad and I have decided to use some of the money in my savings account to buy it.  Big Daddy said he would buy me one, but I want it to be mine.  There are lots of things that I hope to use it for with homeschooling and I think it will also be neat to have during long car trips.

Speaking of long car trips, I really feel like I need to go to Disney World soon.  we thought about going again this October, but decided to go to the beach for a week since our June trip had lots of rain.  We may plan a trip to Disney for January.  I think I would feel better just knowing when I would be going again.

Honey Glazed Carrots

I thought I'd share one of my most favorite ways to eat carrots.  This happens to be one of those things that I came up with all by myself and I ate them for a lot while Big Daddy was out of town.  That gave me a chance to sort of tweek the recipe and get it just right before I let him taste the yumminess!  He is a little picky/critical of how things are cooked and ends lots of meals by saying " that ____ was good, but if you would _____ it would be even better".  Between the two of us, we change lots of recipes!

Honey Glazed Carrots
2 pounds of carrots, peeled and cut into sticks, placed into a crock pot
just enough fat free Italian dressing to coat the carrots and then one more squirt
a healthy drizzle of honey over the carrots

Turn crock pot on low and cook until carrots are tender, but not falling apart. (about 6 hours, or so)  I stir these around every couple of hours or the bottom carrots will get black and really carmelized. (those are my favorites)


I always buy a 2 pound bag of carrots.  It looks like a lot, but this enough for our dinner and left overs the next day, or dinner and two meals of left overs if Big Daddy is traveling.  I do not buy "fat free" things very often because of all of the added junk, but I found that fat free dressing works well in these.  If you use regular dressing, they are greasy.  Sometimes I quarter an onion and throw in  there too.

Homemade Goodness

If I had my way, I very well may live on a farm...or be Amish.  I told Big Daddy more times than I could count that I loved the way the Amish lived and that I would love to try that life out at least for a little while.  Our recent business trip with Big Daddy didn't go all that well, but the day that we spent in the Amish country was pure bliss for me.  They aren't as primitive as many people think and most of them do NOT homeschool. (They have one room school houses.)

I LOVE the clotheslines that they have and I could have driven around all day looking at barns, fields of corn and clotheslines.  I do LOTS of laundry, but we do not have a clothesline.  The thoughts of having to carry laundry baskets full of clothes outside and then back inside is not appealing to me at all.

I DO make my own laundry detergent and cleaning supplies and I LOVE it!

This is the recipe I use for laundry detergent.  I started following How Does She? a long time ago on facebook and they share lots of neat things!  I have a large plastic storage container that I mix this in and then I transfer some to a pretty glass canister and keep it on the shelf in my laundry room.  The hardest part is grating the soap and it's not that hard!  I do recommend mixing this outside because it can create quite a cloud.  I do not add the Oxi Cle@n and it still cleans as good as any other detergent I have used.

Here are a few recipes (via pinterest) that I like for homemade cleaning supplies.  I am using the bleach cleaner and the window cleaner.  The only pre-made cleaners that I buy are toilet cleaning gel and window cleaner for our cars that is safe for tinted windows.

I have tried two different cleaners for tubs and showers.  I still like to put baking soda on a damp cloth to "exfoliate" my shower- I just do that after I have sprayed on a cleaner.  The baking soda really removes soap scum so well (with mild abrasiveness) and using with a spray cleaner makes cleaning the shower nearly effortless...yet I still procrastinate about doing it.  This is a good version and it uses less dishwashing liquid that some other cleaners and still works really well.  (via pinterest)

And one of my latest obsession is the homemade goodness that is...Kale Chips!  I had been interested in these and when Jo-Lynne posted her recipe I felt like they were safe to try!  I trust Jo-Lynne's opinions and have made several of her "Tried and True" recipes with great success.  We LOVE these and I had an entire pan of them at lunch today.

Happy Homemaking!!

Happy and Tired

We had a Block Party at church last night to kick off our week of  VBS, which our church calls Week of Wonder.  It was so hot and so crowded and we had lots of fun.  Maggie and Ellie had snow cones and dinner and bounced until they couldn't bounce anymore!  We went to my classroom to get everything set up a little early.  The girls loved playing with "baby toys" (I teach a two year old class) and cooling off a bit before the next round of fun started.  We are tired today, but excited about tonight.

We (me, Maggie & Big Daddy) are hooked on kale chips.  They are yummy, healthy, crispy, cheap and delicious!   I made two big batches of kale chips for 64 cents!

Big Daddy is in another season of heavy travel.  It's not as hard as it once was, but we all miss each other a lot.  Prayers would be appreciated.

We had special speakers at church yesterday.  This is a really amazing group of girls and they are well spoken and wise beyond their years.  They have already accomplished so much.  (And three of them are homeschooled!)  Our offerings from Week of Wonder will be donated to them.

I think the polyp in my uterus took care of itself.  Needless to say, I did not want to have to have surgery, but had decided that the pain was impacting my daily life too much and that it was going to be necessary.  Hopefully, I'l continue to be pain free.

And that concludes what is going on right now!

A Few Pictures

Just so I don't forget

To me.

You like to go places, but you do not like hotels.
You are a homebody.
Business trips with your husband are just like when he's away on business trips and you are home.  He works long hours, doesn't have a chance to talk very much and is on the phone until at least 11:00 every night dealing with problems at work.
The kids may say that they had fun, but their behavior was horrible and they missed home.  A lot.

You really do want to be Amish even if it's only for a few days.
Your hair was made to wear a bonnet.
Clotheslines and cornfields really do make you happy.
The clip clop of the horses hooves and those piles of poop all over the roads made your kids' day.
Amish Whoopie Pies, lemonade and Kettle Corn are so yummy.