What We Have Been Up To...

It has been absolutely glorious weather here lately!  I'm almost afraid to look at the forecast because I don't really want to know how soon it will leave us.  I know it is only February, but really, we have had a tough winter for us Georgians.  We NEVER get snow like we have this year.  And really, really cold temps.  Too much for my flip flop wearing feet to bear.  (Yes, I did actually wear something besides flip flops during the snow storm of the century.  Crocs count, right?)

So, we have had park days, and picnics.  School outside and walks around the lake. Cookouts and sweet tea drinking.  Have I taken one.single.picture.?  No.  I know, bad mommy. I have crafted just a smidge and I did take a picture of that finished product.  It doesn't move real fast, so I was able to take my time.  :)

I plan to be back to my bloggy self here soon.  I just don't want to waste any of this precious perfect weather.  All too soon it will be hotter than Hades and I will need the sweet relief of the air conditioning.  Hope ya'll are enjoying some milder temps too!

Menu Plan Monday

I was a bad menu planner last week.  I didn't follow it very well at all.  Greg was home using some vacation time for 2 days, so we really just winged it for the first part of the week.  He will be off the end of this week, so hopefully we can stay closer to our plan.  :)

Monday

Chicken Tacos

Tuesday
Chicken and Rice (didn't have it last week), green beans, applesauce, rolls

Wednesday
Ham, Augratin Potatoes, Lima beans, rolls

Thursday
Chicken pot Pie (from freezer) or hamburger pie

Friday
Date night (kids are spending the night with friends)

Saturday
Pizza and Movie Night

I plan on making brownies for dessert this week and some apple cinnamon muffins (my apples are really close to the end of their time) for breakfast. If you would like recipes for anything, just let me know!  Hope you all have a great week! Oh, almost forgot!  Linking up here.  :)

Valentine's Invitational

Since I want this blog to be all about our life, I will be posting about different accomplishments the kids have made. I hope you will all indulge me just a little with this proud mommy moment.  :)

This past weekend Brynn competed in her first away meet of this season.  We knew that she was showing improvement at practice and she also has been having private lessons each week, so we were hopeful that her scores would reflect that.  They most definitely did!

She scored 8.7 on vault giving her 3rd place, 8.8 on bars also for 3rd,  9.125 on beam, again for 3rd, here she is on beam right before she lunges into her handstand.  Awesome form!

 

And..... 1st place on floor with a 8.950!!!! We are SO happy for her!!!  Here's a couple of pictures.  This is how she begins her floor, in a straddle split switch to left leg split.

This is in the middle of her routine, part of her dance pass...

Here she is after she finished.  She knows she did great by her score, but had no idea she got 1st!

Her coach said she was a little disappointed she didn't get a 9.0 on floor, but we are still so happy for her!  

A proud moment as she was awarded the floor champion medal.

 

The team also received 1st place at the meet.   

 

Just a wonderful day for my sweet girl.  We are so very proud of her.  She works so hard every week at the gym and sometimes has to make sacrifices because of her schedule, but I know this makes it all worth it for her.  Right before she went to bed she said "Mommy, I'm a floor champion!!!"  Love!

Menu Plan Monday

 Welcome back!  It's a new week and time for some old favorites around our house.  We tried fish tacos last week, and it just wasn't for us.  Maybe a different recipe?  I don't know.  I'm not sure I can convince hubby to try them again.  Here's what's on the menu this week:

Monday

Grilled Steak, baked potato, corn and for dessert we are going to try these molten chocolate cakes.  Yummy!

Tuesday

Chicken and rice casserole, green beans and rolls.  Probably a fruit salad on the side if I can run to the grocery store.

Wednesday

Tacos and spanish rice

Thursday

Hamburgers and Mac and Cheese with a salad on the side

Friday

Pizza night!

Saturday

Brynn has a gymnastics meet, so we will go out to eat with the team afterwards.

That's it!  Hopefully I will have time to find some new recipes for next week.   Linking up here.  Have a great week everyone!

Our Week in Review

 This is our first week participating in this linky party.  I'm so excited to see how much we accomplish each week!  Sometimes you feel like you get nothing done until you lay it all out.  


Monday
Each week in our math curriculum is a planned puzzle day.  This one was for a pentomino activity.  They are given an outline and asked to use the pentomino's to fill in the empty space. The book explained that this one is the most challenging of the puzzles and may take longer than class time allows to complete it.  Yea, they finished in five minutes.  Either the book was exaggerating a bit or my kids are geniuses.  Ha!  Maybe not, but they were proud of themselves just the same.  :)

 

Please excuse the quality of this picture.  My camera battery died and all I had was my cell phone.  Parker also read Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel.  I had forgotten about that book.  It was really cute.  Later that day I found Parker with his toy construction equipment acting out the story.  LOVE when that happens!

Tuesday

I was feeling a bit under the weather, so we did our regularly scheduled school work and read lots of books.  No super exciting homeschool activities that day.

Wednesday

Brynn finished reading The Wizard of Oz, so we watched the movie on Netflix.  Then she made a Venn Diagram comparing the two.  Parker continued to work on the seasons and painted a mural of four trees with leaves in each of the four seasons. We also read one of my favorites, Ferdinand the Bull.   The kids really loved it!  Brynn learned about the science of wheels.  She read this book then we did an activity where she had to find anything in the school room to make her own wheels.  She used lids from our supply stash and a pencil, then rolled it on the hardwood floor, tile and carpet to see which place it worked best.  Parker decided they need to make themselves into wheels, so they curled into balls and rolled all over the house.  Fun! 

Thursday

My favorite day this week.  Daddy worked from home and joined in for a few of the subjects. We learned about snowflakes, how they are formed and the different shapes they take on as they fall from the sky.  The kids were fascinated at how a snowflake begins as a speck of almost anything.  Daddy showed them how to make cutout snowflakes and we had just happened to have a bit of a snowfall the night before so they brought some inside to observe.  Brynn also began learning about the lever. She was asked to make a lever out of household items and demonstrate how it would be used to help move something heavy.  She did a great job with blocks, tinker toys and some other small items.  Very cool stuff.  

Friday

We usually take this day to do a little reading, take spelling tests and finish up anything that needs to be completed.  Just a relaxing day.  Then we had to take Parker to the doctor for yet another diagnosis of bronchitis.  :(

I think we all really enjoyed this week.  Next week we will be learning about Mexico, clouds and pulleys.  Sounds like a complete mish mash of stuff.  Hopefully they will enjoy it!

Hair Cuteness

Me and hair bows?  We go waayyyy back.  I love to make them and buy them.  I love to decorate Brynn's head with them at any opportunity.  It turns out that Brynn is getting to an age where bows may not be her first accessory choice.  Bummer.  So, I had to find something to keep her head adorable.  Enter the singed flower, super hot right now (giggle) and the felt rosette.  Equally as hot, just no pun to be had there.  Here we come to the part where I am unable to accept that it may just be worth it for me to purchase these items premade, rather than attempt to make them myself.  I am certain there are many, many tutorials about just these types of things, but I have some unrelenting desire to punish my crafty self and do it the hard way.  No tutorial.  Just me and some fabric.

There were a few, minor, incidents.  Not really anything to talk about.  The small fire was relatively easy to put out and my glue gun burns are healing nicely.  The repeated trips to the fabric store for yet another piece were okay too, since the material is so cheap.  BUT, the good news is, I've got it now!  And boy, did they turn out cute.  Even Brynn likes them.  Score!  We will be putting them in the goodie bags for Brynn's teammates.  She has a gymnastics meet on Sunday and we always give a little something to each of the girls after they compete.  I will try to remember to take a picture before I give them all away. 

Oh, you wanna see the ones I made for Brynn?  Here you go...

 

This one is for Valentines day.  Maybe Easter too.  It depends on the dress we get for her.  She adores headbands, and this one seems to suit her.  I wrapped the headband form in white ribbon (good luck keeping that clean, huh?), than added the felt rosettes.  I love it!

 

This one is my favorite.  My mom has worn it once and I wore it around the house the day I made it.  Brynn wore it shopping today and got lots of compliments.  i just think these are so feminine and can work for almost any age.  I'm thinking about putting a few on pin backs to add to scarves and purses.  What do you think?

I'm working on my picture taking skills. My hubby is far better at it than me, but I have improved A LOT! Scary, huh?  Thanks for looking!

Taming the Clutter: Art Binders!

My Parker.... he's an adorable child, really.  I'm not just saying that.  But my goodness.  The art messes he makes would drive even the most patient (of which I am not) mother crazy.I am so thrilled that he loves art and that he would rather draw than just about anything, but our house is a fire hazard from the sheer amount of paper he leaves laying around.  He does use both sides, so he is eco-friendly. :)

I had to come up with a plan.  I wanted something that would contain his paper and drawing supplies and was portable, as we take art stuff everywhere we go. Along came "The Art Binder".  I'm sure this idea has been thought of before and it really is simple, but it works for us.

First, I made a simple cover to slide in the front.  I also printed his name out for the side as I have plans to make one for Brynn and it will be easy for them to grab from the shelf.  The back is empty so he can slide his favorite drawing inside.  

Since I chose a 3" binder and knew it would hold 500 sheets, I hole punched an entire ream of paper (we have an electric hole punch that makes it SO much easier!) and put most of it in there.  That way I am not always being asked to refill it.

Finally, I had a lot of pencil pouches laying around, so I filled one with crayons, one with colored pencils and one with regular pencils, erasers, pens and a pencil sharpener.  I have plans to buy him some different types of drawing pencils, I just haven't made it to the store yet.  

 

Sometimes he takes the pages out to draw on, sometimes he draws right in the notebook.  The beauty is that he can keep them all together and they are not all.over.my.house.  I haven't really decided what to do with all the papers once he is done with the book.  Do I recycle them and start over, do I keep them?  If so, how?  I would love to hear your ideas!


Linking here for her "Time to Shine"party.  Check out all of the cute stuff others have posted.  Love it!

Super Bowl Sunday!

Welcome back, Friends!  I hope you all had a wonderful Super Bowl Sunday (if you are into that kinda thing).  We are not so much, BUT we do love an excuse for "snackies" and the commercials can sometimes be funny.  


This year we {meaning I, as Greg just puts up with my crazy goes with the flow} decided to try some different recipes.  Fresh guacamole was first on the list as avocados were on sale at my Publix.  O.M.Gee....really....sooooo good!  You MUST try this.  If you hurry (and have a Publix) avocados might still be on sale!  RUN!  We got the recipe from here, but added some verrrryyy finely chopped jalepeno.  De.lish.

 

We also munched on traditional fare, like buffalo chicken dip and mini sammies.  What, that's not traditional?  Hmmm...  For a little dessert, I made some Rice Krispie Treats.  So yummy!  It's the first time Brynn and Parker have ever eaten them.  What???  They have always said they didn't want to try them, but mommy decided it was time today.  They are all gone.  Seriously.  ALL of them.  Daddy didn't help at all.  Or mommy.  Geez.

 

I decided to go with helmets, footballs and "the foam finger".  I think that was everyone's favorite.  Something about biting off appendages. Weird people, I tell you.  No, this was not all of them.  There was a bucket of them.  And they are still all gone.  If only I would have just put out this plate.  Sigh....

 

  

Menu Plan Monday

 I am NOT a menu planner by nature.  I plan everything else in my life out to almost unbelievable degrees, but menu plans?  Not so much.  I really want to try this and I really want it to work.  So, here are some brand spankin' new recipes for us this week.  I have been really busy scouring the pages of blog after blog looking for brand new yummies for my family to try.  Let's see if it was worth the effort....


Sunday
Super Bowl Party food (shhh....we just watch for the commercials)


Monday
Fish Tacos from here (hubby is a little hesitant about this particular dish)


Tuesday
Hubby's Famous Hamburgers  (So yummy)
French Fries
Salad


Wednesday
Bacon and Parmesan Pasta also from here (hubby is, however, VERY excited about this one-go figure)
Broccoli
Rolls


Thursday
Tuna Mac
Green Beans
Honey-Lime Fruit Salad


Friday
Dinner Out


Saturday
Pizza Rolls



I'll be sure to post how we liked the new dishes. I'm linking up here.  I can't wait to browse through all the other links for some inspiration! Thanks for looking!

I {Big Puffy Heart} Love Valentine's Day!

I admit, I am a HUGE romantic.  I love all things pink and think surprises are just the best.  But, I have NEVER decorated for Valentine's Day.  Can you believe it???!!!  After browsing blogland and seeing some of the most amazing decorations, I knew I had to make a change.  So, one Sunday (on a date night, no less) my sweet, sweet hubby accompanied me to Joann's, Target and the Dollar Tree.  Yep, he's a keeper.  I was on a mission.  As I mentioned, I am a lover of all things pink.  However, this day, it was red on my list.  I came up with this little mantle idea.  I am in L.O.V.E with it!  Very simple, but still exactly what I was looking for.  And it doesn't look like a 14 year old threw up in my living room.  

 I made some of the cute little ruffle balls you find all over the "Land of Blog" to put on my entry table.  I just popped them on a cake plate and it added just the right bit of color.  I also have a candy jar on that table filled with foil wrapped chocolate hearts.  No picture of that, as i am having difficulty keeping the "not me's" hands out of it.

I am officially addicted to making these ruffle balls.  They are so adorable and super fun to make!  


I am working on some other projects this week, so be sure to stop back by.  Have a wonderful day!

So....We Meet Again

Here I am again.  There are so many things to say about the reason I stopped blogging here.  It was a conscious decision for sure.  I felt like when I started my homeschool blog, I wouldn't need this one any longer.  But, if I'm being really honest (which I always try to be), I never felt like that blog was the whole "me".  Does that make sense?  I am more than "just a homeschooler".  The same way I am more than a mom, wife, homemaker extraordinaire (giggle, giggle,snort), etc.  I need a place I can blog about everything I am interested in.  While that will include glimpses into our school life, it will also be about what we do as a family as well as things I love.  Decorating, shopping, volunteering, cooking, baking, etc.   I think I am beginning to find myself and what I love.  Now that the kids are slightly older (8 and 7) and aren't SO dependent on me, I have time to craft and blog and host parties and clean and shop...you get the idea. 

I hope you find this a place where you can get some ideas, share some of your own and learn a little about me and my family.  I will eventually import my other blog over here.  For now, I will be using it primarily as a place for any reviews I do.  I am so excited to see where this blog takes me and so happy to have you along for the journey!