What we've been up to

We got to go for a family/marriage retreat over the weekend. The kids had a great time and we did too since it was all paid for by my husbands work. They provided nanny services while we were in class and all our meals were paid for. You can't beat that!! I crocheted the whole time. I know it might sound crazy but I was able to focus on what the speaker was talking about while I kept my hands busy. I am terrible at sitting still for too long. I was able to finish a dog sweater for Piper. It is black with pink argyle, I'll post a picture soon.

Now on to my ideas for the upcoming weekends. After 2 months of schooling the kids in the playroom/schoolroom I have decided it is no longer working for me. It seemed like such a cozy room at first. T had things to play with and as long as the room stayed tidy there weren't too many distractions. The problem is the room never stays tidy and I have to kill my self to stay on top of it. Of course I make the kids clean up, but it seems inevitable that school stuff ends up on the toy side and toys on the school side. I get stressed out just walking in there. My kids have far too many toys. Mostly bought by well meaning relatives that live too far away to enjoy the kids and so they guilt themselves into send along presents and bring things whenever they come to visit. Back on subject, I can no longer stand to be in that room to do school. SO we have a sun room down stairs that doesn't get used like it should that would be great to have as a school room. I am hoping to convince D to convert it for me in the next few weeks!! Wish me luck!

Content

This is what I think of when I think of life at home right now. I am so pleased we made the decision to homeschool. I am also glad we took K out of preschool. As much as I love the ladies that taught him there it was not fitting into our new lifestyle. I am much more patient these days. We had a great time finger painting the other day. I of course joined in too. Who doesn't like that feeling of slimy paint on their fingers?! We were painting things that made us think of fall. I am blessed!!

Tickled

It is getting late as you can tell by my time stamp. BUT.....I just had to post these photos of what I did this evening while watching Fools Gold, gotta love that Red Box. I truly could have done a trillion more things but I am so glad I made this instead. so here it is...

my AUTUMN pendant. It is hung over my kitchen window. After looking at these photos I realize that I need to take my curtains down and iron them...oops ;)


What I love about this project is that I used one package of paper that I got out of the dollar bins at Target. I also got the chip board sticker alphabet that coordinated. I then tied the whole thing together with cotton string. I think I might have unleashed a monster. People are going to come into my house and ask why I have a banner in every room and down the halls. I just love this, and it is so much quicker than doing one from cloth.

My Little Man

Tripp is such a blessing to us. He is a crack up. This is what he does when he finds some good dress up. He looked like such a cool dude.

A Sneak Peek

I thought I would throw in our family picture we took a few weekends ago. I still need to photo shop Tripp since he would not cooperate and LOOK forward. He was intentionally closing his eyes to be a stinker. This is what will be on/in our Christmas card this year.


We had quite an exciting weekend. Avery and Keegan had their first soccer games. It was a blast. You know that really loud annoying mom that hollers along the side lines the whole game?! Seems that person turns out to be me. I can't help myself I was a cheerleader my whole life, had brothers that wrestled and I played softball and ran track all through school. You just can't take that competitive nature out of someone. I will be the first parent asked not to come back in the history of the christian homeschool athletics organization. In my defense I did yell encouragement to the other team, who looked at me like I was crazy.

I also started my stair project this weekend. I happened to stumble across a blog that I just love. This women decorates her house in ways that speak to me. One day I too will be that organized that I will be able to decorate for every holiday/season, not just Christmas. She also has great tutorials. Well she showed how she had painted her stairs and I loved them. I have been wanting to do this forever. Once the kids throw up on your stairs and mud and food is tracked across it it is never the same. Well my hubby and I have had heated discussions about it and so it has been put off. I finally bit the bullet this weekend and started it my self. It is going great and I will soon be posting pictures of the before and afters.

Massage Envy

I know I know two posts in one week. I say this as if someone is actually checking my blog....Well I have a funny story to share so I thought what the heck I'll do it here. So when I went home to visit over Labor Day weekend I got a MAJOR migraine. One like non other I've had for a while. I actually got sick from the pain. Now this obviously isn't the funny part of the story, at least not for me. Well since then I have had a terrible knot in my left shoulder by the shoulder blade. So after a failed attempt at getting my dh to rub it out for me I buckled and made an appointment with a masseuse. This great place called Massage Envy just opened up down the road and they were offering a $39/hour rate for your first visit. I jumped on it. So dh meets me in a parking lot after work and we swap the kids and I head for my massage. This is a true luxury for me since I am rarely without the kids and if I am it is usually to go to a Dr appointment or something that is oh so "relaxing". When I stepped up to the reception desk the girl behind the counter was finishing up booking an appointment for one of the therapists that was standing there. She thought she was being funny but I didn't quite get her humor, and believe me I get funny. All I could think was "Oh please Lord don't let her be my masseuse" Well as luck would have it she sure was. She was quite chatty and talked even to fast for me a times. But I get on the table an await my massage. All was going well and we were about 15 minutes into the massage. I was a little uncomfortable cause she was not applying enough oil to let her hands glide, it was more like getting an indian rub, but I was doing okay, when all of a sudden she stops what she was doing. She gently touches my arm and says "Will you please excuse me?! I have got to go to the bathroom all of the sudden. Don't worry though you will still get your full hour." What?! Okay what was I going to say to that " no you have to hold it" So my ever peppy self says sure no problem. 10-15 minutes later she shows back up. I'm guessing she didn't just need to pee. And laughing she says "How embarrassing, but when nature calls what can you do?" I nearly fell off the table. So much for a relaxing massage, not only did she break contact which you aren't suppose to do, but she left me and then finished 5 minutes sooner than she was suppose to had she NOT used the bathroom. I had to find humor in it all or I would have been mad. I do not like to get people in trouble, especially when they truly believe what they did was okay. So if I ever do go back needless to say I will be requesting someone else. All that aside the place was beautiful and the rooms were supper nice.

Gosh its been awhile

It has been nearly two months since I posted last. I'm not sure where time has went. For starters we have been homeschooling for almost that same amount of time. It has been going great. I think! K started preschool today and I have mixed emotions about that. It might be a short lived preschool experience this year. We have had such a nice rhythm going on that it seems to have disrupted it today. So that might be a rethink in the next few weeks. A started soccer and just loves it. What I love is that it is a home school league and she is making friends with girls her age doing the same thing. It was quite refreshing to be around people that get me and aren't constantly questioning the decision we made for our family.


Next a "girls" update. Hattie is still the only one giving us eggs. I just got to watch her lay one this afternoon, it was pretty cool. I have also figured out that I am now a fresh egg snob. I went home to visit Mom and Dad and they only had store bought eggs, needless to say I only ate a few. Who knew how runny and watery store bought eggs were. The new chicks are adjusting to outside life. They are being picked on a bit but with size and time it will get better. I think we are going to be giving back one or two of the Rhode Island Reds. They are mean as the dickens. We need to make a bit of room for the new ones anyway.

Finally my garden. It is coming to a close for the year. I was hoping to get a fall crop in but decided against it for now. I am looking ahead to next year and trying a new planting method and hopefully will be able to produce enough to do a farmers market once or twice a week next year. I will keep you updated on that as it goes by.