Alaska Again...

 I finally got a chance to see Ollie's pictures.  He got some incredible shots.  This is just a sampling and the order is all mixed up...sorry!  Above is at the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau and below is Billy, Jane, and Joe and Grace walking to a big waterfall that was close to the glacier.

 Above...sled dog poo on my shoe...gross!  Below--Joe playing on a big tree at the mud flats.

 Above, we went to a great Asian restaurant two nights in a row and Hannah and I loved the Bento box.

 The pictures above and below were both taken at Dawes' Glacier and I recommend that you click on the picture to see it bigger.  Those seals are adorable and looking right at the camera.  And, if you look closely to the left in the picture of the glacier you can see it calving...a piece falling off.

 Another seal peeking above a rock.  Below, an awesome picture of a huge iceberg, the colors were amazing.  It was all different shades of blue.

 We saw lots and lots of humpback whales and the first indication of whales was being able to see the spout of water as they breathed.  Above are two right next to each other.  And, below is the Super Moon.

 Above and below is  a whale breeching.  You can see it on its side and its flipper.

 Above is Joe and Jane kayaking and below is a really cool rainbow that we saw one night.

 Above, back at the dog sled camp....and below, if you look closely you can see Harriet and I on a bench.  We were at a Catholic shrine/trail, etc.  It was beautiful with lots of flowers and a gorgeous view.

 The picture above and the next two are seals...they were everywhere!

 And....more whales!

To Diet or Not to Diet....

So, I am a good 20 pounds (or more depending on what you consider overweight...) overweight and have been for a couple of years.  The good thing is that I'm consistent.  I've managed to maintain this same weight within 5 pounds for 2 years and for a few years about 5 years ago (I had one year in there when I did the Maker's Diet and lost 25 pounds and kept it off for a year or so).  I have tried various methods for losing weight but without success.  I've exercised, eaten low carb, low sugar, eaten less, and so on.  I recently joined Weight Watchers again--not going to weekly meetings, just tracking what I eat and counting points.  I'm not doing a very good job and regularly go over my points so in almost 2 months have only lost a couple of pounds and those 2 pounds come and go weekly.  It seems the more I think about food the more I want to eat food.  So, in that respect, dieting is not really working so well for me right now.  I've decided to try something new.  It's not a fad diet but is definitely what I would consider a "diet."  I plan to combo it with Weight Watchers and count points at least for a little while.  Anyway, it's called, "Trim, Healthy Mama," and mommas everywhere (in the FB world and on blogs) are raving about this and saying how easy it is and so on.  There is a whole language to learn--S meals, E meals, Fuel Pull, etc. but apparently it's super easy to get used to, stick to, and feed your family in the meantime.  I've ordered the book and I'm eager to get started.  I have been reading blogs and plan to really do this...make a binder and everything.  I'm going to give it 6 months, that's my goal.  It's a good time for me to start something like this because we are heading back into the routine of the "regular" year so I'm more disciplined all around.  I am even going to do before photos and measurements.  I'm really, really hoping to lose the spare tire around my middle.  I'll let you guys know how it goes...I'm actually sort of excited.  Sort of.

This and That

 1.  We had VBS every night last week and it was a really good time!  I had it easy this year, I helped organize the skits that happened every night before VBS started but then just spent the week hanging out and visiting.  I cut out a few little paper doll men one night, so I worked a little bit.  The theme for this year was "Gotta Move, Keeping in Step With the Spirit."  One of the activities featured was jump roping and the kids really loved it.  They got to jump rope every night after snack time, it was fun to watch them.  Grace played Giana Delicious in all of the skits...she was the fill in co-host of the "show" Extreme Cuisine.  The skits were really funny.  One of the women who came from another church went on and on about how impressed she was that there were so many men in the church actively involved with VBS.  I looked around and she was right, there were probably as many men as there were women there all week.  We have some great men in our church.

 2.  On Thursday, my momma and my Aunt Lane and my Aunt Donna came over for a visit.  They were at the beach for a girls' weekend and took a day to come see us.  We went out to lunch and then watched a run through of the kids' upcoming show and then went out for coffee and dessert.  It was a fun day and good to get to visit with them.  I had another picture of me and my girls and my momma but it disappeared....I'll have to find it and post it later.

 3.  A couple of weeks ago they had a "Disney" day at theatre.  Hannah borrowed a princess dress from upstairs...she's pretty cute.

 4.  We went to the Orlando Rep last weekend and saw "Shrek, the Musical," it was wonderful!!  If you are local you should go see it!  Hannah's friend, Kayla was the voice of the dragon and one of the Three Blind Mice.  She was incredible.

 5.  Hannah and I had a date night last Saturday night and we went out for Thai food.  She got sushi and ate every piece....even most of that octopus piece on the end.  After dinner we went to the theatre where I house managed and she saw Hairspray for the 3rd time.  Our life is slap FULL of theatre some weeks!

6.  I had a whole day on Saturday to be home and get things done around here.  I spent about 3 hours cooking a fridge full of casseroles ready to go in the oven for this week's dinners.  It was time well spent!  This week is a busy one with something every night but tonight and 3 of those nights being show nights.  I made lasagna, tater tot casserole, a Mexican casserole, and Shepherd's Pie with lentils instead of meat.  Not the healthiest week of meals but it's better and cheaper than fast food.

7.  Every month I have a week or so of almost manic energy.  It's definitely hormone related because it's very cyclical.  During this week I plow through my to-do list getting tons of things done, I tackle big projects that I've been avoiding and I don't sleep much...I especially love when this week of energy coincides with a show week as it has this month.  The only down side is it is almost impossible for me to relax...I can barely sit still to read or watch a movie or do anything but look for the next thing to DO!

8.  I've decided to start our school year a week earlier than originally planned.  We have a super busy fall coming up and a week jumpstart will be nice to have.  I think the kids will be ready to start any way and we may as well get going while they are still excited.

Homeschool Plan for 2013-2014

I have been very busy planning, ordering, and prepping curriculum around here.  I'm excited and a bit overwhelmed by all that I've chosen for this year.  Here's what we're doing--

With all three--
Continuing the Apologia Bible Study "Who Am I?"
Mapping the World by Heart  (I'm super excited about this, I'm not sure how it's all going to work but basically we'll take each continent and learn every country and how to map it on a map using the longitude and latitude.  At the end of the year, the kids are tested by being given a blank map and drawing and labeling the whole world.)

Hannah--
Florida Virtual School 9th grade Honors English
Florida Virtual School Earth Space Science Honors
My Father's World High School Ancient History and Literature
Algebra 1 taught by me
Logic using The Thinking Toolbox and Fallacy Detective
Wordly Wise 9
possibly a sign language class

Grace--
Florida Virtual School 7th grade Language Arts
Florida Virtual School 7th grade Science
Florida Virtual School Keyboarding
Wordly Wise 7
Saxon Math 8/7
Story of the World Volume 3--Early Modern Times

Joe--
Christian Liberty Press Spelling
Wordly Wise 5
Saxon Math 6/5
Story of the World Volume 1--Creation to Greeks
History Pockets--Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece
God's Design for Life--Human Body and Animal Kingdom

2012-2013 School Year Wrap-Up

When I look back on this school year I feel good about it.  We did a lot of both "school" and other activities.  I'm happy with all of our accomplishments but disappointed that we didn't do as much history as I had thought we would.  I decided not to use a curriculum for history this year and just read lots of good historical fiction novels and biographies.  We read some great books but didn't get into as much history as I would have liked.  Here's what we did--
With all three--
Visual Latin lessons 1 to 13
Apologia's Bible Who is God?  and half of Who Am I?
ONE measly art project (planned to do one every week)
Read the following books--
Follow My Leader
The Lemonade War
The Shoes that Love Made (biography of Paul Brand--christian "hero")
biography of Thomas Edison
The Girl Who Could Fly
YWAM's Lillian Trasher biography
All of a Kind Family
Dear America's Journal of Brian Doyle (set in Alaska on a fishing boat)
More All of a Kind Family
All of a Kind Family Downtown

Hannah--
Florida Virtual School 8th grade Language Arts
Florida Virtual School 8th grade Science
half of Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra
about a 1/3 of Algebra 1, taught by me using Holt Algebra 1
Wordly Wise 8
Total Language Plus--The Hiding Place
Read the following books--
Mary, Bloody Mary
The Giver
Up a Road Slowly
Okay for Now
Great Gilly Hopkins
Around the World in 100 Years
Beware, Princess Elizabeth
Doomed, Queen Anne
Duchessina
Usborne Medieval World
The Bad Queen
Outrageous Women of the Middle Ages
The Hiding Place
Pictures of Hollis Woods
Kisses for Katie

Grace--
Florida Virtual School 6th grade Language Arts
Wordly Wise 6
Teaching Textbooks 6
Critical Thinking's Language Mechanic
PE
Apologia's Land Animals--about 2/3 of it
Read the following books--
10 Women Who Made History
Mary, Bloody Mary
Dear America--Valley of the Moon
Beware, Princess Elizabeth
Princess Academy
Duchessina
Doomed, Queen Anne
The Wild Queen
Anne of Green Gables

Joe--
Teaching Textbooks 4
Evan Moor's Daily Language Review 4 (about 1/2)
a Language Arts 4th grade textbook
Evan Moor's Daily Geography 4
Apologia's Land Animals--about 2/3 of it
Wordly Wise 4
PE
Read the following books--
Usborne's Greek Myths
Where the Sidewalk Ends
Light in the Attic
Capital Mysteries
Sideways Stories from Wayside School
Fudge-a-Mania
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
*Joe had to read for 15 minutes a day but I let him choose what he read.  Sometimes it was picture books, sometimes he would read a chapter book, and often he would read the Shel Silverstein books.

Just Popping In (said in a British accent)

Good morning people!  I really don't have time to blog right now, I need to be making breakfast and lunches and getting ready for the morning trip to summer camp.  But, it's been bugging me that I haven't blogged in so long and technically I do have about 15 minutes probably.  I can rush around like nobody's business when I have to.  I love the summer camp experience for my kids and I love having some down time that I can do whatever I want with but I do hate the mornings.  Getting everyone up (Grace is the worst!), making lunches, fixing Joe's breakfast, and having to put my bra on and go somewhere before 8:30 in the morning is hard for me.  In the same way that "building schoolers" wonder how I do what I do...I wonder how they do what they do, morning after morning.  And many of them are having to get themselves ready for a day of work as well.  I can't imagine.  This summer has to be one of the busiest on record for my family.  These crazy (not lazy!) days have me ready for the routine and "normal" of the school year days.  We have spent every night this week at VBS and I've really enjoyed it.  Many of you may remember my VBS experience from last year, I worked the nursery every single night of VBS for 3 to 4 hours and I HATED it!  I was not quiet about my suffering either so there will be no future reward for me in heaven for that act of service.  This year I was in charge of the skit that happens at the end of the opening session every day.  I cast the skit and rehearsed a lot with Grace and Hannah, had one rehearsal/read through with the rest of the cast and found some aprons to work as costumes.  And, with that, my VBS work was done.  Thankfully we have plenty of helpers so I don't have to feel guilty sitting in the fellowship hall talking all evening.  I am trying to get some work done while I'm there--school planning and Sunday School lesson planning but inevitably I end up chatting.  It's a great VBS, by the Go Fish Guys and I just love all the music and the message as well.  I spent about 3 hours yesterday going through all that Hannah is doing for school next year and making lists of copies I need to make and school supplies.  I still need to do the same for Grace and Joe but most of their curriculum is familiar so it will be easier.  I have been promising a homeschool wrap up post and a "what we're doing next year" post and they are coming, I promise.  Just as soon as I can motivate myself and have the time.  It won't be today.  My momma and two of my aunts are coming for the day (they are spending the weekend at the beach...) and we get to go see a run through of Little Mermaid, Jr.  I can't wait!  I normally watch lots of rehearsal leading up to the show but I haven't seen one minute of rehearsal this summer.  I hear that the show is super fantastic and I'm excited to see their run through. I'm reading the newest Jodi Picoult book, The Storyteller.  I've been working on it for almost a week...that tells you how busy I've been!  I usually plow through her books in just a few days even during the height of a busy homeschool week.  I'm enjoying the story, just don't have the time to sit for long stretches to read...or I fall asleep before I get more than a few pages in.  I'm not sleeping well at night so I am sleepy by the afternoon.  Okay, I have to go now and make lunches.  I'll try to post those homeschool posts this weekend!

This Week...

 We got home Saturday night from our trip and jumped right back into our crazy busy lives!  I taught Sunday school on Sunday morning and then later that evening we had a youth party to go to.  Monday morning came way too fast and we were up and out the door by 8:30 for theatre camp.  They are doing, "Little Mermaid, Jr." in the mornings and taking different classes in the afternoon--singing, stage combat, makeup, dance camp, and more but I can't remember what else.  In addition to camp every day from 9 to 2, the kids also took turns sleeping over at friends' houses, saw two movies, and went through the stress of preparing and auditioning for yet another show.  Joe will be playing Flounder and the girls are each Mersisters.  All are happy with their parts so I'm happy too!  That's what the kids week looked like....mine was equally busy!  I visited with friends a couple of mornings, went to the dentist, saw "Hairspray," twice, grocery shopped, did a boatload of laundry, unpacked, cleaned out the girls' drawers, and babysat Landon and Dawson all day one day.  I didn't make much of a dent in my to-do list but that's okay...Here are some pics from the week--

 Landon and Dawson call me Boo Boo so I am calling our weekly day together, Camp BooBoo.  This week for Camp BooBoo we spent the morning at home watching PBS kids and reading books (not too different from how our mornings used to look around here...), then we went and saw Jiggleman at a local library.  We thoroughly enjoyed this man's crazy performance!  After a quick stop at McD's for lunch, we went to Aunt Harriet and Uncle Billy's house for swimming.   That was fun and I was happy to see that Landon could swim, that made it a little easier.  Then it was time to pick up my kids and we all went to High Five to celebrate auditions being over.  It was a fun day and I had a nice nap afterwards!

 We saw "Hairspray" twice this week so that we could see both of the different lead girls.  Both shows were just fantastic and sooo fun to watch!  Got a new purse for my birthday and I'm in love...best purse evah.

 I've been so happy to finally see some rain around here!  The first 3 days back were totally dry, hot and dry and I was not happy!  Since then though we 've had some rain every day.  As I type it's storming like crazy and I love it!

 Friday was PJ day at theatre camp and Hannah stole my favorite PJ ensemble.  She's pretty cute.

 Friday was also Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a--dress like a cow, eat free chicken!  We have gone every year for about 5 years I think.  I think I may take some time this summer to make a more permanent costume that can be used year after year.  Maybe skirts for the girls and sharpie a shirt for Joe?  It took me at least an hour or more to cut out and assemble everyone's outfit.

 I started a puzzle yesterday...even though I really don't have time...I just couldn't resist.  America first and then...my new birthday puzzle-- THE 1980s!!  Super excited about that one. I started my day off today with Bible time--the first quiet time I've had in almost a month...it felt so good to lay all of my burdens at the feet of Jesus and to read His word.  There's nothing like it!

 Ollie and the kids are out on an adventure and I'm really enjoying a peaceful quiet house.  I went through all of last year's homeschooling stuff and am ready to box it up and put it away.  I also sorted and organized all the new stuff so I could see what I have and what I need.  Homeschool year end review post coming up this week!