A Not-So-Simple Woman's Daybook

I am having a hard time pulling my thoughts together tonight and yet I want to blog...I have made and deleted three attempts so far. I'm just going to move forward in no particular order and empty my brain for your reading enjoyment--
Today was a busy and fun and exciting day. We started our day by doing a little tie-dyeing. I had a kit and a load of white shirts and baby onesies and t-shirts and we just went for it despite really having no idea what we were doing. We had some successes and some failures and definitely learned something. I think we need another kit to put some of this new knowledge into practice. Woohoo for Joann's 40% off coupon! Our favorites were the little baby t-shirts. They came out just right. I can't wait to see them on a baby--hurry up Kris and Shelly, have those babies!! I have their coming home outfits all ready!

Grandma and Grandpa were in town and staying over at H and B's and they showed up about the time we were finishing our tie dyeing. I had the brilliant idea to have them help with Hannah's Christmas gift--a little silk screen clothes decorating kit. They helped the girls decorate a few things and they turned out great. Now we have a decorated piece of clothing and a tie-dyed article for the fair.

We are hard at work producing things to enter into the county fair coming up soon. The girls have done all sorts of art and craft projects. Nothing gets them fired up and motivated like the fair (and the cash prizes). Below are their watercolor projects.
The exciting part of the day happened at theatre. They just started a new show, "Alice in Wonderland," and Hannah got cast as Alice!!! She is beyond excited. She wanted this part so much but really didn't expect to actually get it. This is something like her 18th show and her first lead! I may need a Valium on show night. :0) Grace and Joe are also in this show and they got the parts they wanted too--Grace is Violet, a flower, and Joe is a Royal Cardsman and a Lobster. I took them all out to Chick-fil-a for dinner to celebrate. It happened to be family night and so there were lots of kids there. Unfortunately we were sitting near all the whiny, crying kids. We all agreed never to go back to CFA on family night.
Well, I'm too tired to think anymore, peace out peeps!!

You Tube Fun

Homeschool Chit Chat

As we approach the end of another school year I find myself thinking a lot about what we have accomplished this year, what we still need to accomplish before finishing our school year and then also looking ahead to what I want next year to look like. We've accomplished a lot this year and for that I am thankful. However, there is a list of things that we haven't accomplished. These are things that I want to do every year and never seem to be able to fit it in. Nature study is a biggie. Nature study is talked about in many homeschool books and is a kind of buzz word. The idea is that you regularly get out into nature and just observe and then draw or write something in a nature notebook. The girls each have nature notebooks, each has about 1 entry per school year. I just actually gave Hannah hers to use as a sketch book because I have finally given up the idea that I will ever fit in regular nature study. As of this school year I've been homeschooling for 6 years and every year I say we are going to do nature study once a week. I've made the kids nature backpacks complete with field guides, little magnifying glasses, paper, colored pencils, etc. I asked for and received the "Handbook of Nature Study" for Christmas a few years ago. The book has barely been opened. I read "Pocketful of Pinecones" to inspire me and help me see what nature study should look like. After 6 failed years to incorporate nature study into our weeks I am officially giving up that idea. I don't even think it matters. My kids spend plenty of time outside observing nature and playing and so on. Even if we have no wonderful nature notebooks to show for it. Another thing that I wanted to do every year is study two artists and two composers. In my dream world we would read about these artists and composers. Look at art, try our hand at making similar masterpieces, listen to music, even be able to recognize classical music by composer. I did pretty well with these goals back when I was only schooling Hannah. But, the last few years it ain't happened. I'm not ready to give it up completely yet. I'm hoping to fit in one artist and one composer next year. We'll see how that goes...
Here are some more things that I have always wanted to incorporate but have never quite made happen and I'm accepting that these just may not ever happen--
art projects
cooking lessons--I have a grand idea to teach each kid how to make a breakfast, lunch, and dinner from start to finish
timeline--If I had a better wall I think I could make this one happen. I dream of an ongoing timeline that we add to every time we learn about someone or some event. I do not have a good sense of the overall world history timeline and I'd like to change that for my kids
quiet reading time every afternoon after lunch
writing and illustrating poems
reading poems

I think despite not accomplishing all of my pipe dreams for our homeschool my kids are doing great. They are intelligent, well rounded, able to speak their mind, read, write, add, subtract, socialize with other kids and adults, play creatively, make a sandwich and a can of soup, NEVER wake a sleeping momma, and all sorts of life skills. I'm proud of them even if they can't hear a piece of classical music and identify the composer (I can't do it and I've survived this long).

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That

• Joe finally lost a tooth, well, two teeth actually. He lost one of his bottom teeth yesterday and the other today. His top two middle teeth are really loose too, he's going to be really snaggletoothed pretty soon.
  

• Joe has two new favorite books that I thought I'd share here in case you haven't heard of them. They are both by Kevin Henkes, a wonderful children's book author and illustrator. These two are "Owen" and "Wemberly Worried." I read these to the girls all the time when they were younger and didn't realize that Joe didn't remember them. I saw them at the library the other day and checked them out and Joe has fallen in love with them. I've read them each about half a dozen times already. I've got some of Kevin's other books on hold and am sure Joe will love those as well.
  

• This is what my sister had the nerve to wear down to breakfast yesterday morning. I was so embarrased. She does look seriously skinny though doesn't she? Let's give her a round of applause for working very hard to lose all this weight. She was so fat before! :0) Kidding!!
  

• Now, this is a coffee mug! I love it--the caption says, "Behind every successful woman is a substantial amount of coffee." We found it while browsing at Cracker Barrel yesterday. Of course I didn't buy it, just took a picture.
  
• We are working hard around here this week! We've had two busy weeks where we didn't accomplish much on the homeschooling front and we have a couple of busy weeks after this one so this week is a serious schooling week. I'm excited and I am determined to guard our time and not let interruptions take us away from school and home time. We are in the home stretch of a productive school year and I am determined to finish strong and finish the math book (and every other goal I set for us for this school year...).
  
• I only have one thing to say about the world of politics (well, maybe two)--one, God is in control and is bigger than any situation and two--If you're going to pray, why worry? If you're going to worry, why pray? Panicking is not a good Christian witness, just sayin'.
  
• I hate those Perler bead things. We have two unironed Perler bead crafts that fall apart everytime they get bumped. I guess that would be a good reason to bust out the iron and get 'em done!
  

A Day in Tifton

What to do with an old gas station on a busy corner....make it into a Welcome Station! Too bad there was no one there to welcome us. This is not a happenin' town but we have managed to find some fun. It has definitely helped that my sis and I share a very warped sense of humor.
The start to our great weekend...We were glad to discover that we were in "The Friendly City." We saw this sign last night while on our driving tour of the city and it took us a good half hour or more to find it again today to get the picture. We have to agree that the city--although not terribly exciting--is very friendly. We even got offered a free hotdog while walking downtown today.
If only we had seen this sign before we made our reservations. Notice...this week in Tifton - NOTHING! This sign really got us tickled.
But dinner night one was delicious! Please ignore the totally covered windows. It creeped us out a little but it ended up being AOK.
Not many people at the Agrirama...but we toured a little museum and decided that the small living quarters would be easy to keep clean. There was even a flat screen tv (showing an informational video) in this little log cabin.
Please ignore my sister's fat thumbs. She would like to say that the camera adds 10 lbs...to the thumbs! This was the beginning of a great display on BBQ. Who would've thought there was so much to say about BBQ.

The famous "Agrirama." Not much happening here either.

This ain't your grandma's Country Store!

A peanut museum! I didn't want to learn ANYTHING on this trip..but I did! Darn it. We got Alabama peanuts from the GA peanut museum. Luckily the nice worker explained why that happened. The nice worker had a lot he wanted to talk about and we barely got out of there without a personal tour. I was getting nervous.

'Nuff said! Actually, my dad's family is from Opp, AL, and if I remember correctly they have a Boll Weevil Festival...so our family really is thankful for the boll weevil.

Yes...Tifton is the Reading Capital of the World! (not the SE or the S or the US but...the WORLD) I am so proud of them.
The one place that we were told that we could not miss...was CLOSED!
Cheryl was so devastated that she decide to end it all. But the train never came so we headed to a sweet little cafe!
We found the cutest part of Tifton! A cafe called Giggles. It was great!

My coffee...was AMAZING!

We really loved Giggles!

The recession seems to have really devasted this little town. We went to several very strange stores. Few items on the shelves or racks and lots of stores closed (on a Saturday). This store was really bad. There were clothes but I think some had been there for about 20 years. It was a very, very odd assortment of clothes but good for a few laughs.
It might not have been the recession...maybe it's the stock!
If you look close...on this 1 corner there were 2 Do Not Enter signs, 3 one way sign, and a stop - cross walk sign. We quickly understood why our TomTom (GPS) was totally confused!

We had NEVER seen a sign like this before.

I am not sure what that rooster is about to do to that pig but...

For as long as I can remember we have passed the Adcock Pecans sign driving down the interstate. Well...now we've been there!
It's been a great day! Lots of fun and lots of LAUGHTER!

Seven Quick Takes

1. I'm having a girl's weekend with my sister. I'm not going to reveal our whereabouts but I will say that we are either in Las Vegas, Tifton, New York, or Valdosta.
2. We've started our weekend off with dinner at a Japanese steakhouse and dessert at Dairy Queen. Now we are chillaxin' and watching "Devil Wears Prada."
3. I'm very happy.
4. I can't wait for breakfast...looks like an awesome breakfast bar in the lobby.
5. I love that hotels have wireless internet.
6. We also went to Dollar Tree where everything's $1. It's amazing what all you can get for a $1. I didn't need anything when I went in but came out with a Multiplication tables poster, Charlie Brown kids kleenex packages, Alice in Wonderland coloring book, and a secret gift for a friend.
7. That's all I've got peeps! Peace out...

Focaccia Florentine Recipe

1 pound (you can use less) of turkey bacon 

olive oil

fontina cheese, grated

3-4 packages of frozen spinach, thawed and drained

pizza dough

Make your pizza dough or buy some at Publix and press it into a pizza pan.  Cut the bacon into pieces and fry it.  If you are using turkey bacon, use olive oil so that you get some bacon flavored oil to cook the spinach in.  Once the bacon is crispy, add the spinach and saute until everything is hot.  Top your pizza crust with the spinach mixture and then top that with cheese.  Bake at 375 for about 25-30 minutes.

Monday Fun and St. Patrick's Day

Do you guys remember Kiwi? She was the sweet little beagle we dog-sat for last spring. Well, we've been taking her for walks and she wanted to come home with us after our walk on Monday so we brought her home for a little while. You're probably wondering how I knew that she wanted to come home with us...she sat in her driveway and refused to budge all the while looking toward the kids and I with a longing in her eyes...it was pitiful so I invited her over. She helped Grace with her math. :0)
Also visiting with us on Monday were Briella (above) and Anna Grace (below). Briella stayed with us for a couple of days while her parents took an anniversary trip. She is two and didn't act like it at all! No fits, no crying (just a few minutes at bedtime). She was so good and so easy. We had fun with her. Anna Grace just popped in for a little while to join the party. She occupied herself playing with the Polly dolls--her favorite thing to do at my house.

Hannah helped Briella pick flowers for me--so sweet! You can't really tell it here but Hannah had fun doing Brie's hair in three pigtails. Pretty cute!
Joe often finds his Explode the Code schoolwork quite funny. He found it so funny yesterday that he wanted to hang it on the wall. The part he found funny was the last sentence--it says, "The class grabs Russ and puts him in a crib." This school paper is now gracing our living room walls, right under the fine art done by the girls. Fits right in with our early childhood education theme.
The girls had fun dressing for St. Patty's day. Grace made her barrette by taking a clover and attaching it to a hair clip. Hannah's head band is a handmade original and she couldn't wait for today to wear it.

Our St. Patrick's Day dinner was Focaccia Florentine with green pizza crust. It was sooo good!!

Lots and Lots and Lots of Grease Pictures--bear with me people...

Okay, so I know there are a lot of pictures in this post--please excuse my obnoxiousness. Especially since many of you have already seen most of these on Facebook. However, this blog is also a family history/scrapbook of sorts so I need to have these on here. With that said--you can tell that Hannah played an obnoxious, bouncy, giddy cheerleader. She had that gigantic grin on her face just about every time she was on stage. I love the pictures--thank you to Leisa, John, and Teresa! This was such a fun show and you could really tell the kids were having fun with it. What's not fun about being a greaser if you are a boy?


Hannah had to get "punched" by the bad Sandy and they did a great job! Especially considering this scene went bad just last week and Hannah actually did get punched. Well, mostly just a glancing blow but still--she was pretty scared to have to do it over and over again. Thankfully, she was courageous and they were still able to make the punch look real. I LOVE the picture!


Another of my favorite pictures--this is Patty and Eugene (aka Hannah and Wyatt).




The famous mooning drawers!!