Random, random, random....With Pictures!

 We've had a busy few weeks and so far nothing is slowing down...honestly though after four months of being stuck at home I'm not complaining!  A couple of weeks ago we had a shower for Ms. Amanda and Mr. Joel...it was the best baby shower I've ever been to.  None of those silly baby shower games, just lots of good food, kids swam and played, and the adults chatted, and presents, lots of presents.  Here is the ONLY pic I have of the shower and I had to steal this from someone. 

 This past Friday Hannah got her hair cut and got bangs!  I really thought I wouldn't like them, curly hair isn't really meant for bangs but I do really like them and so does she.  Of course, they take some work.  She has to straighten them and it takes some work but she loves it. 

 The Friday before last we went to the last show of the Orlando Rep season.  It was "Boxcar Children," and was very disappointing.  Not only did they change the story but even changed some of the personalities of the characters.  It was a good play if you didn't already know the story.  Joe and Jake both wore their fedoras.  They're some handsome little boys aren't they?

 The above picture is absolutely awful but this story is too funny not to tell.  So, last Monday after Landon went home, I was picking up his toys...  I can't squat down or even kneel without pain so I tried to sit on the full laundry basket like a little stool.  Well, I quickly sunk into the basket and then couldn't get out.  I have almost no strength in my knees to support myself to stand up from that position.  Then I got tickled and the kids were laughing and I had to pee and I couldn't get out or quit laughing.  I called Ollie because he is the only one who could help me and he came in and didn't help at all.  Just started videoing me.  Grace finally got me out and when I stood up the laundry basket stayed stuck to  my butt.  The good news is that I didn't wet my pants. 

 The girls painted bowls at the pottery place while they waited to perform at last weekend's Earth Day Festival.  They are for a feed the hungry fundraiser. 

 This past Saturday Ollie, Hannah, Joe, and I all went to a geocaching class at a local park.  It was really fun, we've done some geocaching before so this was just a refresher.  The fun part was that they had planted some cache's in the park and we got to go find them.  The last one had some treasures in it.  One of the fun things about geocaching is that it gets you out into nature and into some beautiful scenery. 

 This paper in the pic above is a weekly list that I've made...one for Hannah and one for Grace.  I love it because I can just add to it as needed but mostly it's ready to go each morning and covers a week at a time.  It includes school and chores and any other activities for the day. 

 I was having a really bad day the other day and Hannah made me a feel better snack... :0)  We had just stopped at a gas station so she bought me the candy bar. 

 This past Saturday night we had a big Indian feast and everything was soooo good!

Earlier last Saturday Hannah got some private practice time with Pastor Doug.  She has started helping lead worship for youth group and she and Doug are working on learning a Jamie Grace song--You Lead. 
That's it for the pictures...as I type this blog post, I'm sitting at theatre watching a run through of Willy Wonka.  I love this show especially since Joe has his first lead and the girls have parts they are excited about as well.  Can't wait for the real show!

A Time Lapse Video of our Pancake Dinner

This is pretty funny....

Click Here

It's What's For Dinner

 I am back to cooking for my family again and I'm really enjoying it.  Nothing like taking 5 months off to get you excited to get back in the kitchen.  Tonight we had pancakes and I decided to do it DeLeon Springs Style--make your own.  I had visions of setting up a cool table and taking artsy pictures but it all just happened too fast.  I did take pics though so I could blog about it.  :0)

They were soooo good.  We had fresh picked blueberries, bananas, chocolate chips, and peanut butter for toppings.  It was a little crazy but fun.  We'll definitely have to do it again.  Ollie videoed it doing a time lapse thing...the kids decided to get a little silly.  If he makes the video and I can post it here I will.  I think it will be pretty funny.  There might even be some butt slapping in it. 

Diets Make Me Fat

So, I have been on a diet for the last two months.  It's called Weight Watchers.  My mom and sister have been incredibly successful on this diet and have lost weight and kept it off for years.  I tried it before and failed but I decided to try it again anyway.  During my recovery time from my accident I managed to gain 6 pounds.  Not too bad considering I sat on my butt for almost 3 months but still.  I was overweight before I broke my leg and had no room for any extra pounds.  Not to mention that I have a knee to rehabilitate and I know it will get better faster if I weigh less and I'm not asking my body to carry 20 extra pounds.  So, within about 2 weeks on Weight Watchers I had lost those 6 pounds, woohoo!  Then I stalled.  Since then I have fluctuated but pretty much have stayed right at 161.8.  For 2 straight weeks I stayed at 161.8.  I wasn't perfect on Weight Watchers but I was trying and mostly doing it right.  Then, last week I decided to forget WW and started reading about the South Beach Diet.  In the meantime though, I ate sensibly (counted no points though) and tried to make good food choices.  In the last week I have dropped another 7 pounds. I'm hoping to keep those 7 pounds off but not sure if that was a fluke or legit...that's a lot to lose in one week but I'll take it.  I think when I am specifically on a diet I just eat more. On WW I do my best to eat every point I'm allowed for the day and I am thinking about food constantly.  In light of this, I think I'll finish the South Beach book and maybe try some of the principles but just put back into practice all that I know about eating a healthy diet. 

Blogging on a Monday Morning

My blog titles are seriously lacking in creativity...but, so am I so that explains it.  It's Monday morning and I should be busy, very busy getting our week off to a great start.  The problem is, after a busy weekend I am enjoying a quiet house and letting the kids sleep in.  And, in addition to that, I have a doctor's appointment today but I have no idea what time it is.  It could be at 8:30 (it's 8:08 now) or it might be at 3.  I have no idea and am waiting for the office to open to find out.  I wrote that I had an appt. on my calendar but for some reason didn't bother to write down what time.  Stupid.  I never used to do things like this.  I think I broke part of my brain when I broke my leg back in November.  I certainly haven't been the same since.  Anyway, since I wrote that last sentence the Orthopedist office finally answered their phone.  My appointment is at 1 so you can all calm down now.  One of the shows we saw at the Rep this year (Lyle, Lyle Crocodile) featured a very funny character that showed up at every "emergency" screaming at everyone to "CALM DOWN."  It was really funny and ever since seeing that show I want to scream "CALM DOWN" in a very agitated way whenever anything stressful or exciting is going on. 
The kids performed at our old church yesterday (take a few minutes and watch the videos if you haven't already!) and it was so weird to see what they've done with the place.  It's a haven for hippies and all things earthy and all that stuff now.  The sanctuary has been turned into a "theatre" and every classroom is a massage room or exercise room.  The fellowship hall is now a coffee shop and there is art everywhere and rocks in every sink.  What's up with rocks in sinks?  Just curious.  The kids were performing at an Earth day event and there was a lot going on.  They did some Zumba, painted ceramic bowls for a future charity event, and we even got to hear a Didgeridoo band.  The best part was watching my kiddos though.  I'm so proud of Joe I could just pop and absolutely CANNOT wait for the upcoming show of Willy Wonka.  He's so perfect for this part, being a little boy and all.  :0)  The whole thing is a huge stretch for him--lots to learn, he even has to practice, and learn to take constructive criticism and that's just in the rehearsal part.  Then he has to go up on stage and perform for two shows.  Enough about that though, I'm getting nervous and we all just need to CALM DOWN.
We are headed into a fairly normal week with just school and theatre and tutoring and normal stuff going on.  Woohoo for that.  Our normal, daily life is pretty busy without anything extra in a week.  This week Hannah will write her first report.  She has chosen the topic of the Titanic.  She'll get started today but won't be able to get very far yet because we are waiting for library books to come in.  We are using a book called the "Writers Express," that has a great step by step explanation of how to write a report.  I'm pretty much handing the book over to Hannah and letting her go for it.  I have a couple of big school posts I need to get out of my head--what we've done this year and my thoughts and reflections about it and what we're doing next year.  For now though, I'm going to end this post and start a new one that deserves it's own special post.  

Willy Wonka Preview....Joe Sings Golden Ticket

I See it All on TV...Hannah and Jake

This isn't actually Hannah's part in the show...she's just filling in as Mike Teevee's (Jake) mom.  :0)

Willy Wonka Preview...Joe Singing Think Positive

Stuff Kids Do In The Car

Just Popping In to Empty My Brain...Quick Take Style

1.  Ollie found some old pictures the other night and Hannah took pictures of the pictures and here's one of them.  I think I was pregnant with Joe at this point...we had our hands full then and life was busy and days sometimes seemed endless.  With that said...I think my life today is considerably busier, harder, and more exhausting.  I go from the time I get up in the morning until I fall into bed at night and still am forever behind.  Usually on housework.  Many days I don't get dressed or even put a bra on until after lunch.  Sometimes I don't even eat breakfast until after lunchtime because my day just gallops away from me.  Homeschooling three kids and juggling other commitments and keeping up with the daily chores that keeps a house functioning makes for a very full day.  I used to do a weekly menu plan and start dinner prep in the morning.  Now at about 5 I start to wonder what I should make for dinner.  We eat more convenience food than ever and more often than not, dinner is black beans and rice or pasta with canned sauce.  It's easy and fast.  I do take short breaks here and there and that's when I read...also, I read at red lights, while I eat breakfast and sometimes lunch (if no one is talking to me), and at bedtime.  There is NO time for any other hobbies though.  Gone are the days when I sewed or scrapbooked.  Honestly, I can't imagine having time to do that now but someday I will again.  I know that investing all of these hours every day will pay off someday and I don't regret for one minute my decision to live this lifestyle.
2.  We've been doing testing this week and last week and I'm thrilled to report that 2 out of my three kids area done!  It was pretty brutal on Joe but he and I survived and it was a good experience for him to have even if it was pretty stressful.  I have graded them each as they've gone and they're doing fairly well.  They are weak in exactly the areas I knew they were weak in.  One surprise though is just how weak they all are in math skills for their grade level.  They did okay, they didn't bomb it but I wish they had done better.  I'm not quite sure what to do about it.  Maybe just supplement their math curriculum with some critical thinking practice??  Not sure... I will probably wait and see once I get the official results back. 
3.  The one area that is not tested but I know my kids are behind in is writing.  I have tried a writing program this year with the girls--Institute for Excellence in Writing and that  has helped but they still have very little experience with writing.  I checked out a couple of books from the library that I'm thinking about purchasing for next year, one is Writer's Express and the other is Writer's Inc. and they look pretty good.  I've decided to have Hannah use their format and explanation to write a report.  She and I have been brainstorming topics and I plan to start that process probably tomorrow.  I'm embarrassed to say that she has never actually written a report so this could be interesting...I'll probably have to let Ollie actually grade it and give her feedback.  I'm the math person, he's the words person.  I am putting Grace and her (is that grammatically correct??)  in Florida Virtual School Language Arts next year in order to work on their writing skills but I'm also considering an online writing class.  
4.  Willy Wonka seems to be going well.  Joe is almost off book for the entire show and is getting better at the heelies.  They finished blocking the whole show yesterday so they start run throughs tomorrow.  Woohoo, so exciting.  I've made a decision to chillax about it all and have asked Amanda (the director) to let me know if I need to start stressing again.  I love that Joe got a lead in a show and he loves it too but it's a lot of pressure!!
5.  I have to start making it a priority to get to the gym again.  I'm so completely out of the habit but I'm trying to fit in two days a week.  I went last Tuesday and it's Tuesday again and I haven't gone since last week.  I am thinking about going tonight after dinner.
6.  Speaking of dinner, I'm making Quinoa and sauteed veggies for dinner tonight.  I've never made Quinoa so hopefully it will turn out okay.   I'm trying to be healthy.  :0)
7.  My leg is getting stronger and stronger and I am so thankful.  It still hurts a lot but I have way more stamina than I did even just two weeks ago.  Woohoo for healing!!  I go back to the doc for another checkup on Monday. 

Happy Birthday to Grace...and other stuff.

 We celebrated Grace's 11th birthday this past Friday.  I can't believe she is 11!  Here was my FB status on her birthday-- Happy birthday to Gracie today! She's turning 11...time flies when you're having fun and life is always fun with Gracie around. She started smiling when she was just 2 weeks old and hasn't stopped which has earned her the nickname Smiley.... She is sweet, thoughtful, selfless, and has a goofy sense of humor that I just love. I often joked during my recovery that she had become my favorite because she was the one who would always do whatever I asked without complaint. Happy, happy birthday to her!

 We had birthday dinner (mashed potatoes and lima beans were her request and I added chicken to that) and then she got to open presents.  She was very happy about her new Taylor Swift CD and her new pjs. 

 On Saturday we went to a Before the Bunny celebration.  The kids had a ball!

 Then we got up super early on Sunday morning to go the sunrise service that our church hosted.  It was a beautiful service...so well done and unique.  We sang a lot of songs with short messages between each song and then at the end people walked across the stage with posters with some sort of struggle that they've dealt with on one side and God's provision on the other.  It was very cool and moving. 

 I took this picture above one day last week while Joe and I were sharing a bowl of popcorn.  He was so cute with his sword in his belt loop.  He wouldn't let me take a picture of him so I snuck a pic.  Monday afternoon I had my little monkey over for the afternoon and we did egg hunts in the backyard.  He loved it. 

In the picture above this last one--Joe is posing for a photo shoot.  He might be in an ad for JM & A, so look for him.  :0)  He and another boy did the photo shoot but I'm not sure who they will use for the ad.  I'm not even sure if I'll know when they decide.  He had fun though and made $50.  Not bad for 45 minutes.  In other Joe news...he is doing great as Charlie in Willy Wonka.  The other day he made some acting notes for himself in his script and some were so funny.  Like the one above, "acting excited but not really."  Wonder how he's going to do that?  I really can't wait for this show! 
Life has been pretty busy around here...between school, housework, theatre, and so on it seems that every day just flies by in a blur.  Sometimes when I'm telling one of my working friends how tired I am or how crazy my day was I get the feeling that they can't imagine that I could be that busy.  I mean, I stay home all day...ha!  If they only knew.  There are plenty of days that I don't even get dressed or brush my teeth until after noon because I just don't get even a minute.  Between schooling three kids and monitoring chores, meals, my own chores, and so on the day just runs away from me.  I love my life but it's not as easy as it may seem. 
Speaking of which, my computer time is over...back to work!
Peace out peeps!

Outside my window...we are having beautiful weather this week.  Not too cold, not too hot.  It's not terribly humid, just perfy. It's weather like this that causes Yankees to move to Florida and thus become Damn Yankees.

A day in the life...well, today was supposed to be my super busy day of the week.  First, tutoring, then school with the kids, hosting a book club, taking Joe to a photo shoot, and then theatre.  It was going to be a mad rush to get it all done.  Then Joe woke up sick.  He had a slight fever last night and a sore throat yesterday.  I dosed him up with Silver Shield and put him to bed hoping he'd wake up all better.  Instead he woke up feeling miserable and nauseated and lethargic and still had a fever. So...I cancelled tutoring, cancelled book club, put on Willy Wonka for Joe.  The girls eventually woke up and joined Joe watching Willy Wonka.  I did some chores and tried to re-organize my day.  By the time Willy Wonka was over Joe was feeling better but by then book club had already been rearranged and everyone notified of the new location so I just found a ride for Hannah.  Then, we did some school and I did some more chores and now I'm chillaxing before the big photo shoot.  Well, it's not actually a big photo shoot, it's a little photo shoot.  Joe will be in an ad but I'm not even sure what the ad is for. The photographer's aunt works at the theatre and that's how he ended up recruiting Joe and another boy. 

In our homeschool...we are continuing along as best as we can despite CONSTANT interruptions (see above for example).  As of right now I don't think we'll be done with our school year until mid-June which stinks but I'm determined to finish all that we've started.  In addition to our regular school we are also doing standardized testing this week and next.  Nothing super official--I ordered the CAT 5 for each of them and am administering it myself and then will mail it in.  We are doing one or two sections a day and so far it's mostly going well.  I am taking all the tests too so I can grade the kids' work as they do it and see what exactly they are getting wrong.  When the CAT 5 people send the results back to me they don't tell me specifically what problems they missed and I like to know that.  So far I am pleased with how well each of the  kids are doing and nothing has surprised me yet.  I guess I have a pretty good grasp of what they know and don't know.  I'm most curious about Joe because he is so hard to teach yet is so smart.  He has taken four parts--Vocabulary, Spelling, Word Analysis (100% on all three of those) and Math Computation.  He didn't do as well on the math but I knew he wouldn't because he's only about halfway through 3rd grade math so he hasn't ever seen some of the concepts before.  I'm still trying to make the final decisions for next year.  I'm thinking of revisiting My Father's World and doing Rome to the Reformation with Grace and Joe and maybe Hannah too.  I'd like to meld it with Sonlight books because we've enjoyed almost every book we've read this year. 

What I'm reading....I read about half of the first House of Hope series by Neta Jackson and just could.not.finish.it.  It was so predictable, the character whiny, and too superficial for my tastes right now.  Sometimes I can stand to read fluff like that and sometimes I just can't.  Instead I read Girl in a Blue Dress by Gaynor Arnold.  It's a novel inspired by the life and marriage of Charles Dickens.  I really loved it and it made me want to read some more of Dickens' novels.  I read a few in college and before having kids but haven't in a long time.  Maybe that will be my summer reading project.  Now I am reading The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Phillip Sendker.  I am about halfway through and it's a little weird and unrealistic but I like it and it's keeping my interest.  Next up is The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey.  Looks good, we'll see. 

In other reading news...Grace is reading like crazy.  Her motivation??  I told her that she didn't read enough to read Hunger Games yet and that she could only read it after she had read 10 other books.  I'm having fun recommending books to her and she's having fun reading.  Hannah is also reading a lot.  I let her read the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series and she's loving it.  I loved that series too.  Joe is reading Sonic comic books.  :0)

Times up....I'll be back later or tomorrow with some pictures!

Sunday Evening Post

 Hannah and I enjoyed a little coffee date yesterday morning and spent the time planning out what we are going to do with the toddler class we've recently started teaching together.  We came up with a schedule and an order of how we thought things should go.  Get there this morning and had to throw the schedule out the window within the first 15 minutes.  :0)  We are having such a good time in this class though, it's such a blessing to serve with Hannah.  We get to do this every other week for a long while.  :0)

 Above and below are some posts on Instagram that were so sweet.  Above is a collage that Grace made for Hannah and then posted on Instagram.  She is so sweet, I love that kid.  And, below...Hannah's friend, Tatum posted this note she wrote to Hannah out of the blue.  Hannah and Tatum have been friends since they were babies.  Hannah and Grace both have some wonderful girls in their lives and they each have multiple "best" friends.  I am thankful for each one. 

 I conquered my fears and went into Bealls (the parking lot I was hit in) and bought some new tennis shoes.   These are sort of symbolic for me...surely I'll be noticeable now and won't get hit again.  :0)

 Joe has taken an interest in playing the piano and was able to pick out the beginning of the song from Hunger Games, "Safe and Sound."  Then he wrote it out.  I was impressed.

 I'm "friends" with lots of Hunger Games obsessed teenyboppers on Instagram.  They have been flooding Instagram with Hunger Games pictures so I took some time and flooded Instagram with math pictures.  This was one of my favorites. 

 We finally made cake pops.  They were absolutely delicious and mostly easy to make...except for the dipping at the end.  I think we needed thinner icing to coat them in.  I guess we'll have to try again. 

I have a whole new stack of books from the library.  I've started at the top and so far I'm enjoying the book although it's a little more "fluff" than I usually read.  It's the first in a series of 4.  I'm not sure I'll read them all but we'll see.  I had an issue with the library this week over a missing DVD.  I didn't lose it, I never actually got it but Ollie told me to stop arguing with them and pay the $20.  I am considering it a donation to the library and it is in no way an admission of guilt.  Hannah had to go in to pay the fine and I requested that she fart on the 20 dollar bill before handing it over.  I don't think she did it though.