7 Quick Takes

1.  Back when I first started blogging almost 5 years ago (my blogiversary is July 4th, in leiu of gifts I'll take Starbucks gift cards)...most of my post were about one thing so it was easy to title them.  Now, I seldom post about just one thing or event so my favorite post titles these days seem to be "7 Quick Takes," "Daybook Style," "Picture Catch Up," or "Random Thoughts."  I think this is the new lazy blogger route.  You can cover all sorts of things in just one post and just ramble on about whatever without being pinned down to a specific topic.
2.  Today is the last day of the VBS that Hannah and Joe have been going to all week at Julie's church.  Hannah is helping with it and loving it.  Joe has had a blast too.  He was telling me a lot about St. Patrick and the Trinity last night.  We love VBS in the summer around here, especially Joe.  We usually go to at least a couple of VBS's and this year is no different.  The only thing is, Hannah has now outgrown VBS and Grace is on her way.  Next week she and Joe will go to a VBS that my kids have gone to every year since Hannah was 4!  Last year was Hannah's last year and this year will be Grace's last year.  So sad.  We will have one more VBS this summer and this is our own church's!  This is our first year having a VBS and the girls and I will be helping and Joe will be attending.  I can't wait.  We are using the Go Fish Guys' "Kickin' It Old School" curriculum.  I think it's going to be pretty awesome.  If you're local, you should bring your kiddos--August 6 to 9.
3.  We have two more weeks before theatre summer camp starts and that's pretty exciting too.  I truly get a long break every day from 9 to 2.  :0)  I usually plan to be super productive and usually am only semi-productive but that's okay, I've gotta chillax someday.  This summer I'll be spending at least one or two of my days each week with a sweet, sweet newborn.  Love that!  The kid are doing "Into the Woods, Jr." one of my favorite shows.  Hannah was in it a few years ago and played Rapunzel.  I'm not sure what part she is hoping for, at one point she wanted the witch.  Joe is hoping for Jack and Grace wants Little Red.  We'll see...there's always so much nervous energy right up until the parts are cast.  Then there's either excitement or disappointment and then everyone moves on to make a fantastic show no matter what part they get.  We have to be gone for one full week out of the 4 so I have mixed feelings about wanting them to get the parts they want.  It will be less stressful if they get smaller parts but that's not what they want.  :0)
4.  I just finished Mary Higgins Clark's latest book.  **spoiler alert** Some friends and I were just talking last week about how she is getting old and someday in the not too distant future there won't be anymore MHC books.  I have to say, maybe that should be sooner rather than later.  I made it through the book, The Lost Years, but I have to say it was not very good.  In order to reveal certain plot points it would say something like... (in the character's voice) "and then I remembered how Rory left the gun out and how she left the door unlocked so that I could get in."  There was lots of the characters "remembering" as she flat out laid out the plot points and revealed the mystery.  It's kind of sad, I've been a big MHC fan since back in my college days and have read every single one of her books.  And, if she writes another one I'll read that one too but her writing is definitely not what it once was.  There was a bit of a twist with who the bad guy really was, but I had actually figured it out because she was trying to pin it so obviously on the other 3 that I knew it couldn't be them and had to be the 4th.
5.  Someone posted a pic on FB last night that showed a person on one side of a big crevice and on the other side it said "Life Goals" and at the bottom of the crevice it said, "internet."  The picture totally made me think about how much of my time is completely wasted on the internet.  I know I used to live a more productive life before FB and blogging and all the social media.  Don't get me wrong, I love all of it.  I just need some self discipline to spend less time on it all.  There are some days when an hour will pass and all I've done is surf the internet but not for anything valuable.  Just this morning I've spent at least an hour, checking e-mail, checking FB, writing this blog, reading other blogs, pinning funny pictures on Pinterest.  You know, super important stuff.  :0)
6.  I really wish The Avengers would hurry up and come to the dollar movie.  Joe is dying to see it and is into all things Avengers.  He never really spent his birthday money because he didn't know what he wanted but has now spent it on Thor's Hammer and Captain America's shield.  We were talking about him spending his money and I was warning him about spending too much and regretting it and he said, "I just saved and saved and waited so long to spend my money that now I'm just bursting."
7.  I'm chaperoning a lock in for the youth at church tonight.  I'm actually looking forward to it, I think it will be fun but I'm really hoping that I get to sleep at least a few hours.  Now that I'm 40, and pushing 41 I don't do well on no sleep.  It takes me DAYS to recover.  Seriously.

Picture Catch Up

 I realized earlier that I had never posted some of the pictures from our trip to GA.  Above we have a Bingo game going.  It was fun to use the spinner thingy and the kids had a ball.  Below is the puzzle that I got at the Goodwill for $1.51.  Yes, Julie, you can borrow it.  It was a fun one. 

 We went to the Laser Show at Stone Mountain one of our nights in GA.  We had a big picnic and enjoyed hanging with the family. 

 And, it wouldn't be the laser show if we didn't have light up necklace things.  Brayden, my cousin's little boy Colin, and Joe spent most of the Laser Show chasing each other around.  I remember going in high school and breaking the light up things and flinging the light up juice stuff everywhere.  I even had it in my mouth once. 

 Saturday morning we met my mom and sis at the Snellville Farmer's Market.  We bought all sorts of stuff but the best thing was the popsicles we got from the King of Pops.  They were soooo good!  The girls and I got Chocolate Sea Salt and Joe got Orange Coconut Banana.  I'm trying to become the Queen of Pops but more on that later.

 We weren't in town for Harry's graduation so he and I had lunch at Red Lobster to celebrate.  :0)

 Back home again...Hannah and I had a date at the local Japanese steakhouse.  Of course, she insisted that we take pictures of ourselves. 

 A friend of ours has an aerial silk in her front yard.  She is taking classes and is getting really good.  She taught Hannah and Grace a couple of tricks and now they want an aerial silk in our front yard.

 It wouldn't be summer without Scott Humston's magic show at the library!

 Below is Hannah, Madi, and Annika making a big heart with some app that Hannah found for my phone.  Cool, huh?

 I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend away.  It was a combo of alone time, family time, and Ollie time.  Ollie and the kids came on Friday evening and we swam in the pool and went out to dinner.  I had most of Saturday to myself and I read, did Sudoku, watched tv, and swam in the pool.  Then Ollie got there and we went out to dinner, watched two movies, did Sudoku and just enjoyed hanging out with each other without the stress of kids and housework and all of that.  We went to a Persian restaurant for dinner and it was wonderful.  The hot pita bread with feta was to die for.  He left Sunday late afternoon and I had the night to myself (spent most of the time researching school stuff and signing up for FLVS) and the next morning before I checked out at 10.  I took my Bible and a cup of coffee out to the pool area for a much needed quiet time before I left. 

 Anabel hung out with Grace on Monday and I took them downtown with me.

 Above is my first attempt at being the Queen of Pops.  I blended a big can of mandarin oranges, a can of light coconut milk, and frozen bananas together and then poured them into these popsicle molds.  I had forgotten about the "push up" molds I had.  You freeze the tubes and then there is an insert that turns them into Push Ups.  These were sooo good, only complaint was that they were more icey than creamy.  I have my second batch freezing now--chocolate peanut butter banana.  I blended yogurt, coconut milk, almond milk, frozen bananas, Ovaltine chocolate milk mix, almond butter, peanut butter, and a little syrup for sweetener, oh and a small carton of plain greek yogurt.  I'm hoping that will make them creamier.  We'll see.  Hannah and Joe are in VBS this week and Ollie went hiking yesterday so Grace and I went out to breakfast.  Of course she got pancakes.  :0)

 And in other exciting news...Landon now has a baby brother--Dawson!  He is so cute.  I've gotten to see him a few times now and I'm in love.  There's nothing sweeter than a newborn.  :0)

We babysat Landon for a little while last night and had a great time playing with him and giving him lots of love and attention.  I love this pic I captured of him jumping to Hannah in the pool. 

Action Cam App....in which I blow people up...even my grandma.

And for our Upcoming School Year....

Disclaimer--another boring post here.
I have some big plans for our school year next year.  That's how every school year starts...usually by about October I have more realistic plans.  :0)
Here we go--
All three...Apologia's "Who Is God?," Visual Latin (I think...), and Art (still deciding about using various websites or a specific curriculum)

Hannah--8th grade
Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra
FLVS English 3
FLVS PE
FLVS Careers
Journal writing every day
Wordly Wise 8
History--reading historical novels
FLVS Science 3

Grace--6th grade
Teaching Textbooks 6
FLVS English 1
FLVS PE
FLVS Careers
Journal writing every day
Wordly Wise 6
History--reading historical novels
Science--Apologia's Young Explorer Series...still deciding but maybe Land Animals

Joe--4th grade
Teaching Textbooks 4
Science with Grace--Apologia's Land Animals
Wordly Wise 4
Critical Thinking--Language Mechanic
A Child's Geography

End of the School Year Wrap Up

Disclaimer--this post will be very boring, you may want to skip it.  This is one of those that I'm posting for my own record and not for the entertainment or pleasure of my readers.  :0)
We had a very interesting school year this year with lots of ups and downs.  There were times when I was stressing out thinking we were never going to complete this year or that my kids had not learned enough.  In the end though, we did finish our year (although really to be completely finished we need to finish reading Miracle on Maple Hill...) and the kids did learn enough and more.  They each tested very, very well on the CAT5 and I was so very, very thankful.  Here is what each child completed this year--

Hannah--
Teaching Textbooks Math 7 plus a Math Mammoth review of Fractions and Decimals
Sonlight Core 100--American History, she read about 25 books this year as well as the complete History of the US (10 books).  We didn't end up doing all of the mapwork or the writing assignments but she did all of the reading with the exception of 3 books.
Evan Moor's Daily Language Review 7
Wordly Wise 7
Apologia General Science
About half of Institute For Excellence in Writing

Grace--
Teaching Textbooks Math 5 plus Math Mammoth Multiplication and Division
Sonlight Core D + E--American History, she and Joe did this together and I read all of the books aloud.  I think we made it through about 30 books!  We loved just about every one of them and we all learned a lot!
Evan Moor's Daily Language Review 5
Wordly Wise 5
Apologia's Young Explorer Series--Botany
Half of IEW

Joe--
Teaching Textbooks Math 3 plus Math Mammoth Addition and Subtraction
Sonlight Core D + E--see above
Evan Moor's Daily Language Review 3
Wordly Wise 3
Evan Moor's Spelling 3
Read lots of Ranger Rick Magazines and played some educational video games for Science

In addition to all of this "book learning," we also saw all of this season's plays at Orlando Rep, went to a field trip at Chick-fil-a, read lots of other books, played games, acted in 6 plays, and lived a lifestyle of learning every day.  I am so thankful for the blessing of educating my children.  I know that they are learning much more than can ever be measured on any test.  I see it in the people they are becoming and the choices they are making in their lives.

It's Raining and other Stuff

It's pouring down rain outside and I'm in a quiet, cool house alone.  Girls are babysitting and Ollie and Joe went to Target.  I had big plans for this unexpected quiet time but I've pretty much frittered my time away on the computer.  I had to send some e-mails for church business and update my book list on my sidebar.  If I wait to long to update then I forget what books I've read.  And now, I'm blogging since it's been a week since I last posted.  I don't have much to say though but that doesn't usually stop me.  I've been in a weird mood this week...kind of a funk.  I get like this just about every year around this time.  I don't transition well from the breakneck pace of May into the lazy days of summer.  I get really lazy and unmotivated but instead of embracing it and enjoying the slower pace of life I continually feel guilty for all this sitting around.  I feel like I need to be productive and I have plenty to do but I also have plenty of time.  Ollie is off for a couple of weeks and then he has an abbreviated schedule for the rest of the summer.  He is a huge help in the summer--doing dishes, laundry, cooking, it's great.  So, why am I all in a funk?  I have no idea...I do have a solution though--some alone time away from home.  I am going away for the weekend mostly by myself.  Ollie will join me for a night but I will have two nights and some day time too all alone and I can't wait.  I'm a super social person but I also crave time to just be by myself.  That's because I'm a people pleaser to a fault and when I am with people I am constantly thinking about them and their needs or wants and I don't relax very well.  I just need to recharge myself.  I'm taking my computer, it will be a working vacation--I need to do a schedule for our children's ministry at church and I need to do some end of the year wrap up/plan for next school year.  I'm also taking a book or two and my Bible.  I may not leave the hotel room except to go in search of food and maybe visit the gym if the hotel has a good one.  I'm in full workout every day mode right now.  My spare tire isn't shrinking by much but I am hopeful and optimistic.  :0)  Hopefully, this short little vacay from real life and responsibilities will do the trick to make that transition and embrace and enjoy the summer with my family. 
In other news...Joe has a college going in our home right now complete with a full schedule including "Jim."  Translation:  gym.  :0)  All of our rooms are labeled with letters and there is a big sign on our living room wall.  It goes with the decor...our theme is early childhood education.  He has yet to teach any classes, not sure how that will work.  I'm pretty much addicted to Sudoku and although I'm not fast yet I can consistently work entire puzzles in the Easy section of my book and have even done one in the Medium section.  Hannah is looking for babysitting jobs...if you are a local blog reader and have young children, give her a call!  "Banana Babies" aka dark chocolate covered frozen bananas are about the best thing ever.  I have been buying them when they are BOGO at Publix but I want to figure out how to make them. 
Peace out peeps!

iPhone Photos...Random

 On our last night in GA, Grace and Joe and I met my sis at Barnes and Noble for dessert and some hang out time.  Of course we took a couple of funny pictures with a book Cheryl found--You're Already Amazing.  She looks really convinced in that first pic doesn't she?  She bought the book and all joking aside...I loved the premise of the book (I'm hoping to borrow it eventually)...God loves us wholly and completely and as we believe that and live that out we find peace.  Particularly as christian women we are always striving, striving, striving to be a good christian, to be a better wife, to be supermom, all while trying to be meek and rise up early and clothe our family in purple, and all that other stuff from Proverbs 31.  Honestly, it can be exhausting.  If we will "let go and let God" much of this will be accomplished in our life because when we are connected to the vine we will naturally produce fruit.  Without all of the striving.  Did y'all enjoy my sermon?  Now you can skip church on Sunday. 

 Doesn't everyone take pictures of bookshelves and books at the bookstore?  It's a lot faster than making a written list. 

 One feature I love about the iPhone is that I can take a picture of the screen.  I save a lot of stuff that way.  The picture above is one of the cool artsy photos that my bro-in-law has made.  Isn't it cool?  Below is something I'd like to do with our water pitcher in the fridge.  It's not uncommon for Ollie to add fruit to our water--usually orange slices and it really is good.  These combos below sounded really good and fresh. 

 I've finally started the Emeals meal plan.  I'm doing the Clean Eating one and it's been great.  Above was dinner on Tuesday--Chicken Nicoise salad. It called for red potatoes but we actually had some purple ones and they added beautiful color to the salad.  It was really good and so fresh and healthy.  At the bottom of this post is last night's dinner--Quinoa, Arugula, Corn, and Bacon Salad.  It was amazingly good!  Tonight is Herb Roasted Chicken with Tomato Spinach Couscous.  Yum!

 I love JamieGrace and I am her "friend" on Instagram.  She posted her travel playlist and I was curious about what music she listens to so I took a quick screen shot and I'll check it out later. 

Summer Survival

 I spent a few hours tonight making new chore lists for summer and new chore charts and of course...Reading Bingo.  Wouldn't be summer without it around here.  It's great motivation to read through the summer and although the girls would probably read anyway, I'm not sure Joe would.  This is how it works...they each get a "Bingo" card with 25 squares.  I have filled in a few to vary their reading somewhat but then they fill in the rest.  For each chapter book they read they get to fill in a square and pick a prize from the jar.  The first year I did it they got a prize for "bingo," hence the name but now that they read longer books I just give a prize per book read. 

 We don't have a lot of money so most of the prizes are either non-monetary or are very cheap.  Some of them benefit everyone like beach trip and bowling and then some are in there multiple times insuring that each child can get that prize at least once.  Here's a sampling of the prizes--Bake a treat, Milkshakes for dessert--your choice, DVD from Redbox, 2 DVDs from library, Trip to the $1 movie, choose popsicles at the store, invite a friend to go walk around the mall, move your movie choice to the top spot in the Netflix queue, Netflix movie night--your choice!, Family bingo + prizes (Annmarie--I'll need help with some cheap prize ideas, I remember you doing this), and that about covers it.  Most prizes seem to be food or movie related.  I'm not very creative when it comes to stuff like this and as I've learned over the years--the prizes have to be easily redeemable (like "Do a Science Experiment" wasn't as thrilling as I thought it might be for the recipient nor did I want to do it). 

 I've hung the chore charts and even made one for myself with one cleaning area or chore a day...we'll see if I can stick to it.  :0)  I think it was last summer that I gave the kids the summer off from chores--that was stupid!  I can't keep up with the housework alone and they definitely have more than enough time.  One other new thing we're doing this year to help counteract all of the popsicles and ice cream our kids tend to eat in the summer is having them earn their dessert.  I made cards that say, "I've exercised for 15 minutes today," and they have to have gotten a card in order to get dessert.  This shouldn't be too hard--jumping on the trampoline counts, riding bikes, swimming, a walk around the block, etc. 

We're officially ready to start summer break now!  :0)

Daybook Style....

Outside my window...my own yard...after 10 days in GA we are home!

Today...We left my parent's house at 6:15 this morning and drove and drove all day.  I have made this drive countless times and could "do it in my sleep," except that there is no sleeping.  I am on high alert all the way down I-75.  That road scares me, there are wrecks on that road, big wrecks and I don't want to be in one.  It takes me about 7 1/2 hours or so to make the drive and I am tense pretty much the whole way.  Both hands on the steering wheel at all times so that I have control if a tire blows out.  I am aware of every car near me and stay far away from big trucks.  The  kids and I usually stop twice.  Once for gas and candy entering and leaving GA (where gas is cheaper) and once for lunch with potty breaks at both stops.  They watch DVDs the whole way and I listen to books on CD the whole way.  It's a good system and everything usually goes smoothly.  Oh and I pray...and pray...and pray some more.  Thanking God for His protection every step of the way.  I'm also terrified of getting a flat tire or having car trouble so I pray about those things too.  Once I get home, I crash...today I took an hour and a half nap...fell asleep about 20 minutes after pulling in the driveway.

Books I'm reading...I read two great books in GA.  One was Catch Me by Lisa Gardner and it was excellent.  I have liked every book of hers I've read so far.  I also re-read (something I almost never do) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.  I found it at a Goodwill and I had just told one of my mom's friends about it so I bought it for her.  But first, I had to read it again.  I loved it just as much the second time and decided I'd buy it everytime I find it at a used bookstore (as long as it's cheap) and give it to someone who hasn't read it.  It's that good.  I listened to two more books on my drive--The Walk and Miles to Go by Richard Paul Evans.  They are the first two books in a three book series and they were so good.  They definitely kept me interested and helped those miles to fly by.  I have the third one waiting for me at the library and I can't wait to read it.  Before I left I read a young adult novel by him (RPE) called Michael Vey, Prisoner of Cell 25.  It was so good!  Thank you to Julie for these book recommendations.  I have a whole stack of books on my nightstand, not sure what I'm reading next thought.  Right now I'm in the middle of a humor diet book.  Which leads me to--

On my mind...food...what to eat and what not to eat.  I absolutely have to get serious about losing weight.  No more excuses.  So, trying to decided whether to "diet" and follow an actual plan like the Maker's Diet or South Beach or just to do better about applying what I already know.  I do better on a strict plan but only for a period of time and it usually really stresses me out.  On the other hand, I'm a big cheater...anyway, for today the big plan is to exercise every day at the gym and sometimes the pool and eat less, cut out morning coffee (full of sugar for me) and most sugar in general and cut back on carbs.  I'll give that a week or two and see what happens.  Oddly enough, after being in GA all week and eating whatever I wanted which included ice cream almost every day...I actually lost weight while I was there if the scale is to be trusted.  I don't know...I hate this but I'm overweight and unhealthy and scared of getting the sugar (diabetes).  I'm developing/have developed the inner tube around my waist that is one of the risk factors.  I made it to the gym this afternoon, even after driving all day so I'm hopefully off to a good start.  I'm even going to go to the gym when Aunt Flow is visiting.  Really.

From the homeschool room....Hannah still has to finish Ender's Game this week and G, J, and I have to finish Miracle on Maple Hill.  Then we are in summer vacay mode.  Math for G and J every day, chores, reading, and maybe an art project or two.  I have to get reading bingo made up and new chore lists for everyone.  Fun, fun!  I will also hopefully be selling my curriculum this week to make room for next year.  I love prepping for next year.  As Julie said, "Planning for next year is way more fun than finishing this year."

Other upcoming plans...our calendar is almost completely bare.  We have a break from theatre until July 9 and no VBS's for a few weeks so we actually have some free time.  This will probably make us all nuts.  Just sayin'.

Gotta go..dinner's ready and Ollie's almost home.  We haven't seen him in 10 days and we've missed him!