A Simple Woman's Daybook...Spring Break Edition

*Disclaimer--all of these pictures are not from Spring Break and some are quite random but I wanted to share them and I liked my title, so......whatever.

My little brother and his boys at the ballfield.  Love these boys!

For today...March 31, 2013
Outside my window...it's a beautiful day, sun is shining and it's warm but not hot.  Of course, we get this weather now that Spring Break is over.  It was cold all week, definitely not spring break weather!  I'm not complaining though, the heat will be here soon enough.  Fo sho.

Abby and Gracie, I love these girls and their sweet friendship.

 Around the house and yard....Ollie and I have both been busy this week with lots of projects.  He's done a ton of work in the yard and has it looking great!  He mulched and weeded and pruned and mowed and all that jazz.  He also did lots of inside projects, and we cleaned out cabinets and drawers and cleaned behind furniture.  It feels good to get so much done.  Glad we had the motivation of two sets of company coming....

The one in the middle with the big smile and glasses--that's my other nephew.  He's in Basic Training right now and doing great!  So thankful for FB and getting to see pics of him regularly.  So proud of the choices he's making!

What I'm reading...if you follow me on FB you know that I read a book this week that was very emotional.  I spent most of Thursday reading the book, Home Again by Kristin Hannah.  I cried and cried through this book.  It was heart wrenching and touching and an all around great, emotional story.  I just started a new book by Diane Chamberlain...can't remember the name right now but I've read two others by her and really enjoyed them both.  This one is about a girl who committed arson (sort of accidentally....) and two teenagers and 1 adult were killed and her half brother and friend was badly burned.  She spent a year in jail and is now home and dealing with the ramifications of her actions.  So far, so good.

A funny game at youth...

In our theatre world....the kids are rehearsing their next show...Seussical and the songs are so catchy and are in my head ALL the time!  It's like a constant playlist that changes but never ends.  They all have big parts with solos and so they have been practicing a lot.  Grace is playing Gertrude, the bird that loves Horton.  Jo is JoJo who is the little boy with big "thinks" that ends up saving the Whos.  Hannah is the Cat in the Hat.  I can't wait for the show weekend!

Just for today...

From the school rooms....no school this week!  No school at all.  None, nothing.  It's been fabulous.  This coming week we will have my sister here for the week so school will be minimal.  Probably just math and virtual school.  That's okay though, being flexible is part of why we homeschool.  If we need to extend our school year, we can and will.

I spent a few hours two different days this week helping clean out a bunch of costumes at the theatre.  It was fun and interesting and of course we got a little silly and tried on costumes.  

In my prayers...lots of people who need healing, lots of people who need peace, lots of people who need wisdom, and praying for clarity about where I stand as a christian on some hot topics that are in the world right now, and always praying for wisdom in parenting my children!

Grace got to go to Medieval Times with some friends to celebrate a birthday, she had a blast!

On my mind...lots of things but right now I'm thinking a lot about school plans for next year.  I made some decisions this week and bought some stuff.  More on that in a future post.

Grace got all dressed up in this cute outfit and I took a picture and that's that.

My sister and nephew....he got to have a 36 hour pass this weekend and my family is all up in Columbus spending the weekend with him.  

Other stuff we did this week besides cleaning and projects...Grace went to Chocolate Kingdom in Kissimmee with my aunt and uncle to celebrate her upcoming birthday, Hannah spent 15 hours at a church up the street watching all 6 Star Wars movies back to back with the youth group, Ollie and the kids played tennis and frisbee golf, I went out for Thai food, the kids and I played a game of SkipBo, I cooked 4 pots of soup, we went shopping at Target, Plato's Closet, and the mall, Joe got sick with a 24 hour fever and then a snotty nose and sore throat (I've been told that he had Flu A), we colored Easter eggs, we relaxed together, chillaxed together, and enjoyed the slow pace of Spring Break.

I took these girls shopping yesterday and they had the most fun trying on different fancy dresses.  I can't imagine how that could possibly be fun, but they loved it.

My children this morning before church.  Hannah and Grace are sporting new dresses.

We supported a local business this year and bought the kids these Easter gift baskets.  Oddly enough, they were cheaper than when I do my own.  

Grace dyed a boy egg and a girl egg.

A few plans for the rest of the week....my sister gets here bright and early tomorrow morning and will be here until Friday morning.  We'll definitely be hitting the beach one day and doing Disney stuff another day and hanging out and having fun in between.  Then Friday afternoon Ollie's brother, his wife, and their baby get here and will be here through the weekend.  I think we'll be going to the beach again and who knows what else!  Fun week ahead of us!

31 Day Blog Challenge...Day 31!

Day 31...Self portrait and explain what you liked most about this challenge...

I don't have another self portrait so I'll skip the picture....
What I liked most about this challenge is having topics given to me to blog about.  I often am not sure what to write about which is why I have a lot of "Quick Takes," "Daybooks," and "Picture Posts."  I'm not good at topical posts so this has been fun.  I've also enjoyed being motivated to blog more.  I'm kind of sad it's over!

31 Day Blog Challenge...Day 30

Day 30...What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?

My all time favorite is one they don't make anymore--Publix brand "Oh Fudge Oh Nuts."  It was incredible...chocolate ice cream, a caramel ribbon, nuts, and brownie pieces.  I don't like chocolate chips or chunks in my ice cream but LOVE brownie pieces!  My favorite homemade sundae is vanilla ice cream, salted peanuts, and chocolate syrup.  Bananas and whip cream too if I have them.  Yum!

31 Day Blog Challenge...Day 29

Day 29...What's your favorite time of the year and why?

My favorite time of the year is around mid-October.  I live in Florida and it's hot until about October or November but in mid-October it's starting to cool down and there is the promise of cool weather to come and holidays--Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  Also, in October we are usually at a good pace with school, life is busy but not crazy busy like it gets in December and in the spring.  I feel on top of things, still excited about our school year, not burnt out yet.  With all of that said, I can find great things to enjoy about any time of year.  Right now it's spring and we are on spring break, expecting company next week and then a trip for the girls.  We are taking a little break from school and we have so much to look forward to coming up.  And, we are in the home stretch of another school year and that gives me a feeling of accomplishment and only a little panic.  :0)

31 Day Blog Challenge...Day 28

Day 28...What's your guilty pleasure?

Hmmm....another hard one.  How do you actually define guilty pleasure?  I guess something that I really like and occasionally indulge in but shouldn't?  If that's the case, no doubt about it--fast food and specifically french fries.  We, as a family, never eat fast food unless on a trip and even then it's rare.  I occasionally take the kids through the McD's drive thru for $1 burgers and even less often we get Chick-fil-a for lunch.  However, sometimes when I'm alone without kids...I hit up a drive thru for some greasy, salty fries.  I would definitely call that a guilty pleasure.  It's always a pleasure and I always feel guilty.

31 Day Blog Challenge...Day 27

Day 27...List 3 online friends you've never met in real life but hope to soon.

Well, I can only think of one person that I even sort of know only online and her name is Sarah.  She used to have a blog that I read but as far as I know she doesn't blog anymore.  We are FB friends though.  Other than that, there is no one.  I don't make online friends that I don't know in real life.  Now, that's not to say that there aren't people that I follow and would like to meet--Kate, Noah Estes' mom, Darby who used to write the blog Flying Through My Window, Christine who writes very openly about parenting trauma kids at Welcome to My Brain, and Dell who's blog I've followed for years.  But, these people don't know I exist because I've never contacted them personally.  I just lurk in their lives through their blogs.

31 Day Blog Challenge...Day 26

Day 26...What's your favorite food?

I don't see how I can pick one here...I love almost anything Asian, especially Thai food.  I also love french fries and chocolate and coffee.  I wish I was better at loving more healthy food...

31 Day Blog Challenge...Day 25

Day 25...Describe your location

I am sitting in my big green recliner chair with my leg propped up on a pillow.  I really overdid it today and I'm paying for it tonight.  I shopped for about 3 hours and then was on my feet on a hard floor for another 3 hours helping clean out one of the buildings at the theatre.  I wasn't wearing good shoes and that was a huge mistake on my part.  Actually, the shoes used to be one of my good pair of shoes but they are old...time for some new ones.  My big green chair is in my living room right next to a big picture window with a view of the front yard.  I've been watching the persimmon tree leaf out over the last week or two.   I live in Central Florida and although we are warmer than most of the country it's actually kind of cold here today.  It's nice and sunny though.

31 Day Blog Challenge...Day 24

Day 24--Describe your most embarrassing moment--

Hmmmm....I really don't know...wait, I've got one.  When Joe was about 3ish, we were at the library all the way in the back in the children's section.  He started having a big ol' fit about something and as I mentioned before, I could not EVER give in to his fits or things with him would get really bad.  So, I was talking to him, threatening him, anything I could think of to shut him up.  Then he starts screaming, "Don't spank me!  I love you!  Don't spank me!  I love you!" and on it went.  I finally just decided to suck it up and walk through the whole library with everyone looking at us and get out of there.  Who knows what those people thought.

31 Day Blog Challenge...Day 23

Day 23--Do you have a hobby?

Yes, a few of them.  I read...a lot.  That's probably my main hobby these days because it's all I really have time for.  I also enjoy doing jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles, and sudoku.  And, I guess you could say scrapbooking is a hobby but I don't do much of it anymore.

A Picture Post...

 The last couple of Blog Challenge posts have been a little boring so I'll break the boredom by doing an iPhone photo dump post.  Above, is a picture of my new sunglasses that I'm in love with.  I almost didn't buy them because they were a little expensive but I had a coupon so I decided to splurge...then I got to the cashier and they were on sale!  Plus I had a coupon so they were cheap, cheap, cheap!  And, they are pretty awesome.

 Last Thursday was Pi Day, 3/14.  We decided to take advantage of our Science Center passes we recently got and spend Pi Day at the science center.  They had advertised that they would be having Pi Day activities but the ONLY Pi Day activity we saw was free pie in the cafeteria.  We still had fun and Amanda, Landon, and Dawson joined us as well.

 We got home and the only Pi Day activity we did at home was make chicken pot pie for dinner and eat store bought pie for dessert.  It was a pretty good day.

 Nothing much to say about the picture above except that I like it.

 Saturday morning the theatre kids did a car wash at our local Sonic.  They washed cars and themselves.  There was a whole lot of shenanigans going on but they had fun and made money too.

 The other exciting news around here last week is that the next show was cast and my kiddos all got great parts--I think this is the first show ever where they all got leads and everyone was happy.  It made being the mom much easier.  Grace is Gertrude, one of the lead girls.  She loves Horton the Elephant but he doesn't really pay any attention to her until she finds his dust speck.  Joe is JoJo, the little boy who has big "thinks," and dreams up this story.  He is also a Who that lives on the dust speck that Horton is protecting.  Hannah is the Cat in the Hat and is sort of a narrator and pops in and out of the show the whole time.  They are all very excited and I can't wait to see the shows!

 Saturday night, after the car wash, there was a Donor Appreciation event at the theatre and the kids had to get all gussied up and be servers.  They had fun!

 Today we went to a theatre in Orlando to see "The Cat in the Hat," with some fellow homeschoolers and some theatre friends who were on Spring Break.  We got there a little early and since the Science Center is right next to the theatre we went there for an hour before meeting some friends for a picnic.  Hannah and Joe's friend, Jonah joined us for the day.  He played Hannah's love interest, Nathan Detroit, in the last show and is Grace's love interest in this show, Horton.

Today is the beginning of spring break here and I couldn't be happier!  I need a break...and we get a long one.  A week with Ollie off, then a week with my sister here, then Ollie's brother and his wife and my new niece, and then the girls go to Chicago for a week.  Woohoo!  Some school will have to be done over the next three weeks but not this coming week.  We are taking a full spring break for the first time ever!