Journey to Excellence

This was our last week of summer break. It was another relaxing and great week. But, again, no pictures. The Past Week in our Regular Life We have spent this past week preparing for Kyndal to move across town. This doesn't just include her, but Chloe as well. Kyndal has lived away from us for a time when she lived with her dad. Chloe has not. Now, before we get all weepy, Kyndal will be here every morning dropping off Chloe and probably expecting a packed lunch to go to school. Then she'll be here every evening to pick up Chloe and probably scam some more food. Until they are able to afford a washing machine, she'll be here doing her laundry. And, if Collin's work schedule keeps him away from home any evenings, you can bet she'll be parked on my couch because she hates to be alone. I am not worried about the transition. I am just more excited for her future. And, getting your first house is pretty cool. Dawson also completed his junior year of high school. I...

It is time for another edition of Poppins Book Nook and this month's theme was Folktales . I have had our book picked out for several weeks, but we take our summer break in the month of May so we haven't read it yet. We start school again on Monday and we will be devoting our entire first day to it. We will be learning about folktales in general, reading our chosen book, and learning all about the Hawaiian Islands. We will even have a special dinner. Please come back on Tuesday of next week when I post all about it. Until then, please feel free to start looking around at the other entries this month, and be sure to link up your blog post if you read a folktale in the month of May and did activities about it. An InLinkz Link-up Clip Art by  Melon Headz

Esse Quam Videri ~ to be rather than to seem. I have been having dreams lately where I am living in our old life in Oklahoma. And I am so stressed while dreaming and so relieved when I wake up. Our life in Oklahoma was good in a lot of ways. It was just different. I was different. For 12 years living in Oklahoma, I spent a lot of time "seeming" to be someone I was not. At the time I didn't realize that I was unhappy. I thought I was happy. But really, I was exhausted. I was exhausted from trying to fit in where I did not and trying to seem to be someone I was not. In Oklahoma we had to dress the right way, attend the right things, teach our kids the right way, discipline the right way, keep our home the right way, entertain the right way, maintain our yard the right way. The right way was the way that someone else thought it should be. And I spent all my time trying to be that person. And then we moved to Missouri. Here, those things absolutely do not m...

We just completed our third week of summer break. That means we only have one week left (sniff, sniff)! So what does summer break look like to us? The Past Week in our Regular Life I wish my husband could have been here to see me this week. Even when I say I am on break or vacation or going to relax, I rarely do. I find so much to fill my time. There are things that I should be doing right now … I still have lots of purging and organizing to do. But, I actually spent a couple of days really relaxing this week, laying on the couch getting caught up on some t.v. and reading while the kids played in their p.j.'s most of the day. Now, I have to give some of the credit to the allergy-laden headache I had for those two days. But it was still relaxing, no matter the reason! It felt good. The Schooling Basics Tick .. tick … tick …. tick ….. That is the sound of the clock ticking down the days we have until we are back to some schooling basics. We are trying to ignore that sound...

I do not own a smartphone, or more specifically an iPhone, but my husband and children do. Over the years I have heard too many hysterical shrieks when a phone has been dropped not to understand that a good phone case is a necessity! Our family was given the opportunity to review either a Kraken A.M.S. case or a Cyclops case from Trident Case . We chose the Kraken A.M.S. Case for Apple iPhone 5/5s in the color black. Features Hardened Bio-Enhanced Polycarbonate Shell Shock-absorbing TPE 3 layers of protection Built-in screen protector Protected device controls and ports Detachable media stand Belt clip/holster Lanyard loop Meets or exceeds MIL-STD-810F military standards Drop protection Vibration Dust filters Rain/wind protection Degradable/compostable/recyclable How We Used the Product I determined which one of my family members would give the case the biggest run for its money, and that was Dawson, my 17 year old son. When the case arrived he was so ex...

This year I decided to read the Bible in its entirety. I am using BibleStudyTools.com and reading The Message . The website set up my schedule for me once I indicated my start date and I have the schedule bookmarked. Each night before I go to bed I read my assigned passages. I read anywhere from two to five chapters of the Bible each night, and I am currently on Isaiah 28. Here is the really cool thing about this … God is speaking to me in my daily situations through my daily reading. This is not an accident. God is using His word to speak to me every single day about the exact thing I am going through every single day and encouraging me. He is lifting me up and guiding me and reminding me that He is always in control! I spent the last few weeks reading the books of Judges and Kings. Reading about all of the constant evil and betrayal met me right where I was in my life. And then something happened this week in regard to my situation to open things up a bit. Although I was ela...

If you are so inclined to lift me up in prayer today, I would appreciate you believing the following for me …

May just continues to restore my faith in good things coming to those who wait. As great as the past couple of years have been living here in Missouri, we have had our share of hardships. In fact, some things have caused downright misery. But this month has just brought more good news after more good news. We are a happy family. And we deserve some good things. We are soaking in the goodness and thanking God for His plan and provision. The Past Week in our Regular Life Rick starts his new job tomorrow. We are very excited about what this means for his future and our family. Eli woke up on Wednesday morning with a tummy ache and had to do a day on the couch with a puke bucket close by.  But after a day of TLC by his mama, a night of hogging my covers in my bed, and sleeping in until 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, he was feeling much better. I have spent almost every day cleaning out closets and switching out our winter and summer clothes. The Schooling Basics School is for...

Photo Credit You thought I was going to say coffee, didn't you? There was a time that I definitely would have. But I have some pretty serious reflux issues that necessitated a trip to the doctor and a prescription of Prilosec. The acid levels in coffee and my beloved green tea were major culprits in my anguish. Before going to the doctor I did some research and learned that chamomile tea is good for reflux sufferers. So, I (reluctantly) gave it a try. I was worried because I do not like flavored coffees or teas and I don't like things too sweet. But, the chamomile was a pretty good balance. It only took a few cups for me to get used to it tasting different than green tea. I was still having major heartburn and burning in my throat at night, even with that change. Many foods were bothering me and I was just miserable and losing lots of sleep. So after suffering for about five years, I broke down and went to the doctor. Dietary changes just weren't going to cut it. ...

The little kids and I are thoroughly enjoying our break from school. We are loving sleeping in, having some extra jammie time, and doing exactly what we want. You might be wondering how we "do" summer break. We start our new school year the first Monday in June. We do school work from 10:00 - noon each morning, Monday through Thursday, in the months of June and July. I log these hours and anything extra we do, like classes at the library, extra reading, sports and swimming. I accumulate these hours and call them "summer hours". We use them for breaks throughout the school year and to determine our end date for the year. We take off the first few weeks of August and usually start around the third week or so. That is when we launch into our full 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daily schedule, Monday through Friday. I officially start logging our 1,000 required hours at this time. I also log any extra classes, sports, field trips, etc., even if they are on the weekends. ...

On Kyndal's 5th birthday my mom and I surprised her by taking her to a Backstreet Boys concert. She and I had watched (and taped on a VHS tape) a Disney Backstreet Boys concert. She knew every word to every song and every move to every piece of choreography. The three of us had the most amazing time at that concert! Then in 2011 Kyndal and I went with my sister and niece to the NKOTBSB concert (New Kids on the Block/Backstreet Boys). That will go down as the single most fun thing I have ever done in my life. It was so, so fun!!! Kyndal and I love to put on some Backstreet Boys while we are cooking. We know every song and love all of the new music they produce. On June 7th we are at it again … Backstreet Boys will be in concert at the outdoor Starlight Theatre in Kansas City and we will be there! I cannot wait to spend that night with my daughter.

The Taulmans are having one heck of a good month so far! Rick co-signed with Collin on his home loan and it was approved! Collin gets to purchase the house he wants for his and Kyndal's future. I am so proud of him for taking this big step toward my daughter's happiness and well-being. And I love Rick so much for stepping out in faith for the future husband of his step-daughter. It takes an amazing man to do something like that, and I love him all the more today because of it. We are so blessed to have him leading our family. And speaking of leading our family …. he has officially accepted his new job and will be making the transition there in a couple of weeks. We are hopeful that he will immediately get to start spending more time with us here and less time working there. Now to figure out where in the heck we are going to put his office in our house! It's a good problem to have. We also found out yesterday that Eli and Brynne's bowling team did win 1st place i...

I will be joining Marcy at Ben and Me for another round of Blogging Through the Alphabet . I thought I would put a spin on it and post each week about a favorite thing of mine. This week I am posting about Almonds … sliced almonds, to be exact. I love sliced almonds. They add that little extra bit of crunch and are very healthy. I sprinkle them in oatmeal, greek yogurt, bran cereal with raisins, and in chicken salads. I always keep a bag of sliced almonds in the refrigerator to sprinkle on anything that sounds good. Some of the health benefits of almonds are: they reduce heart attack risks, they lower bad cholesterol, they provide healthy fats and aid in weight loss, they lower the rise in blood sugar and insulin after meals (which is why they are great to eat with carbs), they are an alkaline protein so help fight osteoporosis.

What a fantastic week we have had! Eli and Brynne completed their 4th year of homeschooling on Tuesday. We have completed our required 1000 hours for the 2013-2014 school year and are now on summer break. We will start our new school year on June 2nd. Additionally, there are a lot of exciting things going on in our family and there is a lot of happiness going on! The Past Week in our Regular Life I mentioned in a recent post that Kyndal will be graduating from cosmetology school in September and that she and Collin are excited to start their lives together. This week Collin put in an offer on a small house in our hometown and it was accepted! There are a lot of "ifs" going on with how it will all work out, but we are just trusting God to work out the details if it is in His will that he purchase this house. And after two years of Rick and the rest of our family living in two separate states, there looks to finally be an end to that arrangement! Rick was offered a jo...