Journey to Excellence

In just 10 days, my oldest child will graduate from high school. I'm not really sure how to feel about that. I guess having her move out a year-and-a-half ago to go live with her dad has given me enough time to get used to her being gone, and virtually on her own. Now I am just really excited for her and her future. She's a grownup now, whether she is ready to be or not. I can honestly say that her growth and maturity over the last several months has made me very proud of her and I know that she will be okay. Last night was her baccalaureate at school. She is enduring her last week of school this week. Next week she will be on her senior trip with her class. And then she graduates on Friday. Kyndal, I love you. Enjoy your last couple of weeks of being a "kid"! Brynne, Collin (Kyndal's boyfriend), Kyndal, my niece Rylee, Eli Kyndal and Grandma Leta, my mom  My baby ... all grown up.

At our house, at any given time, you will likely see someone drinking a cup of green tea, especially in the winter months. As soon as someone gets the first signs of getting sick, a warm mug of green tea is placed in his or her hands. Dawson starts each day with a cup of hot green tea before he goes to school. When Eli was in school we didn't allow him to drink from the water fountains because of his lower immune system. Instead, he took a large water jug filled with green tea and drank from it all day at school. Brynne even has a special tea pot and tea cup and saucer and her own loose leaf strawberry green tea that she drinks often. When we start to feel sluggish or cranky in our school day at home, I make a round of hot green tea for everybody. And starting in the late afternoon until I go to bed at night, you probably will not see me without my yellow ceramic travel cup filled to the brim with stevia-sweetened green tea. In the summer, after I am done drinki

Rick and I remained a state apart this weekend, so no dates for us. But, if you had a Dating Through the Alphabet date this week, you can link up! I am in the process of planning our "C" date for next weekend.

In our regular life this week… It has been a challenging week in many ways. On Tuesday my garbage disposal clogged up and then backed up into the kitchen sink. My dad, the plumber, is in Florida at their house doing some work. He told me I wouldn't be able to use my kitchen sink or my dishwasher until he gets back tomorrow .. on Sunday .. as in a total of five days! So, I have been doing dishes in the bathroom ... small stuff in the sink and pots in the bathtub. It's been interesting. Then Dawson's poor Cadi has given him trouble all week, this time with the transmission. The fluid is just draining out and he hasn't been able to drive it, so he and I have been sharing a car. That's no big deal because I don't really go anywhere until the evening and I can pretty much walk anywhere I need to go.  We started looking for a car for him on Craigslist, although that makes me very nervous. He has had his heart set on an SUV of some sort. As chance would

I recently read a post by my friend Diane about a program her and her daughter, Grace, are doing called   Herb Fairies . I was VERY intrigued! Herb Fairies is a book club and "herbal mentoring" program for kids. It comes with a monthly chapter book about fairies who use herbs in their lives for healing and other purposes. The stories are beautifully illustrated and fun, and then there are activities, games, puzzles, coloring pages, etc., that go along with each book. The books are delivered once per month, and cover one herb that is in season that particular month. Purchasing the Herb Fairies books and program was for a limited time, and I missed the deadline. (They only start the distribution of the first book of the series in the Spring ... remember, the books are based on seasonal herbs.) Bummer! But on the website you could sign up for e-mail notifications of when the books would begin distribution again. This morning I received an e-mail that Herb Fairies has

As you can see from my previous days' posts, we spent several days this past week in St. Louis, Missouri. It is one of our favorite cities to visit as a family. In fact, the kids want to go every year. We always seem to do the same things, even though there are tons of things to do that we have never gotten around to doing. It is a fun-filled city and the activities are cheap and, oftentimes, FREE! If you are a car drive away, St. Louis is a FRUGAL vacation destination. Here's what to do once you get there ... Hotel. First, I recommend staying in a hotel NOT in the downtown area. They are super-pricey there and staying out a bit doesn't add much to your drive time. We have stayed in an extended stay 20 minutes out of downtown and, this time, we stayed at a Drury Inn near Forest Park, which is the zoo area. That being said, stay in a Drury Inn if you can . The one at the Convention Center downtown is actually not too expensive, in comparison to other hotels, so if

Oh, those dreaded math facts! Addition and subtraction facts have been mastered, for the most part. But this was the year of multiplication! And, I was dreading it! I remember standing in front of the class in fourth grade reciting my facts in head-to-head competitions. Dreadful! The thought of drilling my kids was even more dreadful! They both love computer games, so when Math Rider came up for review I begged to be chosen! And, I was ... thank goodness! Math Rider is a computer game where your child rides a horse named Shadow on a Quest along a trail where he jumps over math facts. If the answer is typed correctly before it's time to jump over the math fact, then a point is earned. At the end of the Quest, the child is moved along the map to their destination. At the beginning of each Quest, an animated story is played out on the screen telling the child what goal he or she is working toward. Testimonials .  I thought I would do my review differently this time

In our regular life this week… Rain, rain, rain. I got my raised beds filled with their soil, compost, peat moss, and vermiculate mixture just in time! We stayed indoors most of the week due to the rain, with only a trip to Scouts on Monday evening and a trip to the dog groomer on Tuesday for the little dogs to get their spa treatments. Regular life met school life this week as we took school on the road to St. Louis, Missouri. In our homeschool this week… As we were preparing for a trip to St. Louis, we concentrated our studies Monday and Tuesday on Reading, Writing, and Math, and a mini-unit study on Lewis and Clark. Reading - We read the last book in The Spiderwick Chronicles series, The Wrath of Mulgarath . That was the most reading aloud we have ever done at one time. We loved the series! Brynne finished reading Rascal and moved onto Snowball in the Puppy Place series by Ellen Miles. We ordered the next box set of books 6-10. Eli finished Book 4 in the Ca

I had to get super creative this week because we have been on vacation with our two little ones. There wasn't going to be any alone time on this trip, so we stole time whenever we could. And that was at Breakfast. Yeah, right, like I was going to let you see what I look like in the morning when I have just crawled out of bed. While the kids slept in, Rick and I went downstairs for Breakfast together each morning before he went to his conference. You gotta takes those moments when you can get them! What about you? Did you and your husband go on a date this week? Even if you aren't playing along officially, you can link up any date and give it an appropriate letter. That way others can steal your idea! Next week, for us, it's a "C" date. Gotta start thinking about that one!