Journey to Excellence

In our regular life this week… we were busy! On Monday night Eli had Scouts. We continued learning about First Aid for our Readyman badge. On Tuesday night we had a recruitment event for Scouts at the elementary school. We were able to recruit a new Webelos II to our group. Brynne also had her very first volleyball practice on Tuesday night. She was sooo excited to start volleyball and it did not disappoint! Wednesday night we were happy to have a quiet night. On Thursday night Brynne competed in the little Miss Junior Septemberfest pageant in our town. She didn't place, but she said, "I came close to winning this year!" Now that's a positive attitude! She just enjoys getting all dressed up, having her sister do her hair and makeup, and having fun with her friends. Last night she had volleyball practice again. Then we were off to the carnival. In our homeschool this week… We had another great week and a big surprise! We found out on Wednesday that th

My neighbors were having a garage sale last week. I looked out the window and thought I saw a side table that looked promising. Remember how I needed a table for my lamp in the sitting room?? I have been using a chair. When I got to the sale I saw, however, that it was actually a five-tiered corner shelf. And it was ugly. Still, it had potential. I not only needed a table for my sitting room (which happened to be in a corner) but Brynne needed a small table to put beside her bed. For quite some time she has been using a tiny triangle shaped stool, and it's just not big enough. The problem is that she has to have a table small enough to fit in between her bed and the ladder going up on the bunk bed. When I realized that the shelf could be taken apart, I paid the $3 and took it home. Here it is before I took it apart. And here it is after. I had to use wood glue to glue the tops on. And there are still rough spots on top where the spindles would have gone that wou

Since it is virtually impossible to come up with an "X" word, unless I want to tell you that I play the Xylophone (which I don't) or that I am having an X-ray (which I'm not, but probably should have with my recent leg injury), I decided to share with you XLII (aka 42) random things about me. That number may or may not be my current age. 1. I think of drinking coffee as an "experience". 2. I used to be an attorney and will never go back to practicing law. 3. I wish I had chickens. 4. I want to learn to sew. 5. I wish I took better pictures of food. 6. I love going on vacation with my husband. 7. I am a morning person, although I don't  really  want to get up early. 8. I like to be in my pjs, robe and slippers by about 6:00 at night. (if not earlier) 9. At 8:30 p.m. I. AM. DONE. BEING. A. MOM. 10. I love to read, but don't make enough time for it. 11. I love homeschooling. I mean love, love, love. See No. 24 as to why. 12. For someone wh

So, this is the last post in this year's {Not} Back-to-School Blog Hop hosted by iHomeschool Network .  It's always fun to document our curriculum, our schoolroom, our first day of school pics and our schedule. Here is how we do things around here. It is really 7:01 a.m. I have always set my clock ahead 15 minutes trying to psych myself into thinking it's not so early.. 7:00 a.m. ~ My alarm goes off and I crawl out of bed and limp to the coffee pot. I take the dogs potty, fix my coffee, feed the cat, give the dogs a crunchy bone, and climb back in bed with my computer. Then for the next 30 minutes I get updated on my blogs, e-mails, and news at the Schoolhouse Review Crew site. Dawson is getting up and ready for school during this time. 7:30 a.m. ~ I jump in the shower and have my second cup of coffee. Dawson leaves for school. 8:00 a.m. ~ I grab my coffee and head to the Sitting Room for my quiet time. It is during this time that I do my Bible study,

The little kids and I went to my parents' lake house yesterday and spent the night. My parents had plans with lake friends, so it was just the kids and I. We were exhausted from two weeks of getting back to school and weekends full of celebrating Brynne's birthday. We arrived at the lake and vegged. And I mean vegged . The kids hung out and played in the sun porch while I took a nap. Then they wanted to go swimming so I watched them swim while finishing my book ( Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand ... such a great book which I highly recommend). We came inside and I fixed them their requested dinner of Pigs in a Blanket. They ate and watched some t.v. in the sun porch while I watched the movie "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" in the living room. Then we all watched "Swindle" on The Disney Channel until we were just too tired to finish it. This morning consisted of more swimming for the kids and more reading for me. I started a new book,  The B

Welcome to Study America Saturday where I share with you all we have learned about America this week, as well as any cool deals I find out there related to American History. First, I need to give a shout out to Mary at Winecup Christian Academy and thank her for recommending "The States" dvd series from The History Channel . We received it today and watched the segments on Connecticut and Delaware as a review of what we had learned this week. I love this dvd series and I highly recommend it! Thanks, Mary! Now onto what we studied: We are using Road Trip USA as our spine this year for learning U.S. Geography. This week's states were Connecticut and Delaware. For Connecticut, we: Found it's capitol, Hartford, on our world map Completed and colored the state symbols notebooking page Made a  Praying Mantis craft  (scroll 3/4 of the way down the site to find it) Watched video on the Old State House Baked a Connecticut apple pie from scratch (yum!) Rea

In our regular life this week… we had what was called a normal week. It was so nice! Monday night we had Scouts. On Tuesday we had lunch at my mom's with her and my aunt and that night I had my ladies church group over for our monthly meeting and fellowship. Kyndal was home all week and took Brynne for some shopping that night. The rest of the week we had dinner each night and got caught up on our t.v. shows. Dawson's buddies came over after school one day and Taylar was over a couple of different evenings. We talked on the phone and FaceTimed with Rick. We were tired every night from a full day of school each day. My leg was better early in the week and then got worse toward the end. I am trying not to take as much Ibuprofen, but it causes my knee, shin and ankle to ache and throb. So to replace Ibuprofen I spend more time with an ice pack tied around my knee. I'm really starting to get annoyed. It's just a bummer. I so wish I could exercise. In our homescho