Journey to Excellence

For Kyndal's birthday she wanted our family to go to Skyzone in Kansas City and out to eat at Cici's Pizza. We were finally able to schedule a time to go this weekend. It was so much fun!!! Here are some pics just to show how much (and, yes, we are all VERY sore today, and exhausted!) ... I even got in on the action!  Collin's brother Austin is a daredevil! Brynne had a blast!!! She learned how to do a flip! Kyndal's inner-tumbler came out in full force! Collin was a beast on the dodgeball court. Eli was a little less than a beast, but had a blast! Dawson dominated the foam pit with his stunts.

It's the day after Thanksgiving and I just spent 10 hours shopping. I am exhausted and laying in bed with a cup of chamomile tea. I have had lots of time to relish in my blessings. And there are many. I'll start with this man right here and our marriage. We are like anyone else ... we have had our ups and our downs. But I cherish our marriage and the husband that Rick is to me. I am a very blessed woman to have a man who works so hard to take care of me, who cares about me and how I feel, who does all he can to help me have a joy-filled life. He is hard-working and selfless and I am thankful he is mine. Oh these kids. They occupy such a huge portion of my heart. I find myself navigating two completely different bodies of water in my parenting. There are the older kids and the younger kids. If you think that parenting becomes easier the older your kids get, then you haven't yet been the parent of an adult child. I have great kids, yet I lose sleep every night

Besides Thanksgiving it's also National Game and Puzzle Week ... what game have you played most recently, and who were you with? Have you worked a puzzle of any kind in the past week? A puzzle, no. But we have been playing several rounds of UNO lately. It can get pretty intense around here! What is the one place you were thankful for this year? Definitely my home. It is a place where our family has celebrated so much and grown so close this past year. Take a nap, watch football, go for an after dinner walk, or hit the stores ... which ONE is on your must-do list for Thanksgiving Day? As shameful as it may sound ... shopping. After our family celebrations are complete, I leave Rick home with the kids and I go to Walmart for Black Friday sales. I really do get some great bargains on the kids' wish lists from Santa. Besides Thanksgiving, what's your favorite home-cooked meal? I love homemade asian chicken stirfry with extra water chestnuts over white rice. Y

1. Rick has a continuing education class to take in New Orleans in January. Although New Orleans is not my favorite place to go, getting to go anywhere with my husband alone without the kids quickly makes it a favorite! With his airline points I am able to fly with him for free and relax in the already-paid-for hotel while he is at his class. In other words, it's a free vacation!! He and I haven't gone away together for more than one night for a couple of years. I am really, really looking forward to it! 2. I have mentioned it a couple of times this week but our new direct vent furnace was an incredibly smart purchase! It works perfectly for us, and we have been toasty warm all week. 3. Dawson and I are meeting with an Army Recruiter on Monday to discuss his future. He knows that he wants to go to community college next year to utilize the A+ Scholarship he has earned. He wants to be a high school history teacher. After two years at the community college he will need t

What's something you take for granted that when you stop to think about it, you feel truly grateful for? Oh this is easy .... definitely my husband. He does so much for me and the kids, and does it so regularly, that I definitely take him for granted. He is just someone I can always depend on and don't have to ask for help. He is a very giving person and makes it clear that he desires to make me happy and make my life as easy for me as possible. I get so caught up in the day-to-day of my life that many times I don't stop to realize how much more difficult my life would be without him. I am truly blessed to have Rick as a husband. The color brown ... love it or not? What's your favorite shade of brown? Most loved something in your home or closet in a shade of brown. I LOVE BROWN! The main colors of my house contain brown. My closet is full of brown. Chocolate brown is my fave. My two favorite items of clothing are my dark brown puffy jacket with a furry hood a

Happy birthday to Kyndal! She is 20 years old today. First of all, I think I am too young to have a 20 year old daughter. I mean, wasn't she just born a few weeks ago? Sure seems like it. This has been such a big year for Kyndal. She graduated from cosmetology school, bought a house, moved out on her own, got engaged, and got a job at her dream salon. Now she is in the middle of planning her wedding. Oh, and she became a doggy mama for the second time today. Her and Collin are the proud parents of Yadi, a 17 week old Miniature Australian Shepherd. I know she is going to be a great mama to him as she is to Chloe, her first baby. It's strange to sit back and watch your young daughter turn into a young woman. Kyndal has undergone an amazing transformation in the past couple of years, and especially this last year. I spent the better part of 19 years worrying daily about her but now I have confidence that she is going to be okay. After a few bumpy years we are the best o

Well something great happened this weekend ... I became a Great Aunt! My niece, Rylee, delivered sweet little Ellie Noelle on Saturday morning. She was 6 pounds 5 ounces and 19 1/2 inches long. She has a head full of black, silky hair and she is absolutely gorgeous! Mama, daddy and baby (and my sister, the new grandma) are doing fine and they are now home starting their new life with Ellie. Yeah, we're all pretty much in love ...

We had a pretty great week around here, if you ignore the frigid cold temps that blew in! Brrrr! It's been crazy cold! But we are all snuggled up in the house keeping warm. And home is where we will be staying for the next several days as Eli now has the virus that nailed Brynne a couple of weeks ago. His fever has not gotten as high as hers, but he is much better about drinking fluids so I am sure that is helping. On the last warm day before the frigid temps hit. Despite the newest round of sickness to hit us, we had a very productive week. (Don't know if I am going to be able to say that about the upcoming week.) Each day the kids continue to do their math assignments (they have completed Lesson 18 in Math U See), grammar assignments (they continued working on helping verbs), Bible (stick figuring the birth of Jesus), and personal reading (Eli is finishing up a book in the Middle School series by James Patterson and Brynne is reading a new book in the Dear Ameri

1. Well, now Eli has the virus that hit Brynne so hard a couple of weeks ago. He has the exact same symptoms she had ... a very slight sore throat, a very tiny bit of stuffy head, and a fever. So we are back to being snuggled up at home. 2. Out of all the t.v. shows I like to watch (and there are many), Project Runway is my favorite. However, I realize that I must suck at identifying New York caliber fashion. On this week's episode of All-Stars, the six designers I picked with the strongest designs were in the bottom six. Apparently there's a reason I am a stay-at-home homeschooling mom and not a fashion magazine editor. You will only get how funny this next statement is if you are a fan of the show. If you aren't then you can just skip ahead to number 3 .... "Do you know the people who hate Nina Garcia? People who suck." 3. My niece Rylee is having a baby right now as I type. I mean she is literally pushing out her baby girl as I am typing this. My mom j

I am just going to start out by saying that I feel really exposed in answering these questions this week. My answers confirm just what a hermit I really am. We celebrate Veteran's Day in the US of A on November 11th. When did you last interact with a member of the armed forces (either currently serving or retired)? Have you ever written a letter to a soldier, bought a meal or coffee for a soldier, said an unprompted thank you to a soldier you encountered out and about somewhere? If you are not in the US, comment on a similar holiday in your own country. My last interaction would have been with the Blue Angels when we were getting autographs last Spring at the Naval Aviation Station in Pensacola. To my knowledge I have never discussed military service with anyone who has served. I interact with veterans all the time, my dad being one, but I don't know that we have ever discussed his time in the military. My mom and I have had more discussions about our years in the mil

It actually felt great to get back to school this week after being off all last week due to Brynne's sickness! We had a great week of learning! The highlight of our day each day (after watching Carl on CNN Student News) is reading our latest Little House book. This week we read Chapters 13-23 of On the Banks of Plum Creek . So far this is my favorite book in the series. In grammar we learned about helping verbs. And I mean we learned them. You just gotta memorize those suckers. There's no other way around it. To help us out we learned The Helping Verb Song (to the tune of Jingle Bells). By the end of the week Brynne had the song memorized and now knows all 23 helping verbs! Eli almost has it memorized, too. To finish up our study of the parts of a tree, we completed a  Parts of a Tree Unscramble from Education.com and watched the video The Secret Life of Trees by the University of Illinois. These were both very good. As Laura and Mary started attending scho