Journey to Excellence

Last weekend Kyndal's mother-in-law Pam, Collin's aunt Jeanette, and Collin's grandmother Karen hosted a baby shower for Kyndal and Bennett. It was a fun and special shower and Bennett received some great items! 32 1/2 weeks in this photo Kyndal with Collin's Aunt Jeanette and Mother-in-Law Pam The shower was a fishing theme and the ladies did some really cute decorating with denim, bobbers, and fish. On the tables were raw wooden blocks and sharpie markers and the guests were encouraged to color the blocks for Bennett. They turned out so cute! What a special toy for him. There were blocks colored by Bennett's cousins, aunts, friends, grandmothers, great aunts, great grandmothers, great-great aunts and great-great grandmothers. The food was delicious and the cupcakes were specially made by Collin's cousin Brea. Kyndal felt very loved on by her family and friends and took home a truckload of great things to try to fit

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your summer so far? Why? (1=eh and 10=best summer ever) I'd give our summer a solid 8, and that's pretty good since summer is my least favorite season. We have had some really great family time and have had a good mix of productivity and relaxation. July 26th is National Aunts and Uncles Day. Did you have many aunts and uncles growing up? Were you especially close to any one or maybe all of them? Are you an aunt? Share a favorite memory relating to one of your own aunts or uncles or relating to a niece or nephew who call you Aunt. I grew up in the town with my maternal aunt and uncle, so we spent a lot of family dinner time with them at my grandma's. That particular aunt, Aunt Rhonda, did not have children of her own so she spent a lot of time with us. She moved away a few years ago, but I still get to see her every couple of weeks when she comes to town for lunch at my mom's. My favorite memories are Christmas Eve with

Since I already had last week's Hodgepodge completed but never got it posted, here it is. This week's Hodgepodge will be posted later today. Pokemon Go ... your thoughts? Are you playing? Do you even know what it is? My 19 year old son Dawson has been an extreme Pokemon fan since he was a kid. In fact, he was Ash Ketchum for Halloween when he was 7, and I had to make him a handmade costume because there weren't any for sale. Catching Pokemon with Pokemon Go is like his childhood dream come true. However, he has not shut down the rest of his life to play it. No one else in the family is playing it. Brynne would like to, but she the only phone she could use would be mine and I do not have unlimited data. I've had to break her heart and tell her "no". I saw a video this week of hundreds of grown men and women swarming through a national monument site trying to catch a rare Pokemon and was astonished at how stupid they looked. I guess it's fairly harml

I haven't posted since last week's Daybook entry. I did a whole Wednesday Hodgepodge post last Wednesday and just needed to add a graphic. Then life really happened with Kyndal spending a couple of nights in the hospital with contractions and Dawson taking a trip to the ER with a broken clavicle due to a long boarding accident. Then I just never got around to posting it. And we had family here this weekend and Kyndal's baby shower and a big family dinner Saturday night so there has not been time for posts. Now we've come full circle to another Daybook entry with no posts in between. Looking out my window ... it's alternated between being sunny and overcast all day, but has been considerably cooler than last week. I am thinking ... about the upcoming presidential election. Focus should be on the issues for how to make our country great, how to pull us out of this pit we are in, and how to protect us, but instead it is just clouded with corruption, media

It's been forever since I have done a Daybook entry. Tuesday Coffee Chat has taken the rest of the summer off, so I am jumping back into a favorite from days gone by. Looking out my window ... it's already muggy hot and sunny. I am thinking ... about my Kyndal and grandbaby Bennett and hoping that he will stay put another few weeks. Kyndal started having contractions and cervical dilation yesterday and spent the night in the hospital to try to get her contractions to stop. She is only 32 weeks and Benny needs a few more weeks! I am thankful ... for my husband and all of the ways he spoils me. One of my favorite things ... is that amazing first cup of coffee in the morning. So, when I wake up and I hadn't set my timer the night before and that cup is not waiting to be poured the second I get out of bed, I almost start crying. I am creating ... curriculum plans for our upcoming school year. I am watching ... the Kansas City Royals try to pull themselve

Eli and Brynne did school in completely opposite ways this past week. Brynne had volleyball camp at the University of Central Missouri from 9-3 Monday through Wednesday. She loves this camp and works hard to improve her skills every year. She did a great job! I always enjoy watching her doing what she loves. While she was gone each day, Eli was home doing his own kind of schoolwork. He continued to work through Taken Charge by Galvanize Labs. This is a program I received for FREE from Homeschool Co-op . You can also utilize this great program for free through August 31, 2016! Then he moved onto learning about astronomy with Extreme Phenomena by Home School Astronomy. (I will have a review of this product coming soon.) He read out of his book Gregor the Overlander: The Curse of the Warmbloods by Suzanne Collins. Finally, he watched a recorded episode of Brain Games . (We love this show!) There are four seasons on Netflix. There is a part of me t

I'm getting my Hodgepodge answers up late this evening because we have had a crazy week! I'm in bed super early with my book, my crossword, and my computer, just chilling. Do you find yourself influencing your world, or is it more the other way around? I am a hermit, and I really do not let in a whole lot of the world. When I am out, I pretty much try to keep to myself. (I used to not be that way, but I totally am now.) My greatest sphere of influence would be my children, so I would say that I am influencing the world through them. July 14th is National Tape Measure Day ... the device was patented on this date in 1868. When did you last use a tape measure? Do you always know where to find one in your house? Tell us one way in which you feel blessed 'beyond measure'. A couple of weeks ago I used a sewing tape to measure the inseam of Chad, the friend of Dawson's who is now living with us. He was getting ready to start a new job and we needed to order

We had another perfect summer week of school. We celebrated the 4th of July on Monday with fun traditional activities at the park. Thankfully there was nothing else on our calendar for the rest of the week so starting Tuesday we were able to get our school work done each morning and relax in the afternoons and evenings. In our Summer Bridge 6-7 we covered the following concepts: Order from least to greatest Ratios as fractions in simplest form Ratios converting measurements Algebra word problem Portmanteau words Map labeling Writing sentences: complex, sentence with indirect object, compound sentence with prepositional phrases, compound subject and/or verb, sentence with two direct objects Reading a graph Correcting sentences with double negatives Definitions in context Creative writing We even did a little math in our BFG reading because it was exactly what we have been working on. I made the kids do the calculations before I finished the sentences. We fin

How did you welcome the month of July, and tell us one fun thing you did to celebrate the 4th. On July 1st I jumped up super early to go for a run and then head out for my grocery shopping. After getting all the groceries put away I drove the hour to my parents' lake house (alone) and spent the rest of the day there and spent the night with my parents. The kids didn't want to go, and Eli was actually running a low-grade fever, so Rick stayed home with them. Every year our family goes to our local park for 4th of July festivities. The celebration has been going on for over 100 years. We do all kinds of traditional races .. egg races, sack races, egg tosses, softball throws, etc. This year Brynne won 3rd place in the egg race, Rick and Collin won first place in the egg toss, and Collin won first place in the softball throw. The 4th is also Collin's birthday, so Rick and I went with him and Kyndal out to a late lunch, for some browsing at Lowe's, and shaved ice. The