Journey to Excellence

I'm Tuesday-ing and Coffee Chatting a little earlier than normal these days. At the end of last year I decided to get serious about doing those four things each morning that always make my day go better: getting up early for coffee and quiet time, studying my Bible, exercising, and getting ready (from mascara to shoes), hopefully all before the kids get up to start their day. My start time was 7:00 a.m., but I found that I was feeling rushed. So last week I started setting my alarm for 6:30 a.m. Funny thing is, I actually wake up before then anyway. Now I am just being intentional about actually getting out of bed, or at least getting my cup of coffee and climbing back in bed for my quiet time. So let's Chat on this Tuesday: Who do you trust most? I don't like this topic. The short answer is: No one. There are lots of long answers, a long answer for every human I know, but I choose not to share. So I'll leave it at this ... I think we are too infallible as

Have you ever been fishing? Did you catch a fish? If so did you keep it or throw it back? If you haven't been fishing is that something you'd like to try? Fish out of water, big fish in a small pond, living in a fishbowl, packed in like sardines, this is a fine kettle of fish, plenty of fish in the sea, fish or cut bait ... which fishy phrase most recently applies to some area of your life? When I was a little girl I loved to go fishing with my dad. My dad would do work for the Amish in exchange for us being able to fish their ponds. Some of my best memories with my dad are when he would take me fishing. I don't remember if we would keep the fish or thrown them back. There is a lot of fishing being done at my parents' lake house, and we definitely keep those fish for meals. Brynne always has Collin catch her fresh fish to fry for her birthday dinner. On our 17 acres we have a pond that is crammed with fish. I am looking forward to all of the fishing that will be

Our week was a bit derailed this week with the stomach flu. Kyndal and Bennett had it over the weekend, Brynne had it on Sunday, Eli on Monday, and then it circled back around to Brynne again on Wednesday. On Wednesday the young man who lives with us ended up with it, and then Dawson called me from Oklahoma and said he had taken it there with him. With a sore throat or stuffy nose or a cough, you can typically muddle through a school day even if it's just doing some extra reading or watching educational videos. But the stomach flu? Nope. That constitutes a real day off. On the days the kids weren't sick, however, we were able to buckle down and get some real work done. We started reading our new read alouds: The Titan's Curse from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and No Talking by Andrew Clements. Brynne continues to read from the Warriors series by Erin Hunter and is on her 24th book in the series. Eli is still reading Watership Down . It's a slow

What do/did you call your grandparents? If it's something unusual tell us the story behind the name. If you're a grandparent what do your grands call you? Who chose your moniker? My maternal grandmother was "Old Grandma" and my paternal grandmother was "Other Grandma". That's what I called them when I was little to distinguish them because one was older than the other. I don't recall ever saying that to either of them. But as I got older I called them Grandma Alice and Grandma Joan. My paternal grandfather was Grandpa and my maternal grandfather died when I was two. I am Nana to Bennett. My daughter, Kyndal, gave me that name for her dog many years ago so it just transferred to Bennett. Ever taken a road trip along the California Coast? If so what was the highlight of your trek? If not, any desire to do so? If you were to take a trip along the California Coast what's one attraction you'd have on your must-see list? On my birthd

LOVE. Who or what are you lovin' lately. My family is the most important thing in the world to me. I love my husband and my children with all my heart. And this little Valentine has certainly made my heart swell just a little more this year. Our sweet Bennett Matthew will be six months old next week. His mama and daddy had some cute Valentine photos taken to celebrate this milestone. Yes, he is as precious as he looks. And we are in love. Happy Valentine's Day!

Last week we resumed our school year after our long Christmas break. We really enjoyed our break this year, but it went by so fast! Because our break was so long (calendared that way) we really had a hard time jumping back in on Monday. In fact, we didn't. I had a blockage issue with my ears and spent the morning at Urgent Care. By the time I got home all I wanted to do was rest. So we started on Tuesday instead. We took it pretty easy on ourselves all week doing lots of reading. We also watched t.v. What? Yes, we use some television shows as jumping off places for learning. I have blogged before about how we use the show Timeless to help us research American historical events. We see what event the show will be about, fully research that event, and then watch the show. We have been so pleased at how historically correct the show is, although taking some liberties in some of the characters to make it a little more fun. We can pick out what is true and what is not tru