What did you do?

This weekend was a good relaxing weekend. Surrounded by our closest friends, and enjoying time together.
Saturday we went out with the girls. We went to the mall and walked around, then we went to lunch. Brad and Paige surprised us by showing up to join us. We watched the kids play awhile in the play ground. Saturday evening we had Brad and Paige, and Charlie and Ashley over to our house. It made me realized how very blessed we are with great friends!

Then Sunday was just a blessed day! Justin got to start his day standing on "Krispy Kreme's" roof. No, I am not kidding! He was up at 5:30 am helping out with a fund raiser for Special Olympics. They were Cops at a donut shop ;)
We had a great worship day with our church family, and then took a Sunday afternoon nap! It is a must around our house. MOM GETS A SUNDAY NAP!! :)
Then we had our Sunday night crew over. It was a blast. We fit about 20 poeple in our living room every Sunday night. It is also a must for us!

Like I said, we are blessed with wonderful people all around us!!

Now it is your turn... what did you do this weekend?

The girls room!

Well, I have been working on the girls room since we moved in. I really love it. I got to surprise them with it like on "Trading Spaces". They spent the night at a friends house, and Justin and I got the room set up. They came in the next morning and got all excited just like on the shows. They knew I was painting furniture, but I didn't let on at all what else I was doing! They were very surprised and just kept telling us thank you. I wish you could have seen it.

We had a few last minute touches to add, so I have been working on those slowly. Here is the ALMOST finished product!

 

I added the frames this week, and I will add their names over each of their beds when I get the letters done.

Court, I kinda went crazy with the polka-dot idea you gave me. But I LOVE the finished product. I just took a plate, bowl,  2 different sized cups, and an oatmeal box and traced them/ used them as a stamp to get the different sizes. The dots were made with those paint daubers.

Tell me what you think?

Apple Orchard

We had so much fun today! We went on our first field trip with our Home-School group. We enjoyed just being in nature and learning from it. I even learned some things.

This particular orchard is just so neat.  When we first go there they let us taste their raw honey from the bees that they raise on their property. They said these bees keep there apples growing and pollinated.

THEN we learned that ladybugs are a pesticide. They release thousands of ladybugs over their orchard so that they do not have to use chemicals! Isn't that neat!? I thought so. Each of the girls got to take a ladybug and release it onto the trees!

We went on a hay ride and then got to pick our own apples to bring home. They got to eat the apples as they picked from the trees. That was the best part. Going along the rows and tasting different kinds. I think the girls had at least 3 apples a piece by the time we were done!

Of course we had to buy some raw honey! It is so yummy!

    

It was a good day!

Fall

I love the fall, the Autumn, the third season of the year. I love the weather in the fall(the sunshine mixed with the cool breeze), I love the smells, the colors, the activities (apple orchards, and pumkins, etc.), thanksgiving, decorations, scarecrows, leaves... I could go on. I just love this time of year. It feels so good to me. It feels so homey and comfy!! I think I even prefer this time of year over Christmas. I KNOW... that is such a crazy thing to say :), but really there is just something about it that makes my heart happy!

Thanks...

Thanks Court for helping me discover all of the new ways I can make blogging easier! Now nobody can pick on me about changing my background every day! That was a blast.

Silly Faces

I hope this makes you smile as much as it does me!!

Balance

Well, tomorrow is a big day for me. It may seem minor for some of you who can do fifteen thousand activities at once and hardly be out of breath, or those of you who enjoy getting out of your house at least once a day. THAT IS NOT ME! I am quite concerned how tomorrow will go.
You see, I am starting a bible study. Yes, I know "big deal!", but added on top of schooling the girls at home and keeping two extra kiddos I have really had a difficult time deciding if this was the time of my life that I would be able to enjoy the opportunity of bible study and the fellowship of other women. I really have burdened over this decision. Am I putting too much on my plate? Can I really handle carting five kiddos all under the age of six out of the house every week? Am I shorting my girls who I am homeschooling out of the best time of day to do school?

I have been a major advacate of Simplicity for a long time. Is this the right choice? I dont know. I still am not confident that I am doing the right thing!

I remember when I first decided to Homeschool alexis. I got in a disccussion with my mother in law about the fact that it would put me at home alot. I asked her "What about ladies things or lunch with a friend?" I remember her response was " There is a time for everything. Homeschooling is a full time job, you will have to give up a lot of things."

God, help me to know if this is one of those things?

On a lighter note though. It is supposed to be an amazing study. We are doing the Beth Moore study about the Patriarchs! I am very excited about this opportunity. Plus the fact that one of my close friends are leading a group. Pray that it is a wonderful time, and that the girls behave like little angels!

I was shocked at the pictures I saw today on yahoo of all of the damage done to the towns around our home in Louisiana by the hurricane. My heart was so sad for all of the people who were sitting in a pool of their own tears mixed with the HUGE amounts of water already dumped on their homes. It makes me feel so helpless and small. In the middle of all of these pictures of the damage done by IKE there was this picture. I couldnt stop giggling! I thought I would share it with you all as a little comical releif :)

On that note though, please keep my family in your prayers, and all of our friends that live in that area. There is so much damage done by this storm. Added on top of all of the damage done is the stress of just being in limbo for three weeks.
Family, you are on my heart! We love you guys! Wish we could be there to help put the peices back together.

Continuing a tradition

When I was growing up we had a lot of change in our life, but there were some things that stayed the same, some traditions that my Mom kept every place we were. One of those traditions was that on the first day of school all of my siblings (all 6 of us) would surround the marker board and take our "First Day of School" picture. She always wrote something special on the board to start our year off right. So of course last week when we started school it just seemed normal to get all the girls around our white board and say CHEESE!!

(The extra little girls are my two daycare girls)

This Summer

It has been a great Summer! Lots of crazy activities and outings! I spent alot of time with my friend Angie and her kids, so you will see her kiddos in a lot of these pictures. We went on Nature walks, to the Library, played in the pool (alot), picked peaches at a peach orchard, grew a garden and just spent lots of days in our pjs! Aren't summers GREAT!

Overwhelmed

Have you ever been wrapped up in a moment and all the sudden this feeling of overwhelming joy falls over you? A moment that takes you off guard, or by surprise?
This weekend was one of those moments for me. It was a Saturday morning, Justin and I were in the bed and all three girls piled in. We layed there together laughing, tickling, and just talking. As I sat there I realized... I am SO blessed! Why does God choose to shower me with blessing?
Why me? Not saying our life is perfect or without trial, but in the midst of it all there are those moments. Overwhelming Joy! It takes you over, and there are no words to express the gratitude you feel inside. It is just too much. So God, please just listen to your spirit inside me speak as I say Thank you. I dont know why you choose to give me blessing upon blessing, but thank you!

Take a shot at it!

I have tried blogging before in the past, and have not done a very good job of keeping up. This week though, I have been really convicted about how bad I am at keeping up with my family and friends. I am not too good at calling and checking in, or sending pictures! (Sorry Ms. Autumn, and Mom) I really want to do better. So here is my first try!!