Not here..but there!

I haven't been posting here much because I've been posting at 31 Rubies. Come on over and see what we've been up to!

Over the river and through the woods...

Those of you who know me well know that I'm just not the outdoorsy type.

I enjoy the outdoors if it involves being in my yard (which is in the city limits), being on a beach or soaking up the sun by the pool on a cruise ship. But to go hiking or fishing...nope that's not my thing. Leave me at home..you will be happier and so will I.

But lately I've been trying to step outside the box that I've caged myself into. So last evening when my husband announced that he would like to take us all on a walk by the river today, I'll admit my heart started racing just a little. A little voice inside me reminded me of stepping out of the box..and I agreed to go.

We started the afternoon with a picnic lunch at a beautiful park. We fed the geese and ducks. A little duck even came up and took a piece of bread right out of my hand. It was awesome! The girls had a blast. We played for about an hour and then headed to the river.

On the drive, my anxiety level was building. Let me clarify, it's not just that I don't like the outdoors. I have a crippling fear of snakes. I'm not sure where or when this fear originated but it's severe. Anyway, the drive to the river consisted of a constant, silent prayer. I really wanted to do this. I know many of you are reading this thinking that I was just being a silly girly girl..but truthfully I wanted to do this for myself, but also for my husband because he loves hiking, fishing, and exploring and I really want to be able to share in these experiences with him, but also for our children because yes they know how scared Mommy is of snakes and we knew the likelihood of seeing a snake at the river is great..but I wanted them to see me be able to overcome my reservations and spend time enjoying something that normally I would not have done.

So, we arrive at the river and I make the first move...I got out of the car. Yes! My husband instructs me to find a large stick to carry with me...what?! A stick, exactly what am I going to need that for?! I find a stick..and we begin the journey. The girls are loving it...climbing over logs and asking all kinds of questions. I'm so thankful they're not like me in every way. Scott led us and I brought up the rear...carefully watching each step. My mother had me paranoid that snakes would be hanging from trees, so I'm trying to look up and down at the same time and well let's just say it's a good thing I had that large stick otherwise I would've ended up in the river on several occasions. Every time I felt the anxiety building I reminded myself I was relying on God's strength and not my own and it got me through. The further into the woods we walked, the more comfortable I became. I honestly didn't think I would last more than 15-20 minutes, but we hiked for an entire hour. I was so proud of myself. I even found myself telling my husband that I would love to find a waterfall to hike to. I have to admit I enjoyed myself. The woods and river were so peaceful, the temperature was just right and I didn't see one single snake.

Ahh..the things we do for those we love!

The Homeschool Mother's Journal: Week ending 5/13

It's been a while since I've posted my weekly update...but finally, I've started again. I enjoy this quick weekly wrap up because it's a great way to keep up with the craziness in our lives.

So here's what we've been up to this week:

In my life this week:

Mother's Day is a great way to start your week. I wish we could start each week with Mother's Day! I love the thoughtfulness and creativity my husband and my daughters put into their gifts and the day in general. Tuesday I decided I was going to have a "Mommy's Day Out" and treated myself to a haircut, eyebrow waxing, massage, mani/pedi. It was wonderful. Though I did feel a bit guilty about being gone most of the afternoon and spending so much money on myself, I enjoyed it. We as mothers neglect ourselves way too often. Not to mention the fact that I had a little one at home who wasn't feel so well. She has strep throat again- the 5th time since August. But she was at home cuddled up on the couch being taken care of by Daddy, so I snuck away for awhile!

In our homeschool this week:

As I posted in my last post (which blogger has somehow deleted and should be restoring soon!), we are all getting Summer fever, even though we school year round. When my children aren't feeling well, their attention span is nonexistent. So, school with Shaylie wasn't easy this week. Basically, I saved it all up and she completed it today since she's feeling better. Nevaeh however moved right along. Really, I think she enjoyed the one on one time. We didn't do anything really exciting...truthfully, we're all just bored and are ready to move on to first grade!

Places we're going and people we're seeing:

We didn't go anywhere this week. The girls are attending a Kids Nite Out at our local Fitness Center tonight and they are super excited! I'm excited too because that means I get a date night with my hubby!

My favorite thing this week was:

I have two favorites: obviously my Mommy's Day Out and Tuesday evening when Shaylie was feeling so bad, she asked me to come lay in her bed with her, so I did. She was almost asleep and looked up at me with these big eyes and said "Mommy, you know there is no such thing as too much love in the world!"..she melted my heart.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have:

Are you guys sticking with the same curriculum next year or changing it up?

I know we will be changing, but I just haven't figured out which one will be switching to!

A photo, video, link, or quote to share:

Amanda from 31 Rubies has an awesome week long series of posts about marriage this week. I loved it. Check it out: here.

The end is near!

Our first year of homeschooling is winding down. Kindergarten will soon be finished!

We will be finishing our Math curriculum next week and we will be finishing up Phonics within the month. We completed our Science curriculum last month. We're just reviewing basic Social Studies (address, phone number, parts of community, etc) while we finish up the remainder of our year.

Even though we are schooling year round, we are feeling those "can't sit still", "can't stay focused" end of the year excitements. And it's not just the girls either. I'm just as guilty. Excited about upcoming vacations, excited about new curriculum and beginning first grade...and getting a little bored and burnt out with our current curriculum. But we are still finishing the year strong, despite yet another case of strep throat for Shaylie. This makes the 5th time she's had strep since August! My poor sweet girl. She and Mommy have both had enough and we have an ENT consult in June...looks like a tonsillectomy is in her near future.

My husband and I are looking to do something special to celebrate the girls' Kindergarten graduation. We aren't part of a co-op and sadly don't have any homeschooling friends near us..so whatever we do will most likely just be a family event. I'm looking for suggestions. How did you celebrate your homeschooler's graduation from Kindergarten? I can't wait to hear your ideas!

Easter

What are you doing for Easter?

I'm sad to say we will miss Easter service at Vertical Church. I'm sure it will be incredible. I'm already waiting for the podcast to come out so I can see just what I missed.

But I'm so excited because we will be leaving Thursday to go to Virginia to spend Easter with my family. The kids and I are both counting down the days. It's been a while since we've gone to Virginia (my family has been here to visit us numerous times though!) and despite a 6 hour drive with two kids and a dog that really do not like to ride I'm still looking forward to it.

Since we won't be attending an Easter church service, I'm trying hard to make sure my children really understand what Easter is all about. Yes, Easter baskets and chocolate bunnies, pretty dresses, and Easter dinner are all great...it's really about love. The love of Jesus. He loves us so much that he died for us.

So I'm challenging you during these last few days before Easter, show the love of Jesus to others. Love others the way Jesus has loved you. Even when you're stressed out trying to fix Easter dinner and get your house clean for guests, even when you are tying up those last minute loose ends at work, even when you've driven for 4 hours with screaming kids and a barking dog and you still have 2 more hours to go...let His love shine.

Happy Easter guys!

I'm posting at 31 Rubies today! Come say "Hi!"

A Work in Progress..

I finally have some photos of our new house to put up. I'm only going to put up pics of rooms that we are finished with because I plan to do a before and after post as we remodel each of the remaining rooms (Shaylie's room, Nevaeh's room, our bedroom, and bathroom). The room that I am the most proud of right now is our living room. That's the only room that we are completely finished with. I really wish we would've taken before pics, but we didn't.

So..here you go!

The front- we plan to repaint the shutters, add some hanging baskets to the porch and get some beautiful flower beds started underneath the two front windows.

View of the living room from the front door. We painted the walls (they were solid white before) and hung the border. I absolutely love the colors. The hardwood floors in this room are beautiful and we didn't have to do a thing to them!

Another view of the living room. I really love this entertainment cabinet. We found it at a yard sale a few years ago, but our tv is old (My hubby's from his freshman year in college!) and it's about to die so in the near future we will be upgrading to a flat screen and will no longer have a need for this.

The kitchen. Yes, it's tiny, but it's completely functional. We have plans of remodeling the kitchen. There is a partition between the kitchen and dining area (where you can see the stove in the pic) that we plan to remove to open the room up. The previous owners of the house had indoor/outdoor carpet in the kitchen. Have you ever heard of such a thing?! It was horrible. It was gross and there was no way of cleaning it. Ugh. It only lasted about two weeks. Thanks to my wonderful hubby and my Dad it's been replaced! What made it even more strange was when they pulled up the carpet, there was tile underneath.

The new and improved kitchen floor! :)

Our dining area/homeschool room. We chose to use this room for our homeschool room because it's so bright...and because of the built in bookcase (see next photo)

These are all of the indoor photos for right now. More to come in the coming months. We will be focusing on one room a month from here on out. Just wait until you see the before and after pics especially of our bedroom floor that my husband had to completely redo because water damage. It's definitely been a learning experience!

I will leave you with a few pics of the beautiful flowers blooming in our yard.