writing the waves...

Our Summer Vacation

2011-06-15T11:44:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know...I have again fallen off of the blog wagon, and have lots of catching up to do...hopefully soon.

However...

We just returned from a fun summer vacation to California last week, and I am proud to say that I have already ordered a photo book with our pictures from Snapfish!

Yea for me...that NEVER happens!

Here is the link if you would like to check it out.

It is well with my soul

2011-04-23T08:03:00.000-07:00

Today, as I think about Easter, I am just so thankful for the hope that Christ has given us through his death and resurrection.

This is one of my favorite songs, and I love the story behind it.

So powerful.

Make A Difference!

2011-04-12T15:20:00.000-07:00

I know that I have been missing in action for a while, but I have just been distracted by other things. I hate that it happens, but it does. Life just offers so many distractions from blogging! :)

I will get back on board soon though.

I did want to write a quick post today linking to something that I read on Kelly's Korner this morning.

I'm sure that many of you have already read her post because it seems that most everyone reads Kelly's Korner, but if you have not, this post is worth reading...and worth acting on.

http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/2011/04/help.html

DIY Decor Links

2011-03-18T11:57:00.000-07:00

Not too long ago, I learned how to bookmark blog posts that I loved, so that I could go back and access them at a later time.

I can't believe that it took me so long to discover this, and there is no telling how many wonderful posts I have read and forgotten about over the years, but no more!

Delicious.com is my sweet friend now, and because of my new friend, I was able to quickly and easily find these great links to share with you today!

I'm actually not a big DIY kind of girl, BUT, I love to save money, and these are some ideas that

I AM IN LOVE WITH!

I am seriously wanting to make a drum shade like this one that Thrifty Decor Chick did!

It is exactly what we need to hang over our school table.

She gives step by step instructions, and I think I just might be able to pull it off...for CHEAP!

That's in my budget!

And how about these pretty curtains that Kimba @ A Soft Place to Land pulled together?

You won't believe the bargain that you (or I!) will be able to get on these!

Looks like hanging the rods would be the hardest part!

I WANT THEM!

And just for a little inspiration, take a look at this pretty space...

Check out Carrie at Buzzings of a Queen Bee, and see what this space looked like "before".

It is a rental home, so no major fix ups were involved.

She and her "distraction decorating" philosophy, show us how to get busy using what we have!

Take a look around her site...she transforms space after space!

Amazing.

And last, but not least...how cute is this???

Jessica at Chapman Place has a tutorial on how to make one of these for your front door.

She has also done a heart for Valentines day.

I'm thinking that a big flower for spring would be fun!

Crock Pot Chicken Lasagna

2011-03-17T06:59:00.000-07:00

I love crock pot recipes, and this one really is delicious!

My whole family loves it!

It is one of the more complicated crock pot recipes that I have tried, but very worth the effort

Even though it has spinach in it, my 4 year old loves it...

that's gotta tell you something! :)

I began making this last year, before we realized that Caylie can't have gluten.

As with many recipes, this one could be modified to be gluten-free by substituting the pasta and the cream of chicken soup with gf versions.

2 cans Cream of Chicken
1/2 package of frozen chopped spinach...thawed, drained and squeezed
1 (9 oz.) pkg. of frozen, diced, cooked chicken
1 (8 oz.) sour cream
1C milk
1/2 C Parmesan cheese
1/3 C finely chopped onion
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
9 uncooked lasagna noodles
1C shredded mozzarella cheese

Stir together first 10 ingredients in a large bowl. Spray crock pot with Pam and place 3 lasagna pieces in bottom. Break pieces as necessary to cover the bottom. Spread 1/3 of the spinach mixture over the noodles. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the mozzarella. Repeat these 3 layers 2 more times. Cook on High for 1 hour and Low for about 5 hours.

Notes...
* I was kind of generous on my cheese measurements. :)
* My lasagna started getting pretty crispy around the edges after about the 4th hour (which actually ended up adding to the flavor!), but keep an eye on it toward the end if it is your first time to make it

Yahoo Groups and Homeschooling

2011-03-16T09:41:00.000-07:00

When I began homeschooling, I discovered Yahoo Groups, and these groups have been a

very helpful resource for me as a homeschooling mom.

Some of the Yahoo Groups that I am in, or have at one time been in, are...

*Apologia Science

*Apologia Biology

*Apologia Physical Science

*Elementary Apologia Science

*Homeschool Links (one of my favorites!)

* IEW Families

*Sonlight (there are also many subgroups within Sonlight...as with Apologia mentioned above)

*Used Curriculum (general used curriculum, and specific used curriculum...Sonlight, etc.)

There is a Yahoo Group for just about anything that you can imagine,

and if you don't see exactly what you are looking for,

you can start a group of your own.

To join a group, you usually need to send the moderator some basic information about yourself.

After you are approved (which may take a day or two),

you will then have access to discussion forums, helpful files containing worksheets, study guides, quizzes, tests...whatever other members of the group may have created or found to help their children,

and then choose to share with the rest of us!

The "Homeschool Links" group that I mentioned above can connect you to helpful online resources.

This is how I found about lizardpoint.com, the free geography site that Christian now uses on a daily basis

It is also how I came across a very helpful Etymology resource that I added to Caylie's Apologia Biology last year.

You can customize how you would like to get updates within each group.

Some members choose to receive e-mails whenever there is an update within the group,

while others just check the site occasionally to see what is new

I started out receiving e-mail updates,

and for some groups, that brought too much into my mailbox,

and so I would then go in and change my options for that group.

You can choose exactly how you want to use each group that you join.

If you are beginning a new curriculum, or just want to have additional resources and support for the curriculum that you are already using, this is a

great, free source of learning and connecting.

Review the Revue

2011-03-15T09:27:00.000-07:00

Caylie has spent a good part of the last 2 weeks performing at The Rep in

"Review the Revue".

She loves doing the show, and even though she stays so busy during these times, she doesn't mind juggling her time around to squeeze it all in.

Corey and I took the boys to see one of the performances a couple of weeks ago, and then this past Saturday night,

mom and I attended the closing night performance.

Caylie did an awesome job, and it was an exciting show!

Tim also came for his 2nd time, and brought her some beautiful red roses!

She loved that!

Several of her friends from her old school were also there for the show.

(Including Elizabeth, who is like a sister to her!)

They are a great group of girls!

They all went out for coffee after the show, and Caylie said that it felt like family.

She has known them all for so many years,

that she said that it just felt completely natural being together again.

Here Caylie is with her sweet director, Nicole.

This will be the first summer in 3 years for her not to do the summer show at The Rep

It is going to overlap with her mission trip to Jamaica,

and she has decided that Jamaica is a priority.

Her mission trip last year had such an impact on her,

that she can't wait to return!

She hopes to perform at the The Rep next fall for her last high school show.

Here is a bonus link to a news segment where
one of the fabulous acts from "Review the Revue",
The Four Reps,
is featured...check it out!
It will put a smile on your face...I promise!

Good Reads For Tween/Teen Boys

2011-03-14T05:30:00.000-07:00

This post was inspired by a comment that I received about the above picture,
which appeared in this post last week.

The reader wondered why my child was reading a book entitled, "Monk".

Rest assured, I am not encouraging my son to head off to a monastery!

That would be really weird...especially since we are Protestant! :)

The "Monk" series, by Lee Goldberg
is based on a television show about a quirky, OCD detective,
named Mr. Monk.
Christian has enjoyed watching the show, as well as reading the book series.
The reason that he has the book on his school shelf, is because he chose to use it for a book report that he is doing right now. Christian has checked the books out from our library.

Another book series that Christian has enjoyed reading is the
Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz.
The Alex Rider books are about a boy who is a spy...
kind of like a young James Bond.
Christian has read all of the books in this series...
also found at our library.

I am always excited to learn about books that are good for young teen boys.

I would love to hear from some of you who may have middle/ junior high aged boys.

What books have your boys enjoyed reading
just for fun?

Five Question Friday

2011-03-11T08:59:00.000-08:00

This is my first time to participate in

Five Question Friday.

It is a weekly meme, with different questions each week!

1. Do you know what your REAL hair color is?

Yes, and unfortunately, since it has been way too long since I have had my highlights, everyone that sees me knows what my real hair color is too! :)

2. Do you plan ahead for summer, or fly by the seat of your pants?

We usually plan some sort of family vacation,
and the older kids spend a week at a
Christian summer camp,
but other than that, we just kind of let things happen.

3. What is your favorite meal to cook?

I don't know that I have a specific single favorite meal,
but this potato cheese soup recipe
(linked to my recipe blog),
is one that is fast, easy, and delicious.
Everyone always likes it.

4. Do you get offended by not receiving thank yous?

Thank you notes?
Not at all!
A verbal "thank you" when I give someone something is more than enough for me!

Save yourself some ink and a stamp when you come to my name on your thank you list!

Sorry Miss Manners...I've got bigger fish to fry than waiting by the mailbox for a thank you note! :)

5. How did you meet your best friend?

I met my BFF, Teresa, in college at OBU in Arkadelphia! We were both in the same sorority (EEE).

Right after Corey and I got married, I schemed with our other sweet friend Nancy, and we ~~forcefully~~, I mean, thoughtfully set Teresa up on a blind date with Ky, Corey's best friend from high school.

The rest is history!

5 kids, and almost 20 years later...
we still love to tell the story...and we are all still best buds! :)

Here is a picture of me with Nancy (far left) and Teresa (far right) when we met for breakfast at Mimi's Cafe last year.

And here is a picture of Corey, me, Ky and Teresa with our youngest kiddos, Carson (the mystery man under the party hat), and Rachel as we celebrated New Years Eve a little over a year ago!

Love ya Teresa!

Get Motivated

2011-03-10T10:35:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I find myself just not wanting to get to work on laundry, or on dishes, or on picking up around the house, etc.

Does this ever happen to you?

I have a few little tricks that I sometimes use.

The first one is setting my oven timer for 20 minutes.

What happens with me, is that once I start moving, I keep going, but sometimes it is just

that first spurt of energy and motivation that is hard to come by,

and my timer provides that spurt!

When I know that I am allowing myself to waste time, I often set my timer, and make myself start knocking things out. Sometimes I have a list, other times, I just walk through the house, and can clearly see what needs to be done. The game is that

for every 20 minutes of work that I accomplish,

I earn 20 minutes to do something that I am wanting to do

...computer time, reading, rest, etc.

Of course this really only works well during

Carson's nap time, or if he is not home!

I did this a couple of days ago, and was amazed at the difference a few 20 minute segments of work made! The tasks that I was dreading, and avoiding, became much more manageable, and were taken care of painlessly...with a little bit of fun time mixed in!

Another trick that I play on myself involves TV time.

I am not a big TV watcher. Occasionally I will DVR shows to watch after I go to bed (and skip through the commercials), but I rarely watch daytime TV.

One day this past weekend, Corey and the kids were all away, and although I had lots of things that I needed to get done, there was a Lifetime movie on that got my attention. I made a deal with myself that

I could watch the show only if I worked during all of the commercials.

For most shows, about 1/2 of the time slot seems to be taken up with commercials, so watching a 2 hour movie allowed me to get quite a bit of work done, while still watching a whole movie!

The last trick that has worked for me, I have only done once, but it really worked well!

One morning, my BFF Teresa and I were talking on the phone. Our youngest kiddos were not home that day, so we had quiet houses, and chores to get done.

We decided that we were going to give ourselves 2 hours, and told each other the chores that we wanted to accomplish in that time

We hung up the phone, and hit the ground running!

When we got back on the phone 2 hours later,

we were both exhausted from working so quickly for 2 whole hours...but excited to report to each other how motivated we had been...and that

we had gotten everything on our lists done!

We both laughed and talked about how it had really lit a fire under us!

(I just texted her and told her that we need to do it again!)

How do you get motivated to do house work?

Make Ahead Breakfast Casserole

2011-03-08T10:21:00.000-08:00

This recipe was served the morning of my cousin's wedding many years ago. I loved it so much that I asked for the recipe, and have made it many times since!

6 slices of bread (gluten free bread can be used if necessary)

1 lb. sausage

1 1/2 C cheddar cheese

6 eggs

2 C half & half

1 tsp. salt

margarine

Cut crusts off of bread. (I don't always do this part.) Spread margarine on both sides of bread. (I usually only do one side.) Place bread in a greased 9x13 dish. Cook sausage and drain on paper towels. Spread over bread. Sprinkle with cheese. Combine eggs and 1/2 & 1/2 and pour over sausage. Cover and chill overnight. Remove 15 minutes before bake time. Bake, uncovered, 45 minutes at 350.

School Room Reorganization

2011-03-07T12:38:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning, I woke up wanting to tackle a project. I didn't have anything specific in mind, I just knew that
I wanted to get something done, and check it off my list!

When I went downstairs into the school room/dining room, I decided that it was time to reorganize.

It wasn't horrible, but as the year has gone on, the shelves had gotten a little messier, and there were things that needed to be moved to new places and other things that just needed to be thrown away.

Here is the "before" of our school bookcase...getting kind of sloppy.

And "after"...much better.

Caylie's supplies. (Many of her books and supplies are kept in her Co-Op backpack.)

Christian's school supplies.

Teacher resources for Christian's subjects.

Teacher resources for Caylie's subjects.

Reference books/ books that are not currently being used.

The trash pile.

The "move to a different spot" piles.

This is where we keep my old scrapbooking supplies, that are now great for school projects. I also keep homeschool catalogs in here, as well as some of the curriculum that Caylie has finished with, that will be passed down to Christian. This cabinet needed a little bit of work as well.

Before...

After...just neatened things up a little bit.

Top drawer is for pens, pencils, etc...

One side drawer is for our chalkboard supplies, and some guitar supplies.

And when I was finished...I had an empty cabinet on one side...

and an empty drawer right above it!

Love that!!! :)

Random Thoughts

2011-03-04T09:29:00.000-08:00

As we head into the weekend, here are some random things that I have floating around in my head this morning.

1) Last night Corey, the boys and I, went to see a preview performance of Caylie's show.

She is doing another preview performance as I ~~speak~~ type, and the official opening night is tonight. There are two shows tomorrow, one on Sunday, and I can't even remember what next week's schedule is.

It keeps us running, but she really loves it, and she did a great job last night.

I love to hear her sing, and watch her dance, and see her expressions as she "does her thing" on stage!

She is so expressive, and enthusiastic!

Next Saturday afternoon, Corey is going to go to the matinee performance with his parents, then on Saturday night, my mom and I will go to the closing night performance.

I am looking forward to getting to see the show again, and being there for the final performance is always exciting.

2) For the previous two years, I have attended the Arkansas Homeschool Convention in Searcy. I have enjoyed going, but had decided not to go this year.

A couple of months ago, I heard about the
MidSouth Homeschool Convention

in Memphis, a convention I had never even known about previously.

(How that happened, I'm still not sure!)

The MidSouth convention is much bigger, and brings in great speakers, so I was really interested, but since Caylie's show was opening this weekend, and so much craziness comes along with that, I had decided that I would have to pass on attending this year.

Yesterday drove me crazy as I kept hearing of other moms that were heading to the convention! I pulled up the schedule of sessions, and as I read through it, I wanted even more to be there!

I went to Corey and asked what he would think of me leaving at 6am this morning, and driving to Memphis, spending the night, and coming home tomorrow evening after the convention ends.

Although he knew that it would be a juggling act, he said that he could manage it, and that

I could go if I wanted to!

He's great about that kind of stuff.
We tend to be pretty spontaneous about things like this, but even so, as the night went on, and I realized that I wouldn't get home from Caylie's show last night until after 10, and that there were sooo many loose ends that I felt I would leave hanging if I took off this morning,

I decided that I would just not go.

It would have been hectic, and tiring, but also very educational and inspiring, so I keep bouncing back and forth about whether or not I made the right decision.

3) In other news, I posted here about how we missed the opportunity to sign Caylie up for the

1/2 marathon in Little Rock that she had been training for.

As a result, we found another 1/2 marathon near

Galveston, TX,

and decided to make that our family's Spring Break trip...

adding in some beach time, a fun water park, and a day trip to Houston.

Caylie has continued her training, but for the last couple of days,
she has had some pain at the bottom of her calf...in the area of her ankle.

She says that when she puts weight on the ball of her foot, that it hurts.

This is obviously not a good thing.

I don't want her to hurt herself more by continuing to run if she shouldn't,
but I also don't want her to have to miss the opportunity to meet a goal that she has been working toward!

We are hoping that taking a few days off from running, will give her a chance to improve.

We will see.

Hope you have a great weekend!

March 3 in 30 Challenge

2011-03-03T21:20:00.000-08:00

I know that I am ~~three~~, well ok, four days late in posting my goals for March,

but better late than never I hope!

(I almost decided to skip out, but I need to stay accountable!)

Before I reveal my March plan, I'll remind you what my February goals were...

1) Have a daily quiet time.

I started out really well, but hit a bump in the road, allowed it to sidetrack me, and never quite got

back into the routine again.

2) Prepare four gluten free dinners at home each week.

Again, I started off well, but I allowed that same dang bump in the road that I mentioned above, to throw

me off here as well. We didn't necessarily eat out more than we should have, but some of the meals that

we had were just not as well planned as they should have been, so I'm not quite there yet on this one

either.

3) Post on my blog three or four times a week.

I think that I kept this one up pretty well! That bump didn't zap me on this one because my

blog actually provided a much needed distraction for me when that hit...which was a good thing!

So, what I want to do for March is to continue working on my three previous goals, with more consistency. Since I want to focus on these 3 goals again,

I am only going to add one new goal for March...

to make my bed each morning BEFORE leaving my room!

I go through phases where I discipline myself to do that, and strangely enough, it actually makes a big difference in how productive I feel that day.

Lately I have gotten out of that habit.

Sometimes my bed gets made in the morning, sometimes later in the day, and sometimes not at all.

It is a simple goal to add to the other three that I'm going to continue working on, but if I can get through the month having accomplished all of these goals, on a regular basis, then I will really feel like I am making some progress, and will be ready to take on more!

A Fresh New Blog Design

2011-03-03T07:52:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed that my blog has had a makeover,

and I am LOVING it!

I posted here and here with some great blog design tutorials,

but eventually realized that it would take me

more hours than I had available,

to learn enough to do what I wanted to have done.

I searched high and low, and finally found just the girl for me.

Julie at Deluxe Designs

has been a dream to work with...seriously!

I really think that I happened across a jewel!

Not only has she done a beautiful job, and for a reasonable price, she has done it very quickly!

That is everything that you could ask for, all in one package!

She even got my recipe blog connected to my main blog up there in the navigation bar

(and gave it a great little redesign too),

so now maybe I will pay more attention to the poor little thing!

Take a look!

I really hope that you will click over to her site, and take a look around.

Maybe she can help you with a thing or two...or ten!

Ricki's Spinach Pie

2011-03-01T07:18:00.000-08:00

This is a breakfast pie recipe, very similar to a quiche.

My sweet cousin Ricki made it at a family reunion last summer.Everyone was talking about how great it was!

It happens to be a perfect recipe for our family since it does not have a crust, and is
gluten free!

16 oz. container of 2% low fat cottage cheese

10 oz. pkg. of frozen chopped spinach, thawed, well drained

1 C shredded low-moisture part skim mozzarella cheese

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 jar (7oz) roasted red peppers, well drained, chopped

1/3 C grated Parmesan cheese

1 tsp. dried oregano leaves

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients until well blended.
Pour into greased 9 inch pie plate.
Bake 40 minutes or until center is set.
(Usually takes more like an hour)

Tip:

You can substitute 1/2 chopped red bell peppers for the roasted peppers.
Enjoy!

Writing the Waves,

Christi

Homeschool Mother's Journal

2011-02-25T10:49:00.000-08:00

In My Life This Week

This was a difficult week.

It started off with some stuff that kind of kept me

struggling to keep my head above water...
which is not my best mode.

I think that we kept things running along without any big pieces falling through the cracks, but small things, (if you call laundry, and house chores small) took a back seat, and are now

demanding my attention.

I have to keep reminding myself that life happens. God knows that life presents challenges, and I have to work at not beating myself up when I experience the impact that comes along with these challenging times.

He needs to remain my focus and my comfort, especially in hard times.

I am hopeful that things are going to improve next week.

In our homeschool this week...

Things with school managed to stay afloat this week. That is always a priority.

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

Caylie has been super busy with running, play practice, school work and church activities.

Her show opens next week, so they are about to kick into even higher gear this weekend.

She loves it, but it super intense right now.

Christian had his 2 days of outside classes this week, and he always enjoys those. In addition to his usual church activities, the youth group went to play paint ball last Saturday.

Corey went with them, and they all had lots of fun...even if they did come home with some bruises!

(Corey said that paint ball is not a kiddie game...it can really hurt!)

Today, the older kids both have guitar lessons.

My favorite thing this week was...

Last Friday, Caylie and I went to a preview day at the
University of Central Arkansas, in Conway. We both really enjoyed the day, and were impressed with the school. Right now, I think that her top college picks are
OBU (Ouachita Baptist University...where Corey and I graduated!) and UCA. She still has some time to weigh things out though!

I posted here about a day where a we
"made lemonade out of lemons".
That made all of us happy, and gave us something exciting to look forward to!! :)

It made my heart happy to read this post that Caylie wrote on her blog. Caylie's sincere desire to allow God to work in her life, and guide her daily choices is one of my precious blessings.

I'm also thankful that while things were difficult for me this week,
Corey was very supportive and helpful.

What's working/not working for us...

What's working?

School.

What's not working?

When I am feeling down, as I have this week, everything seems like a challenge, and it is hard to motivate myself to do the things that I need to do. It DOES however, reinforce the need for me to count my blessings in the midst of struggles. That is something that I have tried to become better and better at over the past few years.

It is absolutely a gift to be able to be thankful in hard times!

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

I am in the process of getting Caylie's senior year classes planned. Most of her classes will be outside classes...at Co-Op, and at the community college, so I am just trying to get those details lined out, and make sure that everything will work well together.

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

"Thank Me for each blessing along the way; this brings joy to both you and Me.

A grateful heart protects you from negative thinking.

Thankfulness enables you to see the abundance I shower upon you daily."

(Todays devotion in Jesus Calling by Sarah Young)

Writing the Waves,

Christi

4 Blog Design Tutorial Sites

2011-02-23T10:24:00.000-08:00

Since returning from Blissdom in January, I have been trying to pay more attention to my blog. I want to do a better job of recording the things that happen with our family, I want to connect with other bloggers that share similar interests, and I also want to improve the look, and functionality of my blog.

I want to make blogging a hobby that I become good at, and know a lot about!

When I made plans to attend Blissdom, I had no idea what I was getting into!

Seriously.

Even though I had been an on and off blogger, often turning away from my blog when life became busy, I knew that I really enjoyed blogging. I also knew that there were bloggers out there that were clearly aware of some things that I wasn't aware of, but again...I really didn't have a clue.

It is both exciting and overwhelming to realize how much there is out there to learn!

The connections that I have already made have been amazing. There are so many wonderful, encouraging bloggers out there that value the same things that I do. It is fun to engage with, and learn from these neat ladies!

I have found several resources that I want to share. For a newbie like me, everything that I read about teaches me a little something that I didn't know before. I would love to be able to walk myself through some of these great tutorials over the next few weeks, months...maybe even years!

Like I said...there is a lot to be learned.

Here are some great places to begin for those of you, who like me, are interested in getting your feet wet!

1) April, at April Showers teaches blog workshops as well as free linked tutorials on her great site. She can take you from your first baby step, to becoming a professional blog designer! Fun stuff.

2) Kendra at These Days We..., has posted some fun tutorials for tweaking your own blogs. I would really like to spend some time learning her tips!

3) Carolynn at Makin' Cute Blogs, teaches how to do many blog improvements that require no professional software. I'm not kidding when I say that I could get lost in this site, and not come out for days!

4) Jill at Sneaky Momma has so many free tutorials, and they are arranged by ability level! If you are a beginner like me, this will help you start with the things that you are most likely to find success with!

Writing the Waves,

Christi

Stuff

2011-02-22T08:45:00.000-08:00

While I do consider myself a bargain shopper, over the past several years, I have become more and more picky about what I want to come through the doors of our house.

I am strongly focused on finding the balance between nothing...

and too much...

In the early years of my marriage, I enthusiastically mastered the whole "feather the nest" thing by finding bargains at every store around. I loved fixing up our house, and gathering things to make that possible.

Years went by, and at some point, that "gathering stage" ended. I found that I

did not want more stuff...

it just made life more cluttered, and difficult to manage.

Since then, while I do like to tweak things and make improvements to our home when we can, I have become very intentional about what I want to add to our "stash".

I have soooo realized that

more stuff = more work = more stress.

For the last several years, I have tried to have 2 yard sales each year...one in the spring, and one in the fall. When the sale is over, we take anything that is left to Goodwill.

I have joked many times that my goal is to some day have one of those yard sales that people look at from their cars, and see that there is just one piddly little table with a few items sitting on it...

so they just drive on by!

Then I will know that I have won the war against stuff!

That hasn't happened yet...and as long as I have kids at home, it probably won't.

(I would rather have my kids, and the stuff that comes with them ANY day!),

So for now, being intentional about what comes IN, and making sure that things are regularly moving OUT, keeps me actively engaged in the battle!

This morning, Nester linked to this post, which I L.O.V.E.D.

It is a must read.

What do you do to avoid too much stuff?

Writing the Waves,

Christi

A Great Save

2011-02-21T11:50:00.000-08:00

We have had a busy weekend.

Some good stuff.

Some bad stuff.

One of the not so good things, is that we realized the Little Rock 1/2 Marathon...
that Caylie has been dutifully training for months for...has filled up, and I did not register her in time!

I felt H.O.R.R.I.B.L.E.!

She and her sweet friend Carolyn were planning to run it together.

Ugh...

So...the wheels in my head started turning, and something good started to develop.

I told dad about it, and he helped me search online for some other fun 1/2 marathons.

We have decided on this one, and are going to turn the fun road trip into our family's

Spring Break!

It is an area that will be new to us all...

Galveston, TX

...and we are getting pretty excited.

We are even planning for Carolyn to go with us so that they can run together!

We will get to go to the beach...

and to Schlitterbahn Water Park...

and also plan to spend a day doing some fun things in Houston...just 30 minutes away!

F.U.N.

Have any of you been to Galveston or Houston? We are on the hunt for fun things to do!

Are you making any plans for Spring Break?

Writing the Waves,

Christi

A New Laundry System

2011-02-19T20:35:00.000-08:00

I was just doing a little blog surfing, and came across a
new laundry system

that I think I am going to try.

Laura, at orgjunkie.com,, wrote this post about how she has changed the way she does laundry.

Instead of doing what most of us do, and sorting all of the laundry by color, washing, and then separating each family member's clothing before returning it to their rooms, she has done something that

I had never even thought of.

Each family member has a laundry hamper in their room, and each person has a day of the week for their laundry to be done.

Rather than separating laundry by color,

each person's entire load gets washed together.

She adds 1/2 a cup of vinegar to the wash to keep the colors from running.

(Red things are washed separately the first time.)

She says that none of her clothes have been damaged from not sorting by color.

I assume she is using cold water only.

I'm thinking that I will have a day each week (M-F) for each member of our family.

The older kids will do their own load on their day.

I would do a load of towels, and a load of sheets each week, for a total of 7 loads of laundry a week.

What I like about this system, is that it would save time by
eliminating the color sorting, and the family member sorting.

Socks might actually stay together, and be returned to the person that they belong to...as a set! :)

The only part that I am hesitant about, is whites. I like to wash my whites with bleach.
Maybe I could just do some whites that need to be bleached once a month or so. Hmmm.

There were lots of comments below Laura's post.
I skimmed over them, and they offer even more good tips.

Anything that might make laundry a little bit faster and easier, is worth a shot!

Do you have any tips for making laundry happen more smoothly at your house?

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Off To A Bumpy Start...

2011-02-16T17:00:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, it was my day to drive Christian and some friends to Science CoOp.

Everything went well.
I got them settled, and started the drive home.

As I passed over what looked like dirt in the road, I suddenly felt a big bump!

I slowed down, and quickly realized that something was wrong.

Thankfully I was just a few feet from a gas station, so I pulled in and called Corey.

To make a VERY long story short, we had to have the car towed to a dealership. After FIVE hours, I finally drove away...only to return again today. Money that could have easily paid for some pretty window treatments, or a great entry table, or a beautiful new rug,

was spent on a shiny new...

wheel and tire.

Ugh.

I just really dislike spending big money on such totally boring things, don't you?

When I got home, for the first time all day, I started thinking about what I would make for dinner.

I moped over to the refrigerator to take a look around, and before I knew it, I was pulling out everything, tossing this and that into the trash, and wiping down each of the shelves and drawers.

Almost an hour later, I had a very clean refrigerator!

and a nice sense of accomplishment...

That is often the way projects end up getting tackled at my house..unexpectedly.

One thing just leads to another.

Today that unplanned little project was just what I needed!

Sometimes it is little things like this that make me feel better!

Writing the Waves,

Christi

Valentines Day In The Kitchen

2011-02-15T20:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Carson and I got busy in the kitchen to make Valentine's treats for everyone. We made this recipe for Valentine's Confetti.

Carson knows how to make microwave popcorn, so he got us started by popping our first bag.

After he popped the popcorn, I melted the candy coating.

We poured it into the popcorn, and added the MnMs.

Carson then stirred it up for us.

We spread it out on parchment paper to dry.

Carson sprinkled a few more MnMs, and some peanuts on top!

He was feeling pretty proud of our little project! :)

His attention span maxed out when it was time to fill the bags,

so I finished that part up.

We were both really happy with how the treat bags turned out!

When Caylie came home from CoOp, we started handing bags out.

It was fun to give people a treat that we had worked together to make!

Caylie and Christian each made cards for everyone in the family, and they were

very special.

I love things that are made by my kiddos!

Corey got us gift certificates to some fun stores, and then we all went out to eat at Chip's, one of our favorite casual restaurants.

It was a fun and relaxed Valentine's day!

Writing the Waves,

Christi

3 Yummy (Gluten Free) Valentine's Treats

2011-02-13T17:47:00.000-08:00

I have been searching for some cute ideas for Valentine's Day, that are also gluten free. These are 3 great ideas that I found that are either already gluten free, or can easily be tweaked! I think that one or two of these might show up at my house for Valentine's Day tomorrow!

Doesn't this Valentine Confetti from Kellie at This Blessed Nest, look great?! And all of the ingredients are already gluten free!

LOVE THAT!

I have made something similar to this before, and added peanuts...Mmmmm.

Chelsie Mae at Sweet Baby Hiccups

(love that name!)

made these cute cheesecake pops.

A couple of the toppings that she used have gluten...

Graham Crackers and Oreos,

but there are gf versions of both available.

The Butterfingers, Reece's, and MnM's are all gluten free!

My crew loves cheesecake, so I might have to give these a try!

And finally, this luscious looking Creme Brulee from Jamie at Sophistimom, is naturally gluten free.

Love the idea of preparing it in the heart shaped ramekins!

Who wouldn't love these?

I think that this is a wonderful idea, but I don't think I am going to tackle this one since my sweet mom makes a KILLER creme brulee, and I just couldn't compete

...but I still wanted to pass it along! :)

If you, like me, have procrastinated just a bit

(I think I just work well under pressure!)

...maybe I just helped bail you out!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Writing the Waves,

Christi

3 in 30 Week 2 Check In

2011-02-11T19:06:00.000-08:00

The 3 goals that I set for February were...

1) Have a short morning quiet time using my devotional book, "Jesus Calling".

2) Prepare gluten free dinners 4 nights a week.

3) Post 3-4 times a week on my blog.

So far, I think that I have done pretty well. We had snow this week, and routines were thrown off, but overall, I'm happy with my progress.

Next week, I would like to continue with my progress in each of these areas, but find more balance in other areas. I have let laundry get ahead of me this week, and I hate having the laundry monster waiting for me around every turn. Ugh.

Also, I've been needing to clean out the fridge and organize a couple of areas in my kitchen that have been catching piles of clutter lately. Clutter in the house makes clutter in my brain, and I know that living with some clutter is reality, but I sure would feel better if I could come back next week and say that I have been able to accomplish my 3 in 30 goals AND manage these things a little better.

If not, then a more consistent laundry routine and kitchen reorganization can be included in my 3 in 30 goals for March!

I'll let you know how it goes! :)

Writing the Waves,

Christi

Homeschool Mother's Journal

2011-02-11T12:45:00.000-08:00

In my life this week...

This week we have had snow.

I have loved having the slow moments to just be together at home. We have eaten together, played games together, relaxed together, enjoyed friends, and yesterday, I even got quite a bit of laundry done!

Everyone loves it when that happens!

In our homeschool this week...

Since we have had snow, I caved in, and gave the kids Wednesday and Thursday off so that they could relax and play.

Today we are kicking back into gear! :)

.

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

Yesterday Corey took the kids to a big hill close by. They met another dad, and some friends from church there, and had great time playing in the snow and sledding.

After that, we had a house full of kids for the afternoon. It was a fun day.

My favorite thing this week was...

I was thrilled to have such a heavy snowfall for our area. It is rare for us to have as much snow as we have had this winter, and especially rare for us to have as heavy of a snowfall in one day as we had on Wednesday. It was beautiful and exciting to see it falling, and covering everything in a blanket of white! I didn't want it to stop!

What's working/not working for us...

Other than having a few things that I don't want to do staring me in the face...like more laundry, and cleaning out the fridge, things have gone well this week.

Maybe it is just because we haven't had much going on! :)

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

I keep thinking that I am somehow missing the boat on how I plan out my curriculum.

I hand write it all.

I do the original planning and scheduling in my teacher planner, and then I write out individual daily plans in the kid's binders. I know that there must be an easier way, but this actually seems to have worked for us so far. I really only do planning twice a year...before each semester, so although it takes a lot of time at those points, it is a small part of the year.

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

As your kids grow they may forget what you said, but won't forget how you made them feel. (parentingzone.com)

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Let It Snow!

2011-02-09T19:43:00.000-08:00

This is the peaceful view from our porch today.

We are lovin' it.

Since we have already had a few snow days this year, the kids weren't in such a rush to play outside.

That will come tomorrow.

Today we enjoyed being warm and having a nice lazy day inside.

I treasure these times.

Boys and their games.

And some warm apple crisp to wind up the evening.

Mmmm.

You can find my super easy, and yummy recipe here on my recipe blog if you want some for yourself!

What's happening today at your house?

Writing the Waves,

Christi

Valentines Craft Time

2011-02-08T13:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Carson and I had some fun crafty time together.

I got him set up to make Valentines cards for his preschool teachers.

We started by ripping up pieces of scrapbook paper. I let Carson rip up some papers that he liked, and we put them in a little box.

Next, I took a sharpie, and drew a heart on the outside of two folded pieces of scrapbook paper that he would use as cards.

We used a glue stick to glue the pieces of paper inside the hearts.

After he finished filling in his hearts with paper scraps, I asked him to tell me a message to put inside the cards. At first it was all about rocket blasters and things zooming around, but eventually I convinced him that as much as his teachers would love a message about rocket blasters, it really needed to be about them, and Valentines Day...not rocket blasters...he finally gave in. :)

After I wrote "his" message, I drew dotted letters to help him "sign" his own cards.

The one with the white paper inside was a little bit of damage control after he got carried away and smeared the glue stick inside the card...just gotta go with the flow!

He is pretty proud of his cards, and is excited to give them to his teachers next week.

Writing the Waves,
Christi

A Family Favorite Recipe...Black Beans, Beef and Rice

2011-02-07T06:33:00.000-08:00

I recently prepared a new recipe for my family, and it was a big hit with everyone!

I love it when that happens...because it seems like SOMEONE in our family (...a cute little opinionated 4 year old), turns his nose up at most anything that is not Mac N Cheese these days!

Anyone know the feeling?

What makes it even better, is that it is gluten free, so our whole crew can enjoy it....which has become a requirement around here.

I have made it twice so far, and the last time, we decided that when I make it again, I should do a double batch!

Black Beans, Beef and Rice

4 slices of bacon, cut into 1" pieces
1 lb. lean ground beef
1/2 c chopped onion
green pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1C long grain rice
1C water
14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained
15.5 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 t dried Italian seasoning
1t salt
1C shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook bacon in large skillet on medium heat. Add beef, onion, pepper, and garlic. Cook, stirring often, until beef has browned. Add water, rice, tomatoes, beans, Italian seasoning, and salt. Mix well. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until liquid is absorbed and rice is done (20 min. or so). Sprinkle with cheese

Give it a try, and I bet it will be a crowd pleaser at your house too!

If you happen to have a picky kid or two wandering around your house, check out Jenny's new series, "Meals Kids Love"!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Here's where I'm linking up...

My 8 Favorite Homeschool Resources

2011-02-04T07:28:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know that it is only February, but as a homeschool mom, I am always trying to think ahead, and work to make our courses as interesting and effective as possible...so yes, I'm already thinking ahead to next year!

We have actually had a really great year with our curriculum, and so believe it or not, unless something sweeps in and changes my mind (which I'm always open to), next year we will stick with these 8 resources that have been working well for us.

1) ALEKS online math curriculum- This year Christian did Pre-Algebra, and we have been very pleased with the program. Next year, we plan to stick with Aleks for Algebra. They offer a free trial, which is what we used this summer before making the decision to switch from Teaching Textbooks.

2) Sonlight History- I really like how Sonlight merges resource books with historical fiction books to create a richer, more in depth picture of history. This year we are doing our 2nd year of World History, and next year we will do US History.

3) Wordly Wise Vocabulary- This was our first year to use Wordly Wise. It is a great, easy to use, yet challenging vocabulary curriculum.

4) ABeka Grammar and Composition- I like how thoroughly the ABeka workbook introduces and explains each new concept. Last year we used Easy Grammar and Daily Grams, but I have found ABeka to be a little better at presenting the information. We will continue with ABeka next year.

5) Spelling Power- This is a great spelling book that can be used from age 8 to adult.

6) Apologia Science- Christian is doing Physical Science this year, and will be moving to Biology for 8th grade. We will probably supplement the course with Red Wagon Tutorials.

7) IEW Writing- The Institute for Excellence In Writing is a thorough program. It took me a while to get it all figured out, but once you get rolling, it leads the student step by step through continually advancing writing techniques.

8) Lizardpoint Geography- I just came across this recently, but both Christian and I really think it is great. It is a free online geography "game" that allows the student to master each part of the world, one area at a time. Right now, Christian is mastering Africa. Before I found Lizardpoint, we were using our interactive globe to look up the areas that we were studying in history.

Caylie attends the homeschool high school co-op in our city, and will continue to do so (as well as taking classes at the community college), next year, when she is a...

SENIOR!

Aagh! Did I just type that?!?!

Please excuse me while I take a quick break...sniff, sniff...

Ok...moving on...

The only classes that she is doing at home this year, are history, grammar, and vocabulary. She is using the same resources as I listed above, only at the high school level, and next year will be the same.

Also, both kids do Christian World View here at home, which I have just put together using monthly memory verses, and daily readings. The last book that we covered was Rick Warren's "Purpose Driven Life", which I love, and now Christian is reading "Live Like A Jesus Freak", by DC Talk, while Caylie is reading her Bible.

What homeschool resources do you love?

Writing the Waves,
Christi

How I Make My Own Laundry Detergent

2011-02-03T09:10:00.000-08:00

First off...here's my laundry room...

Ha! I wish! Just had to make myself laugh this morning!

Ok, now...

I'm actually a little bit hesitant to write this post, because I don't want anyone to think that I am all Little House on The Prairie-ish, because I am sooo not...but I'm putting it out there for all to see...I make my own laundry detergent, and have been doing so for about a year now!

So here's how it started...

I had always hated how often I ran out of laundry detergent, and knowing that if I didn't make a run to the store (which I am also not a big fan of), that I would start getting behind on laundry...fast.

One day, I happened upon this post written by my bloggy friend Jennifer. She described how she makes her own laundry detergent, in LARGE quantities...and for CHEAP!

I decided to give it a try, figuring that if it was too much trouble, or if it didn't get my clothes as clean as I was used to, that I would not have invested much, and I could just run to Kroger (AGAIN) to buy more of my usual detergent.

I'm SO happy to say however, that I never had to run to Kroger for detergent, and I don't plan on doing so again! In the last year, I have only had to buy more supplies once...ONCE! This detergent is cheap people...really cheap, and it gets my family's clothes just as clean as other detergents did.

The only bits of advice that I would add to Jennifer's post, are that I use this grater from Pampered Chef to grate the soap,

and then when I transfer the detergent from the large tub, into the container that I actually use on a daily basis, I discovered that using this little pitcher, also from Pampered Chef, makes things even easier.

The detergent separates (kind of like gravy), and so before pouring it, I stir it a bit. By keeping it in this pitcher, I just give it a little pump or two each time, and it is ready to go!

(And just in case you are wondering...no, I have no whatsoever association with Pampered Chef!) :)

I still keep my Spray-N-Wash and fabric softener on hand, as I always have, but I don't see myself going back to the store for laundry detergent any time soon!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Priorities: Golf Balls and Jelly Beans

2011-02-02T08:23:00.000-08:00

A story that I heard years ago has been popping into my head this morning, and I think that I will take it to heart today.

I heard the story at a women's conference, and it was an illustration about priorities.

We all have a lot on our plates. Many responsibilities pull and tug at us.

So picture this...

We all have a jar.

Our true priorities...our responsibilities, are golf balls.

The things that distract us...that suck us in, and can easily waste our time, are jelly beans.

Jelly beans are fun, and bright, and sooo much more attractive and distracting than plain old golf balls!

I would tend to pick jelly beans over golf balls any day!

The point was, that the jar (like our day), is only so big.

It can only hold so much.

If we have 5 golf balls, we need to make sure there is room for them.

If we scoop our jelly beans in, and then add the golf balls on top, chances are, they won't all fit.

But, if we put our golf balls into the jar, and THEN the jelly beans, we are more likely to see results!

Jelly beans are so fun, and pretty that they beg for attention, but golf balls make life more manageable for everyone in my family (including myself!).

Today, my golf balls are lessons with kids, housework, laundry, paying bills, and planning dinner. (I have already put in my devotional golf ball today! Yea!)

So, as tempting as it is to be distracted by all of the pretty jelly beans, I'm off to take care of my golf balls.

If I play my cards right, I should still have some jelly bean time at the end!

What are your golf balls today?

Writing the Waves,
Christi

February 3 in 30 Challenge

2011-02-01T09:38:00.000-08:00

I am linking up today with the 3 in 30 challenge.

I have chosen 3 goals to work on for the month of February. The plan is that we will hold each other accountable throughout the 30 days, and then report our progress at the end.

3 new goals for each month of the year, with built in accountability.

I like it.

Sooo...for February, my 3 goals are

1) Be consistent in having a daily quiet time each morning. I'm going to be using a devotional book that my mother gave me called, Jesus Calling. Short, meaningful devotions to focus my heart and mind on Christ each morning.

2) Be consistent in preparing 4 gluten free dinners each week. My daughter can't eat gluten, and although I have recipes available to prepare, we often end up eating out for convenience, due to the kid's activities, etc.. I would like to limit the eating out to weekends as much as possible. It would be healthier for everyone in the family, and cheaper!

3) Post new blog entries 3-4 times a week, and start making some improvements to my blog. My blog is important to me, but I have often found myself abandoning it for months at a time when things get busy around here. I don't want to do that. Things are always busy. I love having a record of the things that are happening in my life, and I want to make it more of a priority to take time to blog.

So there you have it.

You officially have my permission to hold me accountable! :)

Writing the Waves,

Christi

Some Great Blogging Tips

2011-01-31T17:10:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited!

Now, don't get me wrong, I learned a lot, and took many pages of notes at Blissdom, but as I said, Caylie and I quickly realized that we were in a world that we knew VERY little about! :) While I have lots of food for thought, many of the things that I was hearing, are still WAY beyond where I am in blogging at this point.

Which brings me to Meghan!

Meghan is one of the great girls that I had breakfast with on Saturday morning, and as I began to check out her site, I was excited to discover that she has written several great, easy to understand, BEGINNER tutorials, and bits of advice on blogging...all in one place!

Of course, the tutorials are just the icing on the cake...all of the stuff on her blog is great! Homeschooling, faith and homemaking are her focuses.

If you are interested in improving your blog (or just want to discover a fun new blog to follow), check her out!!

Look on her top bar, under "extras", then click on "tutorials", then "blog tutorials". Easy.

You'll be glad you did!

thetuckerstaketennessee.com

Do you have any great blogging tips or sites to share?

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Back From Blissdom

2011-01-30T22:59:00.000-08:00

Caylie and I returned yesterday from our fun trip to the Blissdom conference in Nashville.

When we got there, started talking to other bloggers, and attending the sessions, we quickly realized that although we have both been blogging for a while, there is sooo much that we didn't/don't know!

We were able to meet many helpful, more experienced bloggers, have lots of good mother/daughter time, and we actually came back knowing quite a bit more about this fun world of blogging!

Caylie suggested that we take a picture of ourselves each morning before heading out of our room. Although I really, really, really dislike having my picture taken, I decided to throw caution to the wind, and go with it!

I'm crazy like that!

Michelle Branch was the entertainment for Thursday evening.

On Friday, we were treated to a nice lunch.

We were at the table with these sweet bloggers...(from left to right) Cha Cha from sitrelaxandread.blogspot.com, Lisa from thepenningtonpoint.com, and Kellie from thisblessednest.blogspot.com.

On Friday night, we were treated to Chris Mann and then Crystal Bowersox! Both were just great! I especially loved hearing Crystal!

Of course I forgot my camera that night...and wouldn't you know...we were close enough to the stage to have gotten great pictures, but whatever...you'll just have to take my word for it!

Dang it!

Anyway, last but definitely not least, before heading home on Saturday morning, we enjoyed a great breakfast at Cracker Barrel with this fun bunch of bloggers!

Left side (front to back)...Meghan from thetuckerstaketennessee.com, Sami from samicone.com, Alicia from Confessionsofasnowflake.com, Christina from Fieldtoforest.com, and of course my sweet Caylie from Lifethesedayscaylie.blogspot.com.

Right side (front to back)...Michelle from somegirlswebsite.com, Lindsey from anewlifehartz.blogspot.com, me, and then Jenny from thesoutherninstitute.com

It was a special treat to get to sit and visit with such sweet, honest women, that love the Lord, and really desire to not only live out that faith in their everyday lives, but also want to allow their faith to be revealed to readers through their blogs. Several of these girls are using their blogs for the specific purpose of encouraging others to grow in their faith.

Quite a few of these gals were homeschoolers...and a couple will even be speaking at the 2012 homeschool bloggers conference in Washington D.C. (The 2:1 Conference).

Such a neat group of girls!

It was an encouraging morning, and a great way to end our Blissdom experience!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

We Made It...By The Skin Of Our Teeth!

2011-01-26T15:48:00.000-08:00

Well, last night, Caylie and I arrived in Nashville for the Blissdom conference.

To say that it was a stressful trip would be an understatement, but thankfully we made it safely, despite the very difficult drive.

My poor vision, combined with driving at night, combined with heavy, blowing snow = NOT fun!

At one point, I was so tempted to just stop the car in the middle of the road, and have myself a good cry, but I made myself keep driving, and driving, and driving.

Finally, around 11pm, we arrived at the hotel. I wanted to get out and kiss the ground, but it was too cold, and I was too tired, and wouldn't have been able to get back up!

Caylie then told me that during the drive, she had been so afraid that I was going to throw up in my own lap from the stress, that she was trying to figure out how she would quickly get into the driver's seat to take over!

Yeah, it was that bad.

I. WILL. NEVER. DRIVE. IN. THOSE. CONDITIONS. AGAIN. (You CAN quote me on that!)

Now we are all settled into our room at the beautiful Opryland Hotel. We have picked up our name tags, gotten our swag bags full of fun little treats, and are excited to head to the first event in a couple of hours. :)

I am so excited about all of the new things that we will learn in the next couple of days! Can't wait!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Blissdom...

2011-01-17T08:24:00.000-08:00

The latest buzz around our house is that Caylie and I are planning to go to the Blissdom blogging conference next week!!!

We both have blogs, enjoy recording the events of our lives...(she's more consistent than me!), and are interested in learning more about blogging.

I had never considered going to a blogging conference, but when I started hearing about the Blissdom conference, it looked kind of interesting, and I mentioned it to Corey.

Corey has always encouraged me to learn more about blogging, and our family loves to be able to look back and read the posts that both Caylie and I write.

My birthday was last week, and although we went out to eat together, and Corey had some beautiful flowers delivered to the house, I guess he had not given me what he considered "my real birthday gift", so he and Caylie came to me last night, and handed me a hand written "certificate". It said that as a late birthday gift, he was sending Caylie and me to Blissdom together!

I was surprised, and speechless!

He knew that I would start coming up with reasons why it wasn't practical, etc., etc., and so he had already written things like, "Not An Option!", "Kids Are Taken Care Of", and "You ARE Doing It" on the paper!

He knows me well...

Caylie and I are both excited to get to go and learn more about blogging, and spend some quality girl time together with others that share the same interest!

But I'm nervous too!

Aaaa....

Writing the Waves,
Christi

OK...So I'm A Little Late Posting Our Fall Pictures....

2011-01-15T12:21:00.000-08:00

One day in November, we went to a park to shoot some pictures for our Christmas cards.

I didn't get my hopes up.

It was a very last minute kind of thing, and kind of thrown together...in broad daylight...with a less than cooperative four year old!

Sooo...I bribed him with ice cream if he would cooperate...

...and it worked pretty well!

Christian is old enough now that I don't have to bribe him to cooperate...

...but he thought that he

might as well get some ice cream...

ya know...since Carson was getting some...

Can't believe how much my big guy has

grown up in one short year!

Melt this mommy's heart...

My sweet, precious Caylie.

Beautiful on the outside,

but most importantly...on the inside.

Can't believe that she is 17 now.

Time flies way too fast...

Oh, how I love these kids...

...and they love each other too

...most of the time anyway!

Counting my blessings.

Loving the little things.

And laughing along the way!

So, there ya have it...

another Christmas card to help remember these

treasured times!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Great Meal Planning Resource!

2011-01-14T09:32:00.000-08:00

A couple of months ago, I discovered a great site to streamline our dinner planning process! It is called e-mealz.com, and I have been loving it!

What hooked me into giving it a try was that since Caylie now has to eat gluten free, and I had no clue where to begin, e-mealz had a gluten free meal plan! (They have plans for several diets...Weight Watchers, Diabetic, etc.)

Not only did I have a weekly meal plan laid out for me, but also the grocery list that is needed! I can choose whether I want the list to be made for Wal-Mart shopping (taking into account the specials of that week!!!), or if I will be shopping at another grocery store.

For $1.25 a week, I just print out the menu, and the grocery list, and I'm good to go!

We have been using a system of putting stars by each meal that we make from the printed out menus. Meals that we definitely want to make again get 4 stars, and the ones that our family may not have loved quite as much, get fewer stars.

Check it out! It just might make your life a little bit easier!

Writing the Waves,

Christi

Linking up at...

Happy 2011!

2011-01-01T17:05:00.000-08:00

Last night, as with last year, we rang in the new year with the Harrod crew, at their house.

Unfortunately, as often happens, I didn't have my camera, so maybe I will eventually post some of the pictures that Teresa took! :)

Teresa and I had decided that we would wear our loungy clothes so that we would be comfortable all night, and then ready to plop into bed as soon as things wound up! Loved that!

We made sure that there would be no lack of snacks for the night. We had taco soup, chips, party sandwiches, sausage stuffed mushrooms, a fruit tray, cake balls, snack mix, and last but NOT least...Teresa had made me my own special treat. She knows me, and how I love snacking on Goldfish, so she gave me a cute Christmas container that held 1/2 plain goldfish, and 1/2 goldfish that she had hand dipped in chocolate as a special treat for me!

Is that a sweet friend or what!?! I love that girl!

We ate ourselves silly while we played games, and laughed. At times, we had to yell to hear each other over the roar of our kids, but that's the way it goes when you have 6 sons and 1 daughter doing their thing all around the house!

Caylie was at a 12 HOUR worship event at our church, or it would have been 2 daughters...but at 17, she's not too rowdy these days anyway! (The youth group got together at 7pm, and had a prayer and worship time as they brought in the new year. They literally stayed awake, and did not wind things up until 7am!)

Carson and Rachel had a wonderful time playing together. Carson popped the question to Rachel...and Rachel said yes! Ha! We won't hold them to it since 4 is a little on the young side for life-long commitments, but it sure was precious!

We all counted down and cheered in the new year as we watched the celebration in New York City on TV, and then it was time to head home.

Drew came over and spent the night with Christian.

They still had enough energy left to start a movie, but the rest of us were just interested in crawling into our beds...even Carson!

Love our fun tradition with special friends!

Happy New Year!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Christmas Fun In Nashville

2010-12-23T16:56:00.000-08:00

We just returned from a fun little family road trip. It allowed us to leave behind the tasks that easily eat up so much of the time leading to Christmas, and really experience the joy of the season for a few days together! I'm so glad that we did it!

I am writing this blog post while Corey is gone with my camera, so our family pictures will have to be added later! :)

We left on Monday afternoon. Our first stop was in Memphis for one short, but fun evening. After checking into our hotel, we went to a sushi restaurant and had a delicious dinner.

As we were walking back, we passed the FedEx Forum, where the Memphis Grizzlies were several minutes into the first half of a basketball game. There were some men selling tickets out in front, and because we were already late, Corey got a great deal on some tickets, and we went in and watched the rest of the game. It was a huge, impressive arena, and we all had a fun time.

After the game, we walked back to our hotel, and called it a night.

The next morning, we ate breakfast, and hit the road for Nashville!

We were so excited as we arrived at the Opryland Hotel, checked in and got unpacked. We spent the next few hours taking in the amazing sights at the hotel, eating a late lunch, and then taking Carson to the "Winter Wonderland" area. We got to watch him have milk and cookies as he listened to Mrs. Claus read Christmas stories, then he rode the Christmas train, and finally, he got to sit in Santa's lap and tell him what he would like for Christmas. (He said that he wanted a remote control truck!) He was soooo excited to get to visit with Santa!

That night, Caylie, Carson and I went to the "Radio City Christmas Spectacular" at the Grand Ole Opry! The show featured the Rockettes, and was absolutely wonderful! We all enjoyed it so much. While we were at the show, Corey and Christian chose to have some "guy time" in the hotel. They ate at one of the restaurants, and played games in the arcade.

On Wednesday, we started the day off by going to the "Ice", and "Snow" attractions at the hotel.

The "Ice" exhibit, was incredible. The larger than life ice sculptures were unbelievable, and the kids (and Corey!) had fun sliding down the ice slides!

The "Snow" attraction was an outside area that had a snow blower that provided tons of snow for the kids to play in! At one point Carson wandered in front of the blower, and got a face full of snow, he almost fell apart, but Corey helped him brush himself off, and he pulled himself together enough to continue on with the fun! There was a live reindeer that guests could have their picture made with, as well as bonfires set up, and s'more kits available for those that wanted to make s'mores.

Next we headed to the Mall at Green Hills, where we all had lunch together at the Cheesecake Factory. What a treat! Caylie and I still had a little more Christmas shopping to do, so they boys went to the "Adventure Science Center" for a little while, and then returned to pick us up again a few hours later.

We took a drive through downtown Nashville, and then returned to the hotel, where we watched the amazing indoor fountain show that was set to Christmas music and scripture reading.

After a quick change of clothes, Carson took a dip in the indoor pool (and even in the outdoor hot tub...burrrr!), while Caylie and Christian worked out in the fitness center.

Caylie and Christian then agreed to babysit Carson, and get him into bed, so that Corey and I could go to the "Old Hickory Steakhouse" for a date night. We had eaten a late lunch, and weren't very hungry, so we just shared an appetizer and dessert. We had such a nice time. The food was delicious, and we were seated in the atrium overlooking such beautiful lights and gardens. We really enjoyed it so much. On the walk back to our room, we took an accidental detour, and came across a beautiful outdoor area of the hotel that we hadn't seen yet. The lights on the trees were breathtaking. We had never seen so many trees lit up in such detail. It was a beautiful sight...a great end to a perfect date!

This morning, we ate breakfast in the hotel, and then headed back to Little Rock.

Although it took some effort for us to be able to get enough done, and be able leave town for these few days right before Christmas, it was so worth it!

Such fun family memories!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Thanksgiving

2010-11-26T12:14:00.000-08:00

We had a fun and relaxing Thanksgiving yesterday.

Mom, Jeanna, and Elizabeth all came over, and we ate until we couldn't eat any more!

Caylie changed out the chalk board in our school room/dining room for the occasion!

Before we all sat down for dinner, we had to get a group picture! (Caylie and Elizabeth were comfy in their PJ bottoms!)

I traded out with Elizabeth, so that everyone could be in a picture!

Corey prayed before our meal, and then Carson wanted to add his own prayer. He began with the most southern "Dear Lord", that you can imagine! We seriously do not know where he got such a strong southern accent, but it sure makes for lots of laughs! :)

After we all sat down, before we began to eat, we went around the table and shared what we were thankful for this year. It is always nice to hear everyone talk about the blessings that they are thankful for. Some of the things mentioned, were Corey's job, health, family, friends, our church, homeschooling, our home, and having Jeanna with us this holiday season!

After a delicious dinner, we played games, watched movies, relaxed...the usual Thanksgiving day stuff! :)

We finished up the evening by eating leftovers, and sitting around the tv to watch the CNN Heroes awards. It is a great program that tells the stories of ordinary people who have gone above and beyond to help others in need. We've made it one of our Thanksgiving traditions!

Writing the Waves,

Christi

Thanksgiving Week!

2010-11-23T13:44:00.001-08:00

Only two more days until Thanksgiving!

We are not doing school this week, and so everyone will get to enjoy some down time!

Tonight I plan to make a late night trip to the grocery store, so that I don't have to deal with the crowds, and then tomorrow, and Thursday morning, I will prepare the dishes that I am responsible for.

Mom and Jeanna will come over for the day on Thursday, and we are all pitching in to pull together our Thanksgiving feast! I can't wait to eat mom's dressing!!!!!!

I. LOVE. IT!!!!!

We hope to do some other fun family activities this week too.

We have talked about driving to Hot Springs, and visiting Garvin Gardens to see the beautiful Christmas lights. We have gone for the last two years, and it is such a fun evening! I think that it will be a tradition!

We also hope to have a movie night at home, maybe go to a movie at the theater, and have a family game night...if we can twist Caylie's arm (she's not much of a game player!)! :)

A funny Carson quote...

A couple of days ago, Corey and I were riding around with Carson, and he was in the back seat singing, "Rock Solid, Hey, Rock Solid"...a song that the kids sing at church a lot (about Jesus...the solid rock), and that he loves! Anyway, he paused for a minute, and then said, "Hey, how does salad rock?" Corey and I didn't even want to correct him, because it was so cute and funny, but we did! He has been singing that song for months, the whole time thinking that he is singing about salad!

Love that kid!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Halloween

2010-10-31T12:58:00.000-07:00

We all had a fun Halloween night with our little monkey Carson tonight.

Both Caylie and Christian decided not to dress up in costumes this year. My teens are growing up on me....waaaa! :)

Kinley and her family came joined us for the evening. We decided to go to the Trunk or Treat party at the church that mom, Kinley, and her family attend.

It was a lot of fun!

One of our first stops with Carson, was at a booth where he had a football painted on his cheek.

Mom's group at church had a Veggie Tale's booth set up, and she was dressed up as Madame Blueberry! She and her friends were so cute! They had Veggie Tales music playing, and were doing little dances to the music, and giving out candy.

Carson was proud to have his Mimi dressed up as Madame Blueberry!

Caylie was pretty proud too!

There was a hula hoop booth set up where everyone had some fun!

Christian gave it a shot...

And Corey did too...maybe not so successfully!

Carson got loads of candy, and played lots of fun games!

After Trunk or Treating, we grabbed a quick dinner at Jason's Deli before calling it a night.

It was a fun Halloween!

Writing the Waves,

Christi

College Road Trip...Stop #1

2010-10-22T13:29:00.000-07:00

We started our week of college visits last Thursday afternoon, by taking Caylie to a prospective student event at Ouachita Baptist University, in Arkadelphia.

OBU is the college that both Corey and I attended (and LOVED!), and I must say that it was VERY surreal seeing our daughter in that environment!!!

As soon as we got her registered, she was swept away with many of her friends that were there for the event as well. We were really happy to see that she felt so comfortable, but we just could not quit talking about how very weird it was to see her in a place that holds so many fun and special memories for us when we were in college!

SO. WEIRD.

Is she really old enough for this?!?!

The students ate a nice dinner together, and then attended Tiger Tunes...a fun, crazy campus event that is always a lot of fun. After Tiger Tunes, they went to Refuge...a worship service at a local church, and then got to spend the night in a dorm!

While Caylie spent the evening with her fun activities, Corey and I headed to his parents house with Christian and Carson to spend the night. His parents live about 5 minutes away from campus, so it worked out perfectly!

On Friday morning, Nana and Papaw entertained Christian and Carson, so that Corey and I could go on a tour of the campus. It has been almost 20 years since Corey and I graduated, and the campus has changed soooo much! We could not believe how nice the dorms, and other new buildings are now!

Caylie spent the morning attending a couple of classes, and then after a final assembly, which included both the prospective students, as well as parents, it was time to head home.

It was a fun visit for all of us!

Next stop...John Brown University...

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Ups and Downs of Life

2010-09-10T13:47:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, we headed to Fayetteville to enjoy some fun time together.

When we arrived on Saturday, Caylie and I dropped the boys off at the U of A campus, where they mingled with the enthusiastic Razorback fans for a little while. Carson was sooo excited about getting to be a part of the Razorback scene! We came back before game started, and picked up Carson so that Corey and Christian could have some good "guy time" while watching the game.

After eating a delicious, gluten-free dinner at Carino's, Caylie, Carson, and I headed to our hotel to relax. Carson went to bed, and then we watched "Legally Blonde", while playing Speed Scrabble during the commercials! It was fun, and laid back...just what we were in the mood for!

We woke up the next morning, and went to a REALLY cool place called "Fast Lanes". It had bowling, go-carts, an arcade, putt-putt, laser tag, and a little restaurant! We chose to do glow in the dark bowling, and had a great time! It was lots of fun to watch Carson get so excited when he, or anyone else, knocked down some pins!

When we left Fast Lanes, the guys gave Caylie and me some "girl time". They dropped us off at a really nice outdoor shopping center, where we chilled out in the book store, ate at PF Chang's, and then did a little bit of shopping. I love hanging out with Caylie!

The guys picked us up after a few hours, and we all went to see, "Ramona and Beezus". It was a really cute movie that we could all enjoy. Carson is still talking about Ramona, and the mischievous adventures that she got into!

Next stop, the park. We found a nice little park, where Carson could run and play. It was pleasant weather, and so we just hung out for a while.

When we got back into the car to head back to the hotel, we started getting word from people at church, that the leader of our preschool ministry at church, had suffered sudden heart failure, and fallen off of a ladder, while painting a room at the church, was not breathing, and was being rushed to the hospital. We stopped and prayed for her right then, but quickly learned that she had passed away.

This was traumatic news for our family. Carson loved Ms. Mary dearly, and always ran to her for a hug when he saw her in the hall at church. We loved her for the wonderful way she reached out to him, and us, when we started attending our church!

Ms. Mary had her hands in so many things! She was also one of the leaders of the homeschool organization that covers Central Arkansas. If you wanted to know anything about homeschooling, you talked to Mary! She was one of the first people that I talked to after we decided to homeschool.

She leaves behind her husband, and 3 children, the youngest is her sweet 16 year old daughter that is in Caylie's grade. Mary has always homeschooled her children.

The news about Mary knocked us off of our feet, and we went back to the hotel to process through the loss of this special friend.

Mary's memorial service was this morning. It was a beautiful celebration of her remarkable life, with more people attending, than could be seated in the sanctuary.

Corey wrote the following poem, as a tribute to Ms. Mary, and her precious ministry to children. The poem was read at the service.

A Tribute to Ms. Mary (By Carson dad...Mr. Corey)

A Voice For The Children

She touched so many, who can't understand,

The ones on her hip, the ones on her hand.

They called her Ms. Mary, but just those who could talk,

They all felt her love, before they could walk.

She led a small army, a commander of love,

hundreds of soldiers, guided from above.

They all felt her care, and knew it was real,

They all knew her love, so warm you could feel.

Many are now older, and mourn on this day,

this love for Ms. Mary, it won't go away.

The ones that are little, the ones in her class,

they can't understand, and the questions they'll ask.

The parents, we grieve, we know what a loss,

we answer their questions, in bed we all toss.

In time we'll all know, why it happened this way,

it's all in His plan, we'll continue to pray.

The children she touched, her legacy alone,

Her passion unmatched, they'll feel when they're grown.

Ms. Mary they cherished, she helped them to see,

God's love for children, for you, and for me.

A woman of mercy, a gift from above,

I speak for the babies, an army of love.

Her time has slipped by, so precious it seems,

The children they sleep, Ms. Mary in their dreams.

But the children in Heaven, they rejoice on this day,

With arms raised to Ms. Mary, "Please hold me, come play!"

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Learning To Be Gluten Free

2010-09-03T18:58:00.001-07:00

We found out today that Caylie is "gluten sensitive".

For a while now, she has been feeling fatigued, having headaches, and stomach pain. I have several friends that are gluten intolerant, and I wondered if that might be Caylie's problem as well. I started doing some research, and decided that she should be tested. After a three week wait, her test results arrived today.

Caylie's "anti-gliadin" measurement was 406 units. "Normal" is less than 10 units, and the lab usually measures up to 350 units. I called the lab to make sure it was not a mistake, and was told that occasionally someone just has an exceptionally high number, and Caylie is one of those exceptions.

The results require her to follow a "strict and permanent" gluten free diet, which is a big adjustment for most anybody...especially our little bread lover, but we know that she can do it.

A couple of weeks ago, Caylie started trying to adopt this way of eating, just to see if it helped, and she says that she can already tell that she feels better.

I was told by a well-informed friend today that we should also have her tested for the celiac gene, and if that comes back positive, that she should then have an intestinal biopsy to determine if she has celiac disease. To have this genetic test done, she would have got get back ON gluten for a few more weeks.

None of us were happy to hear that.

After experiencing the positive results from changing her diet, she is not looking forward to feeling badly again.

All of this is a lot for us to take in, and wrap our minds around. I am trying to take in as much information as I can, but there is so much out there, and honestly, much of it is conflicting!

Aarg!

I will be doing lots of internet research, reading books, and talking to as many people as I can to learn more about what we are stepping into with this new diagnosis.

What we are thankful for, is that we were able to quickly find the cause of Caylie's problems. Many people go undiagnosed with gluten sensitivity for years, while the damage to their body increases.

Also, we are thankful that her condition requires no medicine, only a change in diet. Yes, a big change, but still...we are thankful for that.

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Caylie's Blog...

2010-09-02T09:54:00.000-07:00

As I have mentioned before, Caylie is much more consistent with her blogging than I am. I love to read her frequently updated blog thoughts! She is such an inspiration to me! Here is what she posted today.

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Thank You God!

2010-08-23T19:44:00.001-07:00

Today my sister Jeanna had her second successful open heart surgery.

She has been so sick for so long, and we are all very grateful for her opportunity to have a healthy, new chance at life.

She has been through so much. We all believe that God has a great plan and purpose for her. There is no other reason that she should be alive!

As I go to bed tonight, after a very long day at the hospital, this is my prayer...

That Jeanna will cling tightly to God, actively seeking his purpose for her life, and allowing him to guide her every step, each day.

God has been so faithful. We are thankful.

Writing the Waves,
Christi

So, Here's The Plan...

2010-08-17T08:41:00.001-07:00

So, for the record, here are our subjects for the year, and how we plan to tackle them...

Caylie...11th Grade

Most of Caylie's classes are going to be done in group settings. She loves "CoOp"! In our city, there are about 100 homeschoolers that attend a wonderful high school CoOp on Mondays and Wednesdays. Caylie's CoOp classes this year are...

*Art
*Algebra 2
*Spanish 2
*Writing

She will be taking Apologia Chemistry from a teacher that holds a few science classes in her home. Caylie will attend this class with 5 other homeschool friends.

Her "at home" subjects will be...

*World History (modified Sonlight)
*World View (selected memory verses and books)
*Grammar (ABeka)
*Vocabulary (Wordly Wise)

Last year, she did not do Grammar and Vocabulary, but we are adding them this year as extra preparation for standardized testing.

In addition to her academic classes, Caylie is excited about remaining active with the youth group at our church, taking guitar lessons, playing volleyball with our homeschool sports organization, and hopes to participate in some local theater.

Christian...7th Grade

Christian's courses this year are...

*Pre-Algebra (Aleks.com)

*Physical Science (Apologia)

*Writing (IEW)

*Grammar (ABeka)

*Vocabulary (Wordly Wise)

*Spelling (Spelling Power)

*World History Part 2 (modified Sonlight)

*World View (selected memory verses and books)

Christian also participates in our Homeschool Academy that meets one day a week. He gets to take Art, as well as several other classes. He really enjoys his days at Academy.

Starting in the winter, Christian will participate in a 4H Science day camp, called SEEK, that meets one day a week for 12 weeks. He did this last year and really enjoyed it. They spend most of the day outdoors, studying science. Last year they dissected fish, and lots of other "fun" stuff that I am happy to NOT be doing at home! :)

Christian will also remain active with our youth group, as well as participating in football, basketball, and guitar lessons.

Whew!

Never a dull moment around here!

Writing the Waves,

Christi

Off To A Good Start!

2010-08-16T16:10:00.000-07:00

Well, it appears that I have officially fallen off of the blog wagon!

Caylie has been begging me for months to get back to it, and I have had the best of intentions, but my "to do" list keeps taking over my life.

Another reason that I haven't blogged in FOREVER, is that in my mind, a blog is not really very interesting without pictures. Unfortunately, when I add pictures to my blog, and sometimes, even when I don't, Blogger throws the line spacing all out of whack, and then it takes me WAY to long to get it straightened out. Unless I have a good hour or so, which I never seem to have, I don't even try to blog. Frustrating!

A couple of nights ago, Caylie convinced me that even if I do not include pictures, that I need to be blogging, so that we can keep up with our family memories.

I had to agree.

I'm going to work on doing better. Even if it means that many of my posts will be pictureless.

Ugh.

So...

Today was our first day of school.

Caylie was sooo excited about heading back to CoOp to see all of her friends, and get into the groove of the school year again. She had her backpack loaded with fresh, new supplies, and was ready to roll, with a big smile on her face as I dropped her off this morning. I love that she loves it!

When I got back home, Christian was already sitting at the table, hard at work. We have tweaked our curriculum this year, so we worked through those changes, and had a really good day. We both talked about how much happier we are with homeschooling than we were before.

Sooo glad that we are homeschooling!

So. Glad.

I have been doing preschool activities with Carson most days throughout the summer. Both he and I really enjoy doing these activities, so I will continue to teach Carson this year, even though he is enrolled in a 2 day a week preschool.

Although we always welcome summer vacation, and the break from routine, it is also great to get back into the swing of things in the fall. I enjoy waking up and having a plan for the day!

Tomorrow I will post about what subjects the kids will be studying this year, and how we are going to tackle each one.

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Winding Things Up!

2010-05-13T09:03:00.000-07:00

Today we finished Christian's first year of homeschooling! It has been a GREAT year, and we have LOVED it!

Caylie still has a little bit to go (she started a week or so later than Christian did), but it has been a successful year for her as well.

Both kids have participated in homeschool sports, in various co-ops, and have made lots of new friends! It has been such a positive experience for our whole family.

I truly can't even put into words how very thankful I am. We started this venture a lot later in the game than most do, and although I had spent many, many hours in preparation, I was still intimidated. This past year has just been a time of such confirmation to our family that God has been working out His plan in our lives...in many very unexpected ways.

I have learned sooo much this year (and the kids have too!), and while we are all looking forward to our summer break, it brings me such happiness to know that we will also be looking forward to another year of homeschooling in the fall!

I leave in the morning to go to the state homeschool convention. I am excited about selecting new curriculum and also plan to attend some classes.

One of my many goals for the summer is to catch up on my blogging. I had hoped that I would be able to continue blogging regularly during this past year, but I just really didn't seem to have the time. Oh well...that's what summer is for! :)

Writing the Waves,
Christi

A Fun Little Find...

2010-03-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

Today, I happened across two different blog sites that are designed with the intention of connecting Arkansas bloggers. Both seem to be pretty new.

If you are interested in checking them out, here are the links to Arkansas Women Bloggers and to Arkansas Bloggers. Just thought you might be interested!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Another Fun and Busy Weekend

2010-03-13T18:02:00.000-08:00

This weekend, as most of ours are, is a busy, but fun-filled one.

Last night started off with Christian's end of the season basketball party with his homeschool team. The kids all met at a local church and brought drinks and snacks to share. Dads were invited to come and join in a father/son basketball game, and some older brothers also joined in the fun. Corey had a job that he had to do, so he was disappointed about not being able to attend. He would have had so much fun! The kids had a great time playing basketball and hanging out together. At one point, the coaches gave out awards to each of the players. Christian was given the "Phillip" award, which his coach explained was "for bringing the team together in unity...also known as talking!" Funny! Christian really enjoyed the season, and making some new friends. I think that we are all a little sad that it is ending. He is looking forward to playing again next year.

Caylie attended a play last night that one of her friends from church was in. She said that it was really good. I can't remember what the play was called, but she said that the audience was actually seated on the stage, and the play happened right in the midst of them. I can't quite imagine it, but she said that it was really interesting.

Today we woke up bright and early and headed downtown for a volleyball tournament. During a break between games, we took Carson to play at a nearby playground. It was soooo cold! I couldn't believe that only 2 days ago, the kids were breaking out their shorts and flip flops, and today, I had on my coat and gloves...and was still freezing!

After the tournament ended for the day, we all came home and relaxed for a while. I took a nice long nap while Carson was taking his nap! :)

This evening, Caylie got together with some of her good friends, and has plans to spend the night with her friend Gracie. We will all meet up again at church in the morning.

Corey grilled hamburgers (in the cold!), and made some cheese dip for dinner. We ate in the den and watched "Extreme Home Makeover" together! We all love that show!

Now I am washing Caylie's volleyball uniform so that it will be ready to wear again tomorrow. As soon as church is over, we will head back downtown for day two of the tournament. Hopefully it will wind up in time for us all to attend our Sunday night church groups that we really look forward to.

Staying busy, but having fun!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Caylie's First Half Marathon

2010-03-08T11:27:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Caylie's first half marathon! She was both excited and nervous about it.

Her weekend had already been busy. She had gone on a church retreat on Friday evening, which really lasted until Sunday, but since she and Charles (the boy in the picture below) were both planning to run the half, they rode home with our church's music leader after the Saturday night events ended at the retreat. They didn't arrive back in Little Rock until 2:30 am, which didn't make for a good night's sleep before a big race, but she's a trooper, and says that it was well worth it!

Here she is before the race with Charles, and Kaitlyn (who ran the full marathon!), as well as Kaitlyn's sisters, Betsy and Hannah. Charles, Kaitlyn, and Hannah are some of Caylie's homeschool friends, and Betsy attends the school that Caylie attended before homeschooling.

Below, Caylie is with one of her best friends, Elizabeth, and Elizabeth's sister Rachel. Rachel and Caylie were running buddies for the race.

Here they are in the starting line up. It took almost 10 minutes for all of the runners to cross the official starting line, but since they all wore timing tags on their shoes, they were able to get accurate finish times.

We were around the 6 mile mark to cheer them on! It took them about an hour and a half to get to us, and they were still all smiles! Look at all of those cups scattered on the ground!

Elizabeth had made signs to hold up for both Caylie and Rachel at this point. Here is Elizabeth with her mom, and Carson. Carson L.O.V.E.S. Elizabeth (and we do too!). She has spent a lot of time with our family, and he just considers her to be one of us! :)

Caylie approaching the finish line...

Their finish time was 2:36:30. They completed the second half in less time than the first, which was surprising. Caylie said that once they got to the 6th or 7th mile, that they realized that they were going to be okay, so they picked up the pace a little bit at that point.

Here she is with Elizabeth after finishing. She said that as she was approaching the finish line, that she actually felt like she could keep going, but that when she stopped, her legs immediately started cramping up. She sat and rested for quite a while before hobbling to the car! :)

My mom had skipped church in order to arrive at the race site in time to see Caylie cross the finish line! Here they are as we started heading back to the cars...

We told Caylie that she could choose where she wanted to eat for lunch, and she chose Luby's! That seemed so funny to me, but she IS a healthy eater, and it WAS her choice, so we all headed out to Luby's!

After lunch, mom headed home, and Caylie took some ibuprofen, a hot jacuzzi bath, and then a LONG 4 hour nap...she had some sleep to catch up on even without having just run a half marathon!

In other news, Caylie told us that while on the retreat, she decided that she wants to homeschool again next year. We had told her that it would be her choice, and she has not taken the decision lightly!

Oh my...time to start planning! :)

Writing the Waves,
Christi

An Almost Empty Nest...

2010-02-19T20:14:00.000-08:00

This weekend, Caylie and Christian are both away on a church retreat.

They are with the 6th through 8th graders from our new church. Caylie went to serve as kind of a high school mentor for the middle school girls. They were both very excited about the trip. They are at the same retreat center that Caylie attended last weekend with the high school kids from our previous church. I'm praying that they both have a wonderful weekend!

This evening, after we dropped Caylie and Christian off, Corey, Carson and I went to Chip's BBQ, one of our favorite, very casual restaurants. Although I have been trying to eat a little bit healthier lately, I had to have a piece of Chip's delicious chocolate pie tonight. Chip's is one of the very few restaurants where I always want to order dessert. Thankfully, we don't go too terribly often!

We got home a few hours ago, and have been watching the Olympics all evening. This is really my first night to spend much time watching the Olympics. It has been nice to just have an evening to relax, and not allow myself to worry about getting anything done. Right now, we are watching curling. I've gotta say...Corey and I both think that it is a very weird sport! We don't quite get it. :)

Anyway, tomorrow is supposed to be a beautiful day. After Corey goes to a short meeting in the morning, we might get out and do some work in our garage. It is screaming for some organization!

If the weather will cooperate, we would like to plan a yard sale within the next few weeks. It is amazing how quickly things accumulate! I think that my last yard sale was not much more than 6 months ago, but already, I feel like I'm drowning in extra "stuff". I can't wait to get rid of some things!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Humbled...

2010-02-15T06:59:00.000-08:00

I just read my sweet Caylie's post about her weekend retreat, and wanted to share it. It is such a blessing for me to be able to witness God's hand at work in the hearts of my children...http://lifethesedayscaylie.blogspot.com/2010/02/no-horizon.html

And The Birthdays Keep On Coming...Happy Birthday Corey!

2010-01-23T16:43:00.000-08:00

Well, Corey's birthday was yesterday! That should wind things up around here (in the birthday department) until February. We get off to a big start each year!

Last night we celebrated by going out to eat barbecue with his parents, his sister Kinley, and her two children, Jordan and Jackson. We had a nice time, and then his parents and Jordan came and spent the night at our house.

This morning, Corey, his dad, Christian, Carson, and Jordan, all went to the Big Buck Classic...a deer hunting expo that was in town. (Though none of them are very much into deer hunting!) It had live animals, and other things that the kids (and the men!) were all interested in seeing.

After the Big Buck Classic, they headed to Jordan's basketball game, then with Mickey (Corey's brother-in-law) added to the mix, they came here to watch the Razorbacks.

Corey's mom, Kinley, Caylie and I all took that as our cue to run out and hit a few stores!

We wound things up with Mexican food at our house before everyone went home a little while ago.

It has been a busy, but fun weekend so far.

Now I'm heading out the door do the the c25k training that I just started on Thursday. Hopefully I will have the discipline to stick with it through the end! Thank goodness I have my own personal trainer...Caylie! She is quite the encourager...and has very little tolerance for excuses!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

How Cool Is That?!

2010-01-19T18:27:00.000-08:00

We just finished watching American Idol, and are pretty excited!

We actually know someone that is "going to Hollywood"!

Charity is the talented, sweet, 16 year old, that was among the contestants featured tonight. She was shown working at her family's hair salon here in town.

Charity is a friend of Caylie's. They have attended church, and done theatre together. She and her family attend our previous church, where she sings occasionally, and she has also sung recently at our new church.

She's a sweet girl...one that we would love to see make it all the way!

Like Kris Allen (also from Arkansas!), she would be such a welcome change from many that seem to end up in the spotlight these days!

Keep your eye on her!

We're pulling for you Charity!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Beth Moore Study

2010-01-17T19:18:00.000-08:00

Last week I began my very first Beth Moore study.

I have always heard great things about Beth Moore studies, but for some reason or another, I have never ended up participating in one.

A few months ago, Caylie went on a youth group girl's trip to Memphis, to attend a Beth Moore conference, and came back just bragging about how neat it was. It sparked an interest in me, and so I was immediately interested when I saw in our church bulletin that one was starting during the time that Christian's youth group meets on Wednesday evenings. I decided that I should give it a shot. It will be convenient, since I will just bring Christian to church, and stay for the study, and then we will head home together when we are both finished.

Since we have recently started attending a new church, this will be a good opportunity to meet some new women. Including me, there are 5 homeschooling moms in the group of about 30, so that will be something that I have in common with some of them!

The study is called "Jesus, The One And Only". I have done 3 of the 5 weekly lessons so far, and they were really interesting. It has been quite a while since I have done a women's group bible study, so I'm looking forward to it!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Happy Birthday To...Me!

2010-01-13T19:35:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was my birthday!

My birthday is only 3 days after mom's, and 10 days before Corey's! January is a busy birthday month in our family!

Corey and the kids woke me up with breakfast in bed...an egg sandwich, coffee, juice, and a candle! Of course they sang the birthday song...Carson would have had it no other way! He was beside himself with excitement! It was a great way to start my day.

Corey took a picture of me with my pj's and crazy hair, but you're just going to have to use your imagination on that one!

During the day, it started to appear as though my birthday might make a bad turn.

As I was transferring clothes from the washer to the drier, I looked down and saw Christian's flash drive (with his school work on it) in the bottom of the drier! Not good.

I then walked straight into the kitchen, and looked down, only to realize that I was standing in a big puddle of water that was leaking from the dishwasher!

Love it when that happens!

Anyway, moving on...

We decided to eat at Shorty Small's for dinner. We hated to not have Caylie with us, but she had a volleyball practice that she needed to attend.

Shorty Small's has great mozzarella sticks. Carson sure enjoyed his!

He didn't seem to care about our instructions to look at the camera and smile. Here he is with my sister, Jeanna, and me...2 out of 3 smiles...I'll take what I can get!

Mom, Christian and Corey...

While we were waiting for our dinner, I got to open my sweet cards and gifts.

Mom and Jeanna gave me a Coldwater Creek gift certificate (one of my very favorite stores), and a Wood Wick Almond Orange candle. Mom had given me one of these candles a couple of years ago, and it is almost gone now. They knew that I wanted a replacement! I was so excited!

Corey and the kids gave me a gift certificate for a new blog design (which I had asked for)!

The deal that I have made with myself, is that I must get my 2008-2009 blog entries printed before I can get my new blog design. If I don't have a goal, it won't get done!

I have been playing around with the "blog to book" software that I downloaded from blurb.com. It is going to be more time consuming than I had hoped it would be to get it all laid out correctly, but I'm hoping to make it happen before TOO long!

I wish I could just print it out exactly as it is, with me just determining where the page breaks would be, but all of the sites I have found either mess the layout up when they automatically fill in the pages, or require me to do pretty extensive photo and text layout in order for it to make sense.

So, if you see that I have a new blog design anytime in the near future, you will know that I have finally met my goal of getting my blog printed out!

After dinner, we went to mom's house to enjoy the wonderful pound cake that she had baked for my birthday! She served it with whipped cream and strawberries! Yum! :)

It was a very nice day, and I appreciated all of the nice things that were done to make it so special!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Celebrating Mimi at Mimi's

2010-01-11T09:05:00.000-08:00

Last night we celebrated my mom's birthday (Mimi to my kids), at Mimi's Cafe...how appropriate! :)

She opened her birthday gifts, which were framed pictures from the recent photo session that we all did together. One frame held a collage of several different images from that session, and the other frame was a picture of Mimi with the grandkids...below the picture, it read, "The best things in life aren't things." I think that she liked them!

Can you tell that this picture is posed? I was so caught up in the moment, that I forgot to take pictures while she was actually opening the gifts...so I made them fake it for a picture!

Another recreation of the real moment...

Here she is after we sang to her. She is about to blow out her candle.

As I have mentioned before, Carson LOVES, LOVES, LOVES birthday celebrations!

After dinner, we all came back to our house to hang out and play a game together. It was a fun night!

Happy Birthday Mimi!

I couldn't ask for a more, wonderful, special, gracious, and loving mom!

I love you!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

The Spelling Bee

2010-01-10T06:34:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Christian participated in the local homeschool spelling bee. The winner would get to go to the county spelling bee.

He had been practicing his words regularly, and was well prepared for the day

Before the spelling bee got started, they took the kids out into the hall for a picture.

Christian did very well. He had to spell some words that had not been on the list that he studied, and he pulled it off.

The younger kids were the first ones out and two eighth graders were the finalists. Although Christian did not make it into the final group, as he had hoped he would, we were so proud of how he did, and he said that he enjoyed it.

He decided that he would give it a try again next year!

Way to go Christian!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Homeschool Homecoming Banquet

2010-01-09T21:53:00.000-08:00

This evening was the homecoming banquet for the high schoolers. Caylie invited some of her friends over so that they could all get ready together.

Here is a picture of Caylie with her friends Lexi, and Kaitlyn...before they get started.

They took over my bathroom, and the magic began...

Carson thought that he needed to get in on the action...Lexi was being a good sport!

Here, Emily joined the group...

Dresses are on now...but the girls are still not finished!

Ok! There's my girl! All ready for the banquet...

Don't they all look beautiful?!

Ready for a fun evening...

The banquet started off with a nice meal of lasagna with bread, veggies and a salad. A fancy night means your little finger must be raised! Right?!

Caylie and Brittany...

Caylie and Lauren...

After dinner, it was time for the dance!

Y.M.C.A....still just as much fun as it used to be! Notice how the heels came off!
Someone got a train going...

Good friends...great fun!

Still going strong!

Finally...on the way home...for a sleepover!

It was a really fun night for the girls. They had a great time!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Always Thinkng...Part 2

2010-01-07T14:17:00.000-08:00

As I said yesterday, today I will sort through some of what is going on in my head about Caylie's subjects for next year...hers seem much more complicated, because there are many options that we are considering. If you aren't unusually interested in high school homeschool stuff, you will probably want to make a quick exit, and check out a more interesting blog!

Don't say I didn't warn you!

First of all, these ideas are only relevant if we decide that Caylie will homeschool again next year. We still play with the option of her returning to the wonderful Christian school that she had attended from kindergarten through 9th grade. Both that school, as well as homeschooling have been very good experiences, so we remain undecided.

So...here is how Caylie's subjects are being tackled this year...

*Geometry- Teaching Textbooks at home
*American History- Sonlight at home (with some tweaking)
*Health- ABeka Health in Christian Perspective at home
*Biology- Apologia at home (Her labs are done at CoOp...love that!)
*Spanish 1- CoOp
*Christian World View- CoOp
*American Lit.- CoOp
*Art- CoOp
*Speech- CoOp

Many of Caylie's classes are taken during the 2 days a week that she attends our high school CoOp with about 100 other homeschooled high schoolers. Although Caylie enjoys CoOp, and being with her friends, she also says that she gets more of her work done on the days that she is at home, and that she would like to take more of her classes at home if she homeschools next year.

Here are the classes that she is scheduled to take next year, regardless of how or where...

*Algebra 2
*Chemistry
*Spanish 2
*English
*World History
*Christian World View (we would like her to have some form of this each year)

So what could next year look like...potentially?

For Caylie, we will not do Teaching Textbooks again I don't THINK. While it has worked for Christian, I would opt for her to be in a classroom setting for math...I THINK.

One option that we would be looking into next year, would be having Caylie take College Algebra at the local community college. In order to do this, students have to have a 23 on the math section of the ACT, or pass an entrance test, but if they meet one of these requirements, then they can take the class, and receive a college math credit, as well as a high school math credit. Students are allowed to take the entrance test more than once, if necessary, in order to pass. We (and SHE!) would love to have a college math credit or two knocked out before she even heads off to college! Many of our local homeschoolers do this. In fact, a friend of Caylie's that has just finished the Algebra class, said that the majority of her class was made up of homeschool students!

We would probably do Apologia Chemistry, at home.

We know that we would want her to take Spanish 2 at CoOp, because the teacher is great.

For her English credit next year (if we did not choose CoOp), I have looked into pottersschool.com. It is an online school for homeschoolers that a friend is currently using, and it looks pretty challenging...which is what we would want. It offers a real teacher, meeting with a group of real students, in real time, online. I really like the idea of Caylie having someone (other than me) grade her writing. She is a very good writer, and I just think that she needs someone else's objective input to develop that skill to it's full potential. One of my worries about this, is missing a class if we are having computer issues.

World History would probably be a modified version of Sonlight...much like I described doing for Christian in yesterday's post.

Christian World View- I wanted her to take this in a classroom setting this year, so that it would be very discussion oriented, and she has enjoyed it. I think that we would probably do it at home next year though.

So...these are a few of the thoughts that are bouncing around in my mind about Caylie's plan for next year.

Bet I lost all two of my readers somewhere around the second or third sentence! Sorry!

If anyone stuck it out to the end, and you have some suggestions...I'm all ears!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Always Thinking...

2010-01-07T08:00:00.000-08:00

I think it is funny that we are on our 4th day of the 2nd semester of homeschooling, and I can't make myself quit thinking about what things I will or won't do differently next year!

Goodness, shouldn't I be happy to coast along here for a while, and enjoy the ride since things are going well?

You would think...

But I already have my wheels turning about what next year may look like. What will I change? What do I love, and NOT want to change? What things still have me scratching my head?

Let me start with Christian's subjects(6th grade)...

What I HAVE loved...

Spelling Power- I love that it keeps moving along, and instead of spending a week on 20 spelling words...3/4 of which he may already know, we only spend time on the words that he misses. We cover many words in a week, and he learns new words quickly. I purchased the instructional DVD that explains the system (not necessary), but we have not done it "by the book". After we had used it for just a day or two, we adjusted our approach to work for us, and we have really liked it and seen results.

Teaching Textbooks Math 7- He has enjoyed this program, and has done well with it. We like the automatic grade book, and he likes the "fun" lessons. On a couple of occasions, we have had computer issues, had to reinstall the program, and lost all of his grades. Fortunately, the first time it happened, we had just figured his average, and so since then, we record his grade on his schedule each day...just in case! Other than that, we have loved it!

Apologia Elementary Science- We are just finishing the Astronomy book, and are about to begin the Zoology: Flying Creatures book. Christian has learned the material quickly, and has been very interested in, and fascinated by what he has learned. Love that! We use quizzes that I have gotten from a yahoo group to make sure he is "getting it", and because I like to have something tangible to grade.

What I HAVEN'T loved...

Apologia "Jump In" Writing- It may just be me, but I have not been thrilled with this program. I can't exactly say why...maybe it is just a little too loosely structured for me, but I am going to try something else next year...if not sooner. IEW I think.

What I'm scratching my head about...

Sonlight History- I love the schedule (even though I tweak it a little). I love much of the material (though we don't use ALL of it). Christian says that, without a doubt, he has learned more, and retained more history this year than he ever has before. He is interested in what he is learning, and I am interested in what he is learning. What I think I might do next year is purchase the "main" history books that Sonlight uses, and that Christian has enjoyed (Usborne Encyclopedia of World History and Story of the World), and rather than purchasing the long list of fictional "living history" books that Sonlight recommends, and that we purchased this year, we may selectively make our own book list for next year, and hopefully be able to get most of the books from the library. I'm not sure exactly how I will put this all together, but that is my tentative plan.

Easy Grammar and Daily Grams- I think that the only reason I am indifferent about these books is that Christian is not a grammar fan. I will probably use them again, but I sure wish that he loved them! It is my goal for my kids to enjoy what they are learning...if at all possible!

My older kid are total opposites!

Christian is my math and science guy, while Caylie does not care for those subjects at all. Caylie loves, and is strong in English, grammar, and reading, which Christian does not have as much interest in.

I will do the breakdown on Caylie's subjects tomorrow...probably!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Changing Things Up A Bit...

2010-01-05T14:00:00.000-08:00

When I began homeschooling this year, I planned to do my lesson plans at the beginning of each week. I had heard arguments for and against planning way ahead, and so I just had to make my own judgement call. My thought was that I could be more flexible by planning weekly...if we missed a day of school for a trip, etc., then it would be easier (or so I thought), to just tweak things accordingly, and keep on rolling.

Well, after one semester of doing lesson plans every Sunday night (or first thing Monday morning!), with our many books surrounding me, I decided that we would try a different approach this semester.

For the last couple of days, I have worked to lay out the rest of the lesson plans for the year. I know that we will have some unexpected disruptions, but I will still be able to tweak things. I THINK that this be much easier. I can't wait to feel the freedom that this will create on Sunday nights!

On a completely different note, another idea that I think I will try, is making my own washing detergent! Never, in a million years, would I have pictured myself doing such a thing, but after reading today that a friend has only spent $7 on detergent since April, and that the "recipe" only takes 20 minutes to make, I decided that it might be worth a shot! I will have Caylie help me do it. It will probably be kind of fun...at least the first time! :)

Here is a link to Jennifer's blog, where she describes how to make the detergent.

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Love My Friends!

2010-01-02T12:09:00.000-08:00

This morning, I got to have breakfast with my good friend Teresa, and our sweet college friend Nancy, that we had not seen in years.

Both Teresa and I had roomed with Nancy in college, and we were all in the same sorority. Nancy used to live here in town, but about seven years ago she and her family moved to Tennessee, and I had not seen her since she left. They recently moved back to Arkansas, and I was so excited about our little reunion this morning! She lives in a different area of the state, but hopefully we will get to see more of each other now that she is a little closer!

We met at Mimi's Cafe, and had a delicious breakfast. We visited just like we had not missed a beat. We had all been great friends in college, and we slipped right back into that mode. We visited from 9:30 until 12:15, and could have kept going even longer!

Teresa and I agreed that we would ask our husbands to give us a weekend get-away for Mothers Day this year, and let us go see Nancy for the weekend! Hopefully that will work out!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Family Portraits

2010-01-01T13:35:00.000-08:00

In October, we did family portraits for our Christmas cards.

Here is the card that we sent out...

Here is the portrait that we used...

These are the best of each of the kids...

Carson...

Christian...

Caylie...

Christian, Carson and Caylie...

This is me, Caylie, my mom, and my sister, Jeanna.

Me and Jeanna...

Me and mom...

Mom and Jeanna...

Christian, Jeanna, Carson and Caylie...

Christian, mom, Carson and Caylie...

Me, mom and Jeanna...

Writing the Waves,

Christi

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T09:02:00.000-08:00

Last night, we went to Ky and Teresa's house to celebrate New Years Eve. We have known the Harrod's since before we were married, and love getting together with them whenever we can! Some other friends of the Harrod's, Matt and Teresa, were also there with their two children, so we got to make some new friends too!

Since we all pitched in, there was a ridiculous amount of food! Yum! We stuffed ourselves!

Carson, and Rachel had a blast! Here they are jamming on their guitars and putting on a show for all of us!

While the kids (11 in all...ages 3-16) played and hung out all over the house, we learned a new card game that I enjoyed...until I started hopelessly losing!

Hate it when that happens!

Caylie's sweet friend Elizabeth had come with us since there were no other teen girls. Teresa told them that they could have the master suite to themselves for the night, so they bedded down, watched chic flicks, and snacked.

Christian and Drew spent some time playing on the computer.

After the card game, we all settled into the den to visit and watch the scene in New York. A little later, Matt and Teresa decided that they needed to head home since one of their boys was getting really tired. They took their two boys, and Ky and Teresa's son Tyler home with them for the night.

Carson and Rachel were like Energizer bunnies...they never even slowed down! Here they are geared up, and happily waiting for midnight to strike!

Caylie and Elizabeth during the count-down...

Happy New Year everyone!

I can't remember exactly how Ky described this...his chicken dance I think?!? Regardless, I made him do it again, so I could get a picture! Never a dull moment with this guy!

Caylie got this picture of the adults and the little ones. Nice shot of Carson...well, of Carson's hat, huh? :)

Ky and Teresa had gotten some poppers for the kids to play with after midnight, so we headed outside, and had a great (and loud!) time setting off the poppers! :)

Christian was invited to spend the night, so we packed up the rest of the crew and headed home around 12:30.

It was a very fun night, and a great way to ring in 2010!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Knocking It Out!

2009-12-30T19:01:00.000-08:00

We have been getting quite a bit accomplished around here!

For the last few days, we have been tackling some little projects that seem to get lost in the shuffle at other times.

We learned this season that we will NOT be going the route of the "real" Christmas tree again. While we savored the experience of going to the Christmas tree farm, selecting, and then cutting down our own tree, boy, did it turn into a mess! By the time Christmas rolled around, despite regular watering, it seemed that more needles had fallen off of the tree, than remained on it! So, we broke a record this year by having our tree, as well as all of our other decorations taken down and packed away by the 27th! That freed up my mind to focus on some other things that needed to be done.

I have organized Carson's "preschool cabinet", so that it is now much more functional than it was before. This is an area where I keep his letter and number magnets, flashcards, educational games, puzzles, etc.. It is easier for me to locate what I am looking for now, and it will help me to make sure that we are using most all of the items on a regular basis.

Today, I asked Caylie to clean out the coat closet while I was getting some other things done. This hard-working area has a tendency to collect too many coats, backpacks, purses, etc., and so it doesn't take long for things to start getting way too crowded in there. Now, it is cleaned out, and ready for business again.

Also, I was sick for a couple of days on either side of Christmas this year, so although I had already purchased most of the necessary ingredients, we didn't get the baking done for our neighbors that we usually do. Today Caylie, her friend Elizabeth and I all had fun while spending several hours in the kitchen preparing some treats that we will deliver to our neighbors tomorrow.

We are planning to get together with our friends, the Harrod's for New Year's Eve, so tonight we also baked some sugar cookies to take to their house. The girls used icing to frost, and write "2010" on the cookies. We used regular icing, and I sooo wish that we had used royal icing, that would harden, and not be so messy, but we were already into it before I came to that conclusion...oh well. I guess I'll just have to find an excuse to make some more soon!

Tomorrow afternoon, we will prepare some "party sandwiches", as well as some hot spinach dip with crackers to take along as well. Both are new recipes that I have found online. Hopefully they will turn out well!

Writing the Waves,
Christi