Saturday, August 31, 2013

Mommy's Day Off: Fun with Friends Edition

Last night our game night peoples were able to break away from their busy schedules and join us for a much overdue game night. I LOVE getting together with these people! We laugh SO HARD. I know we are all getting old too because after a particular hilarious moment that had us laughing we all spent the next minute trying to catch our breath. No one talked, no one moved. We just sat there trying to breathe.

I made enchiladas and a peach cobbler (in the crock pot) and Jen brought some yummy chips and dip. We rounded the meal off with lots of caffeine. heehee 
 The kids stayed with us and they really behaved well over all. Josiah wanted to play Apples to Apples with us so he laid down a Curious George card and we ran with it. He loved "playing" with us.
 Another fun part of the night was when Josiah was getting put to bed and brought his Godfather his Bible and asked him to do devotions with him. Can I just say what a great group of friends we have? Seriously. Everything stopped and we all listened as a verse was read and explained to Jman.
 It is NOT easy to have devotions with a little one. Trying to take a verse and bring it down to their level is not simple especially off the cuff. I'm thankful these are the kinds of people surrounding our kids.
 This morning I went and picked up Dory and we went yard sale shopping together. Today was a good day for yard sales in our neighborhood! It is so much fun when you have a friend along. Here is what I picked up... well, all that I can show you. I grabbed three other items as well, but they are going to be Christmas gifts for Josiah so they are safely hidden away. (Gotta love 3 gifts for $1.50)

I found a shirt, a canning pot with the basket inside, and a stand that my hubby will be making some simple adjustments to so it will hang on the wall in the kitchen to be my fruit basket. I'm kinda excited about the canning pot. Next time I make preserves it will be such a big help to have two canners going at once!
While I was gone my hubby got the lawn mowed AND washed the dishes! Seriously, I LOVE that man!

Friday, August 30, 2013

B is for Ball

It is amazing the things you can utilize while home schooling. On one particular day this week the white board was slam full of stuff so there was no room left for Jman to practice writing. He loves to write on the board and I knew he would be disappointed if he didn't get to. I remembered he has a doodle pad so I grabbed it and he got to practice his letters on it. He thought that was pretty cool to use a "toy" for school. 

 This week we learned to write cursive letter 'a' and 'o'.
 His first 'o' paper. Happy Momma! :)
 In math, we are beginning to learn about money. He seems to really enjoy math. He had his first "evaluation" today and he nailed it.

During Phonics this week I saw a touch of improvement in distinguishing the 'e' and 'i' sounds from each other. His phonics evaluation was yesterday and he scored 3 out of 5.

Joanna has been pretty good during school this week. Yesterday she did not want to be by herself so she actually sat in the swing for most of school. Josiah is faced with the hard lesson of focusing on his work no matter what is going on around him. Poor guy. haha. Maybe the Lord will use that lesson later on in his life.
I got a video of Josiah saying his Bible verses earlier that I will post on FB soon. Daddy is teaching him about the Trinity as well as learning the books of the Bible. He has special hand motions for each book. SO CUTE! heehee

Week 3: Complete!
Week 4: A special SECRET surprise for the little man! Stay Tuned! :)

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Mommy's Day Off

My day started off with my devotions followed by a walk with my best little buddy. We held hands, talked, listened to Christmas music, stopped at two yard sales, and he even picked a flower for me.
My favorite thing I did today was use up a gift card to get a pedicure! One of the toes is already messed up but such is life. I also went to the flea market in Lake Wales for a few minutes. It was some kind of hot today so I didn't stay in the heat too long. Other than that I went grocery shopping at three different stores.

Blessings of my day:
1) A man noticed my car tire was getting low and stopped to let me know.
2) I was having trouble getting my one and only quarter to fit in the slot to get a buggy at Aldi. A lady saw my struggle and offered me her buggy. I gushed my thanks as I handed her my warped quarter.
3) I stopped at Arby's because I had a coupon for a free sandwich. The manager explained that they couldn't accept it because they are a corporate branch and not franchise. She gave me my coupon back and then gave me the sandwich AND my drink for FREE. 
4) This is from yesterday but it is a HUGE blessing. A sweet friend dropped off 3-4 bags of food to us. Going through the bags I kept thinking 'we just ran out of this, we use this all the time, I haven't had this in ages'.

God's blessings are amazing!




Friday, August 23, 2013

A is for Apple

Here are a few snippets from school this week.

You can't tell by his face but he really enjoyed playing around with play dough to make upper and lower case U and I.
 Counting paper clips. :)
 Learning to write cursive letter e.

He is blowing me away with his ability to catch on so quick!
 Joanna wandered in and had to find out what her Bubba was doing.
 She had to get a closer look.
The only weakness so far that I've noticed is Josiah has a hard time distinguishing which vowel sound he hears when the vowel is in the middle of the word. (cat, bet) He can answer almost immediately with the correct answer if the vowel begins the word. (apple, egg) We'll keep working at it though and I am sure it will all click together in time.

I asked him what was his favorite thing about school this week and he said "Doing my elevator." It is a little game I used for the last three days to help with vowel sound recognition. If he could figure out what vowel he heard in the word I said then he got to move the elevator up to the next floor. Today he finally made it up all six floors!

Kindergarten Week Two: Completed

Monday, August 19, 2013

Exercising Buddy

 Little man woke up early and wanted to go with me on my walk this morning. He was so sweet and chatty as we walked around our neighborhood. He wanted to hold my hand most of the time.

Here he is in his mismatched pj's.

 He told me he woke up early just because he needed to get out and exercise. He loves it when we get close to home and I let him make a run for it. :) We had such a lovely morning together and then bam! All of a sudden he was no longer my sweet little guy around lunch time. Final consensus: He was tired and started acting out. Wow. That was a rough hour or so.
I am making him take a nap this afternoon. Hopefully, he will wake up and be my sweet boy again. I like that version MUCH better. Now that he has completely worn me out, I am going to rest a while before the chores start chanting my name louder.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Mommy's Day Off

Mommy's Day Off was actually Mommy's Hour Off today. It was a nice hour spent with a friend who can't drive any better than I can. hee hee! A stranger thought we were twins. We were wearing the same shirt which was kinda funny. I didn't come across anything that struck my fancy today, so I will save my money for next week.

Michael started working on the porch trying to clear out the rest of the rotten wood and then to chip up the rest of the tile. Poor guy! It is rough working in this heat and humidity.
He and Josiah are away helping some friends for a few hours and Joanna and I have been puttering around the house getting some odds and ends marked off my to do list. I am hoping to make it to the store this afternoon. We will see what happens. So nothing overly exciting but I am thankful for a semi "quiet"day after such a long week. I think Netflix is calling my name and it is nap time after all! :)

Hope y'all have a great weekend! :)

Friday, August 16, 2013

I Survived

Just popping in to say that we all barely survived the first week of school. Here is one of Josiah's first cursive writing papers! Up until now we have just been doing print so little man did fabulous (in my opinion).
 Joanna's new trick is to climb chairs. She has scared me several times the last few days and took her first spill off one this morning. Yesterday, Josiah left his unfinished drink on the table and I came around the corner and she was up in his chair guzzling it down. Today she stole his glue while he was working on a craft at the table. She is laughing about it too! She was quite the HAM today.
Cheesy Smile!! It's Friday!

Monday, August 12, 2013

Josiah's First Day of Kindergarten

The title should really be "Josiah's first day of kindergarten, first day on a new schedule, Mommy's first day back to her diet and excercise, and Joanna's first day of  'why do I have to play by myself". As you can imagine it has been a very FULL day. I am exhausted!

We wanted to make Josiah's first day memorable and do something that will become a tradition in the following years. We decided on taking him to pick out a special doughnut (Of course he choose one with sprinkles on top!) and chocolate milk. We took it to the park to eat and to have about five minutes of play time.



I think my FAVORITE part of the day had to be the drive to the store. He was so excited about school and the fact that he had no idea what we were doing. He was just chattering away and all Michael and I could do was smile and hold hands and savor the moment.

Josiah was asking if he could learn about all the animals that live in Florida and Alaska. "Can we, Mommy? hee hee I mean, Teacher? hee hee I will call you Mommy Teacher!" I bottled up that sweet moment because I know the coming years will have plenty of moments I will want to forget but not that one. I'll treasure his enthusiasm and sweetness as much as possible.




So Josiah's first day of kindergarten is in the books! It was a good day especially since he remembered most of what I've already taught him! :) I know I am biased but he is such a smart kid; he just soaks everything in. He will definitely keep me on my toes to keep him challenged. "Is that all, Mom? I mean, Mommy Teacher? Can we do more work?"

Tomorrow, big guy.



Saturday, August 10, 2013

Mommy's Day Off!

Mommy's Day Off consisted of yard sale shopping with a friend, making swift turns and throwing said friend against the door, encountering a 60 year old cross dressing man, and grocery shopping. It was a fun morning out.

 Here is what $3.50 got me today!
 A shelf, bird feeder, a picture frame for yearly school pictures, two shirts, and a basket of stickers! I am really happy about the stickers! There were 37 packs of stickers! These normally sell around $2 a piece and I paid $1 for all of them plus the basket! Woot Woot!
It was so nice to have the morning off! To think I get to do it again next week is exciting! I am so thankful my hubby is allowing me time to get out and do something fun and relaxing. I also got the grocery shopping done for the week (I WISH I got it all for $3.50! Ha!). I was done in no time flat without having to keep track of the kids. :)

Today is also my Mom's birthday! Happy Birthday, Mom!

Friday, August 9, 2013

Project Central


Today I feel like doing absolutely NOthing! Just like Yesterday. My body is screaming at me to crawl in bed and go to sleep or some other such activity that involves very little actual activity. Alas, that is not possible when there are two VERY active people who want to be... active. (ACHOOOO!)

Therefore, I am sitting down to write a blog about when I was actually up and moving and feeling... active. I crossed a few projects off my list and here are the results. :)  (ACHOOO!)

Jman's new dresser got cleaned up and the knobs got switched out with Joanna's dresser. ALL of J's clothes actually fit INSIDE his dresser!!!!! No more piles on top of the dresser or desk or closet! YAY! :)
 We were so happy that Jo's knobs matched the new dresser almost to a T. This is Jo's dresser with her new knobs. She had one extra knob so maybe one day I might find another knob to replace it but until then this is what it will look like. (ACHOOO!)
 A WHILE back I got a new shelf for Jo's room. It was a brownish color that I didn't care for but a can of spray paint fixed it up. Until Jo can learn to leave her shoes alone or at least stop hiding them around the house this is their new home.
 Back when I went thrift store shopping I found these shelves and payed $1.75 for them. I spray painted them to match the other fixtures and TA-DA! The picture frame still needs the actual picture placed in it. heehee (ACHOO!)
I got two pieces of my patio furniture spray painted... two to go! I just need the other two pieces moved to the garage so I can work on them. Once they are all spray painted I will work on the cushions.
Ah. Now I feel better about not really accomplishing anything today. Well, I did five loads of laundry and the dishes but they weren't fun. I'll be glad when these allergies of mine stop bothering me and I can function like normal. Until then... ACHOOOOOOOOOOO!

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Showers of Blessings

Last night our church showered our love on a sweet young lady who is soon to be married. We had a wonderful night of fellowship and food. It all reminded me of what a wonderful Church family I am a part of here at LBC.
 I was blessed with so many ladies who helped bring food and some even brought extra food! Then the big kicker is watching ladies helping me clean up. It can be a daunting task to have to clean up but when you have several ladies just jump right in and help you... wow! I am so blessed to have these ladies in my life!
 The bride to be, Julie and her mom and best friend took care of decorating the tables (which I forgot to take a pic!). They did a lovely job! I loved looking at all their pictures they had on the tables.
 My mom volunteered to keep the kids for me on Tuesday while I worked on getting the cake baked and decorated. What a huge blessing that was!!! :) I was supposed to start back on my diet today... but I have leftover cake in my frig. Monday. I'll start back Monday. I promise! ;)
On a side note, the church foyer is getting a makeover!!! I am excited to see the outcome on Sunday! This is just another instance of church family seeing a need and filling it!
I'm blessed to be a part of the Family of God!