Nutcracker Week

This week is insanely busy. I have an 8 year old daughter that dances 3-5 days a week and my 5 year old dances 1 day a week. Well they are both in the Nutcracker and dance for Covington Regional Ballet. Abby is an actual part of the company and Anna is a "public" cast. Well this is a CRAZY week. Abby has to at the school theater where they perform every night this week from 4:30-8:30. Anna has to be there a part of the time but ends up staying the whole time b/c my husband is an amazing daddy and helps back stage with props, back drops, and curtain. So tonight is dress rehearsal, tomorrow the 4th grade from the public school comes to watch a small part of it, and the actual shows are Saturday night and Sunday. I will post pictures for you all to enjoy later.

11 Months Old and Not Much Cuter Than This

She is a cute little bug in this house. She keeps things lively as she has LOTS of energy and laughs a lot. She is my loudest baby I have ever had. The other two were super quiet babies and sometimes easy to forget about. Yeah well Addi Ruth won't let us forget she is around. We can't put her down to crawl unless we have vacuumed the floor over 3 times b/c if there is a speck of anything (even carpet hair) she will put it in her mouth. She is great fun though and makes our whole family laugh and play all the time. She loves her sisters with a passion and they love her back. She squeals anytime they are around and cries anytime they leave the room. They even like to put her in boxes and play house. Haha!

It is hard to believe her 1 year birthday is coming up. Time has gone by so fast. We are so thankful the Lord chose us to be her family. She has really been a blessing and so much fun.

New things:
Pointing at things
Crawling
Trying to repeat lots of words but still won't say mama.
Cut 4 teeth and the 5th is on the way. (The other two were a year at least before they cut teeth)
Loves baths with her sisters.
Eats table food, loves peas, broccoli, avocado

Finally and a Play List

Well we are finally getting settled into our new place and it is feeling like home though I know we won't be here for a super long time. This is until we find where we really want to be and for the right price. Homeschooling was hard during the move but we still managed to do it everyday. The girls are learning lots and Anna is finally reading and by the grace of God I taught her.

Listen to my new play list. Some of my favorites.

Still No Internet

Yep still no Internet here at the new place. As soon as it is up I will be back. I have a lot to say. Lol!

Tap, tap, tap is this thing on?

Just wondering if I still have followers out there? ;) I am writing a couple of posts right now about life and our baby girl. She needs an update b/c she is doing lots of new things.

We Are Moving: The Debt Curse

Yep you heard that right we are moving. We have decided to rent a house for a while, sell this one, and just pay off debt. Yes we are cutting our house payment and just going to save. Mark and I in the past haven't made the wisest financial decisions and we have tried to make some and then we get to a point of being OK and make stupid decisions again. Well we are tired of that life. We are now going to just pay off debt (hospital bills mainly) and save, save, save. The great thing is we really don't have a ton of debt but the debt we do have bugs us thankfully that was b/c of wise decisions and accountability from before. It could be a whole lot worse. If we plug away at it we can have it paid off in a year hopefully.

So what are we going to do to make sure we stay on track this time? Yes we are going to ask some friends to join is in Dave Ramsey's class. Then we are going to continue to meet with these friends, we have learned it is a lot easier to be disciplined when you have people marching along side with you.

If you feel led say a prayer for us that we can get this house sold quick and move forward in our plans to be debt free, give money away, and save.

Because She is So Darn Cute!

She had her hair up in a "spout" with a bow all day. We took it out and she looked like a little rooster. We couldn't resist taking her picture and she knows she is cute. Can you tell?

Elkmont 2010: Camping

Every year for the past 3 years and from here on out we go as a family to Elkmont, TN. This has been the best year so far. We had such a great time with our family and friends. About 20 - 30 families from our church go up there for this fun filled weekend. I would love to share some (OK a lot) pictures with you.

This is our campsite.


The kids love tubing there. This is the oldest and one of her friends riding down the river.


This was my first year getting to walk part of Cades Cove. A lot people bike ride the whole thing. We just walked a small portion.





Enjoy the few I put up. I will post more later.

I will be back

I haven't forgotten about my blog. I have been so busy homeschooling, trying to get used to our new schedule, and life in general. I have lots of pictures I want to share with you and will be back hopefully today or tomorrow to post pictures.

This Man

I can't say enough about him. He is the man the Lord gave to me and he choose me. We have been through a lot and have always worked it out. Our marriage is better than ever. Yes that is 11 1/2 years later. I love him. What do I love about him? Well lets make my list

1. He loves the Lord.
2. He love me.
3. He loves his girls.
4. He is an amazing daddy.
5. He works hard to provide for us.
6. He is a rock when things are hard.
7. He is good looking.
8. He 100% supports our homeschool journey and even looks forward to helping.
9. He loves to camp we have found what we love to do together.
10. He has a heart for adoption.
11. He has the amazing gift of service and doesn't need any recognition. In fact he
doesn't like it.
12. He can play the piano beautifully.
13. He has a beautiful voice.
14. He is always there for us as a family.
15. He puts our family first.

Doesn't he sound amazing? Well he is. I love you honey!

New Look?

I think I may change the look of our blog. I like girly b/c well, I am the mom to 3 girls. LOL! I love having girly looks b/c well, I am girly. It is pretty girly now but I was on "The Cutest Blog On The Block" and I am loving some of the new looks they have. Off to check things out.

Going To The Beach

And we are off! Every year we go to St. Simons. We are on our way down there as we speak. I look forward to posting pictures of the girls playing in the sand and pool. See you when we get back. Oh and maybe an educational thing or two. ;)

I Miss My Girls

Well my kiddos went to spend the night with granny last night and I thought I would welcome the break this morning and I am not loving it. My house is TOO quiet. I miss them terribly. I am sure when I get to the lake in a little while with my friend we will have a great time and I will have a good distraction as we both needed a little time away but man this morning my house is empty. I can't wait to see them tonight.

First Day of True Plannin'

Well I am taking today and spending the day really beginning to plan out our year. It is very exciting. I have the foundation calendar set up. I put the Public School calendar on my calendar so that I will know when my daughter's friends will be out of school. We will continue our schooling on a lighter schedule during the breaks as I really enjoy taking some breaks and feel like the girls will need it too.

I am about to begin planning our first month of school in my awesome "The Well-Planned Day" planner.

Two of my Three are Gone This Week...

The oldest two are off to camp this week. My oldest will be staying the night there and my middle one gets to go to day camp. The oldest is going to Kingdom Camp (only 30 minutes away) and she is so excited that this is the first year she gets to stay the night. They have to have completed 2nd grade to stay the night so it is a right of passage for the kids that go to our church and a real big deal. Then my middle one gets to go to the day camp at the same place so I do get to see my oldest every day when I drop off and pick up my middle one. It makes her being away a little easier. My middle one just turned 5 and she still likes her naps to needless to say she came home worn out but so excited.

So what do I do with all this time on my hands? Yep you guessed it, sew. The baby is still napping 2 times a day so there is plenty of time for me to do some sewing. I am going to make the girls 4th outfits to wear this weekend. I am also going to start planning our school year out, I figure that it is never to early to start planning. I will also start my list of things we will need for the year. I am getting excited.

She is 6 Months

I can't believe she is already 6 months old. She is rolling all over the place. Sitting up assisted. She is also pushing up on her arms and on her knees but not at the same time (thankfully). She is loud, she squeals and screams with delight and it is all the time. It is funny to watch her big sisters get frustrated with her about that but I remind them that it could be she was screaming and crying all the time. She is a very happy baby and rarely fusses. If she does it is because she wants to eat or sleep. She sleeps through the night (has been since 12 weeks old) and takes 2 naps a day. She is also my first baby with lots of hair. Her favorite toy to play with is a musical sea horse that lights up and she loves the linking rings. She is such a blessing to our family and we are all so thankful the Lord has blessed us with her.

Today She is 8

I am going to post the same kind of post on my oldest daughter as I did my middle one. She is so very tender hearted, she already has a heart for the lost, she loves the Lord, she is smart, and she is an amazing dancer. She is just like me in so many ways. I am not such an amazing dancer and I learn from her heart for the lost so very often. Some of her favorite things.

Color: Yellow
Favorite Food: Fish
Favorite Book: Bad Kitty
Favorite TV Show: Garfield
Favorite Song: Here I Am To Worship
Favorite Movie: Shirley Temple
Favorite Thing To Do: Dance
Favorite Thing To Do With Daddy: Go out to eat on date
Favorite Thing To Do With Mommy: Go shopping
Favorite Drink: Dr. Pepper (She doesn't get it much...lol)
Favorite Toy: Kitty (from build a bear)

I should have posted this on her birthday but she was out of town. So here it is today.

Mixed Emotions

OK now that school is out for the summer I am getting ready to enter my first year of homeschooling my older girls. I am very excited about this new adventure in our lives but gosh it just hit me and I am SCARED! I sat down this morning to figure our what I still need and WOW. I am going to be teaching my middle girl how to read this year and honestly that scares the pants off of me. LOL! So I am just being real here and I need to get my stuff together and my plan. I am excited about the freedom this year is going to provide but I need to get there first.

Comments Fixed

OK I know some of you had stated you couldn't leave comments. I have now fixed it so feel free to comment away.

Today She Is 5...

A few things I love about her and where she is in this stage of her life and then some answers to questions I have asked her.

I love that she is funny, a free spirit, and keeps our family laughing. She is very passionate when she makes up her mind about something. One minute she may love you and the next doesn't want to be bothered with you. If you call her on the phone she will say what she wants to say and is finished whether you are or not. She is loved by everyone she meets because she is so much fun and always has a smile to offer and usually a funny word. If you don't want to know the truth about something don't ask her because I promise she is going to be honest with her answer. She is a snuggler and loves lots of hugs and kisses, in fact she needs them. I love you sweet girl and I am so privileged to be your mommy.

Favorite color: Pink
Favorite food: Hot dogs, no bun
Favorite book: Strawberry Shortcake
Favorite TV show: Dora the Explorer
Favorite song: Here I am to Worship
Favorite movie: Tarzan
Favorite thing to do: Play outside with sissy
Favorite thing to do with Daddy: He lets me do all kinds of things that I like.
What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy? Play
Favorite Drink: Chocolate Milk
Favorite Toy: Her silky

"If it isn't illegal, immoral, or hurting someone...

Sometimes you have to overlook it." I tend to be heavy handed when it comes to discipline and I am really working hard on giving more grace. Well I heard Mark Hamby speak on parenting and it was some of the most powerful talks on parenting I have ever heard. I could relate to him as he used to be heavy handed to. I want to parent to the heart of the matter. Well he said that quote and boy did it ever ring true to me. I have started putting it into practice. Wouldn't you know the minute I walked through the door the day of hearing his talk I was "tested". LOL! My daughters first words out of her mouth to me were, "Mommy, you are going to be mad at me." Well I just kept repeating, "If it isn't illegal, immoral, or hurting someone else sometimes you have to overlook it." Well she lost a pair of $12 shoes. I was able to not get mad and overlook it. I think she was so baffled by me not getting mad that she brought it up again later that night to make sure I heard her. Haha! He mentioned the book "Shepherding A Child's Heart" and I need to read it again b/c it has been a very powerful book.

Third Grade Curriculum Bought

Well the Lord is faithful to answer when we ask. I have been praying about curriculum and had thought I was going to do one section of My Father's World but really wanted to do a different one. I went to the used book sale and what do you know, they had the one I really wanted to do on sale there fully complete except the couple of things they had written in. I was so excited. We are going to be doing Exploring Countries and Cultures this year. I can't wait! I got all the cool books and we are going to get to learn about some amazing missionaries this year. Can you tell I am ready to go? We are also going to be doing Saxon Math 3rd grade and Bob Jones for grammar/writing. No spelling or Latin yet but I am pretty sure we will be using Latin for Children.

As for the little one who will be starting Kinder I am pretty sure we will be using My Father's World for her also. I have been going back and forth on a few things for her but have come to realize that I just have to make a decision. So I will use that with her. We will also do Math U See this year to start off her Math b/c I want it to be fun for her and she is my hands on girl.

I hope you enjoy following us. I will discuss the talks in my next post. I was tested to put into practice what I learned the minute I walked through the door when I got home yesterday. LOL!

Choosing Curriculum

Who knew it would be so fun, hard, overwhelming, and satisfying at the same time. I can't wait to go to the conference tomorrow and narrow down some of my choices and get my thoughts in order as I approach this coming year. I have a plan of attack of booths I need to go spend some time in and seminars I want to attend. Pray for wisdom as I do believe this is such a great responsibility that I will have the opportunity to carry out. I am thankful I at least have some things narrowed down.

Test

This is a test post to see how this is going to work.