This Week... [09.19.2014]

Life lately has been very different, and yet, it seems pretty natural. (Much more so than I expected.) Homeschooling has been really fun, for the most part, and although the "newness" has begun to wear off, I do not regret this decision. While we have rough days, I don't miss getting up at 6:00 and getting everyone ready. I don't miss sitting in the pick up line at school for 25 minutes every day.  And strangely, (because I expected to) I don't miss the quieter days.

This flexible schedule thing is nice, y'all.

Our week starts on Tuesday. We do a four day school week since Aaron is off on Mondays and we want to enjoy family time.

Tuesday mornings, we head over to our friends' (the Rairdon's) home for Greenhouse, which is our weekly co-op/learning together group.

This week, we were able to meet up with a good friend, Amanda (who also happens to home school) and her kids for lunch.

We also got to have an "art day" with another friend, Sarah.

Art Day!

My cloud painting

Our friend, Sarah, working on her beautiful painting.

And then today, we did Meals on Wheels and then, in addition to our normal school work, we made corn cakes to get a little taste of history, as we've been reading Sign of the Beaver.

We made corn cakes just like Matt did in Sign of the Beaver

It hasn't all been sunshine. I've been struggling a lot with Carson with regards to respect and behavior. It's been challenging, and I've felt at a bit of a loss, but Aaron has stepped in a few times and has been a huge help. I know I've also got friends who have been praying the past couple of days and I can tell it's made a huge difference already. Today was a really good day in that regard!

The past couple of days, I've also been feeling under the weather (allergies, maybe?). But now I'm free to sit. The kids have been playing down the street with the neighbor kids for the past couple of hours while I sit and catch up on work and blogging and such. My darling husband is coming home soon to help me cook dinner, and I'm looking forward to the weekend!

Advice from Abby & Carson

Today's writing prompt was to write an alphabetical list of advice for life, and I love all that Abby and Carson came up with. They're pretty wise (and funny) little cookies! And who knew Abby had so much street sense when it comes to New York?! (Where does this stuff come from?)

Love it.

Abby's Advice

Abby's Alphabetical Advice 

Always have good manners 

Be awesome like me
Cook your meals so you don't starve
Do good
Every day, brush your teeth
Forget about the bad things that have happened
Go to A&M for college
Have fun
It is hard having a job, I think
Just believe in yourself
Kind
Love others
Mow the lawn
No quitting
On Christmas, buy everyone presents
Put on clothes, shoes, and socks
Quiz yourself
Read a lot
Study
Take chances
Until you achieve your goal, don't give up
V (pass)
When you walk around New York, take care of your purse
X (pass)
You need to be a good citizen
ZAZOW ON!

Carson's Advice

Carson's Alphabetical Advice 

Always be kind
Brush your teeth
Clean your room
Do not bully
Eat healthy
Faith in God
Good behavior
Have fun
I give you advice
Just have a good time
Killing is bad
Let others help
Mountain climb
No bad
Other people may be mean
Put others first
Quit drugs
Run away from bad guys
Stop when you're about to cross the street
Talk to others
U stop everyone from bullying
Vowels are important things that you should learn about
Wow the crowd
X-rays are not scary
You teach everyone to LOVE
ZAM. My speech is done.

(I guess my kids really took it in last week when we learned about writing nonsense poems and coming up with nonsense words. I mean, what else could you do with a Z?!)

River Day

Last week, we decided it'd be fun to head to our favorite spot in Bandera to swim in the river for a while. The kids and I made the trip once this summer, but we hadn't yet gone as a family. After all the rain we'd had, the water wasn't clear like it usually is, but still, we found it refreshing and the kids enjoyed jumping off the big rock with Aaron. Before long, we had to head back to town (with a stop at Dairy Queen on the way) due to previously scheduled commitments, but it was nice to get away for a while.

Kite Flying