Spring Break Beach Day

Spring Break hasn't been anything special this year. Aaron and I have still had to work. The kids have been mostly home, with Bella and Abby having a fair number of sleepovers here or there. So when Abby asked if I'd take them to the beach, I thought it sounded fun!

We left early on Friday so that we could maximize our time at the coast, and we drove to Port Aransas, our favorite little Texas beach town! We swam (a little at least--the water was COLD!), built our drip sand castles, ate and lounged. Carson begged me for a kite so I left to get one for him. He had the BEST time with it--until it flew away 20 minutes later! But we watched it for ages as it drifted far far away, and we found even that to be entertaining. 

All in all, I'd say it was a really nice day--slow and unhurried. Thankful for the time I had with these kids. They're pretty awesome.

 

Snow Days!

Seems like every year at one point or another, the weather man claims that there's a chance of snow. We always get so excited, and then... nothing. So this year, I didn't put a whole lot of stock in the forecast. 

On Sunday, it started icing a bit, but nothing of substance. But that evening, it started snowing HARD (especially for south Texas)! It was beautiful! We stayed up and watched it for quite a while. 

As we were getting ready to go to bed around midnight, we realized our pipes were frozen and we had no idea where. We were out in the snow and in the well house trying to pinpoint where we even needed to thaw, and we had a blow dryer, space heaters, and more! We were so cold, but we finally figured it out. We woke up to a beautiful winter wonderland on Monday morning! School was cancelled of course. For the next couple days, we played in the snow some, relaxed, and Carson and I watched a lot of LOST. (This is all between rolling power outages, but ours were very consistent and reasonable lengths of time, which was not the case for so much of Texas.) Wednesday the snow finally melted for the most part. Abby and Aaron went to SA to stock up on groceries, because we were running low on food. Stores had been packed with lines wrapping around the building in the days previous with shelves being almost completely emptied--complete insanity--so we'd put off going. They managed to get enough to make due.

Then would you believe it? On Thursday, we got another big snow! It snowed all day long--huge, fat flakes. We were just amazed! Aaron and I went for a walk in the snow, and it was just gorgeous. 

All in all, it was a wondrous week. The kids were off of school the whole week long, and we had a great time.

I should acknowledge that we had it pretty lucky. So many (in our area and across the state) were without power for most of the week. Many were required to boil their water (we are on a well so we didn't have to). Many lost income that week. So it was hard. Our church raised almost $4000 in the weekend following to help a handful of Bandera families heavily impacted by the winter storm.

Back posted. Written 5/3/21. 

Spring Break 2016

The up side of being at a year-round school is that we got a two week Spring Break! It came just in time, and we loved every second of it! Here's a little snapshot...

Aaron brought me a card and a cupcake to work to celebrate Spring Break.
Yes, it has been that kind of a year.

Carson learned how to mow the lawn.

Aaron and I got to squeeze in a few dates during the break too.
He's my favorite.

Since we usually do "that church thing" on Easter, that means we typically have to put off our Easter celebrations with my family off a week or two. This year we went up during spring break and got to spend a long weekend with everyone. It was great!

The kids dyed Easter eggs with Mattie.

And we spent Saturday out at Grandma & Grandpa's for our annual

Easter lunch...

...and treasure hunt!

And we spent time with cousins.

We spent Sunday morning at the church where I grew up, FBC Howe.

On our way home, we stopped to spend the afternoon with Nanny,
and we really enjoyed that special time.

We had time to finally make some progress on our master bathroom.

In addition, we spent a lot of time up at church working on projects. Our sweet kids happily came along and played and helped and hung out with us for long, long hours!

And on our last day of spring break, we had an "upside down" dinner,
with dessert (at Gables) first, and then pizza.

Only 7 weeks left and we are done for the year!

Kitchen Remodel

Since we moved in, we've always wanted to remodel our builders grade kitchen, but (as you know) kitchen remodels are expensive. So it's never gotten done.

But the first week of September (the week after I started working full-time), we discovered water leaking out from under the siding on the back of the house. And when Aaron pulled off the siding to investigate, he discovered a water leak that had been going on for who knows how long. So we got the leak repaired and then a day or two later, Aaron swore he smelled mold. I told him it was his imagination. But lo and behold, when he got under the cabinets, he found this...

So, we took out that whole wall of cabinets and called the insurance company. Getting this kitchen back up and running took September all the way to Thanksgiving due to the fact that 1) we did it all ourselves, 2) we never really seemed to be home, and 3) the rare times we were home, we didn't exactly have the energy to get it done.But it eventually DID get done, and we love it! 

I'll try to add some more pictures soon with our completed sitting room at the end, but for now, you get the idea.

Acton Academy

Well, this blog has been pretty well ignored for the better part of a year, so I thought it'd be good to give a bit of an update, and then I'll hopefully get around to back-posting pictures and more details one of these days!

A lot has changed since my last post in March. We are no longer homeschooling--instead we are at a new school in San Antonio called Acton Academy. Our friends, Scott & Sandi, started this school here this year and asked me to be the Guide (teacher, basically). I spent the middle part of 2015 studying non-traditional education and observing at a couple of the Acton Academies in Austin. I love the model and really believe in it. I love that people are beginning to re-think what education looks like and make changes!

School started August 31st, and immediately the kids loved it. They've enjoyed being self-paced and having their own laptops. We've also completed several project based learning "quests" that they have loved--like a gaming quest where they learned all about probability, strategy, game design, and more. Right now, we are working through a Rocket quest where they are learning about physics, space, and much more.

It's been a very cool experience in a lot of ways, but we have recently decided that I'll be stepping down once a replacement guide is found. We completely believe in the school, but in this season of our life, it's not the best fit for us. I underestimated how much me working full-time would change the rest of our life--ministry, family dynamics, etc. So... in the coming months, I'll be stepping down, but it's been a great journey for us all, and I feel so honored to have been a part of launching this amazing school!

"Spring Break" 2015

I didn't really intend for us to have Spring Break, but then I thought... why not?

So last week we played and had fun with friends and went to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Scurry. It was low key, but nice.

Carson riding the dirt bike at the Rairdon's house

Abby and Anni built a tent in the front yard

A sweet moment with the kids on the way to Grandma's

The rain did not phase them. They played outside nearly all day.

This is Carson's lizard, Lettuce, that he caught and brought home.

 The weekend brought illness upon our kids, so that meant taking it easy for a couple days. We got home from Grandma and Grandpa's on Saturday, and the kids and I stayed home from church on Sunday. It was strange not being there, but it was nice to have some time to clean and to finally get some artwork up on the walls.

Finally hung some of our artwork!

We typically spend Sunday night with Aaron's family, but with Carson still being sick, he and I stayed home and had chinese takeout and watched a movie. It was fun having a little at-home mini date with my sweet boy.

Chinese Takeout and a movie for Carson and I

Today everyone is feeling much better, and we are ready to take on our week and get back to our routine. Hopefully I'll be back with more updates soon!

Homeschool Status

When we began this homeschooling journey, I wasn't sure what to expect. I had significant doubt as to whether or not we could pull it off and whether it was truly the right thing for us. But as I sit here eight months into it, I can honestly say that I'm loving it, and the kids are too. They have never once asked to go back to school.

That's not to say we don't have some really rough days here and there... because we do. (And let's be honest, we've always had those, no matter where they were going to school.) But for me, it's been a soul filling, exciting endeavor. I've seen my kids grow and change in the coolest ways. I've gotten to know them better. We have fun together. And I am learning so much. Education is so much more fun and interesting the second time around!

In addition to our regular curriculum, we've had to chance to get out there and do a lot of hands-on learning, which has been amazing. Things just stick so much better when you learn that way, right?

Homeschool Day at Sea World

Dissecting a cow heart with our Greenhouse friends (co-op)

We now have more time with good friends than ever before

And more time to just be together.

In February we took part in Saturday Morning Discovery at Southwest School of Art, and we all loved it! So many new skills learned!

Screenprinting at the SW School of Art (Love-mine, Stars-Carson)

Learning with our Greenhouse Co-Op friends

A trip to the San Antonio Symphony with our Greenhouse peeps

...not to mention the flexibility and freedom we've been given with our schedule and the incredible trips we've been able to take. There is still progress to be made in many areas, and ways that we can all grow, but it's been a great year so far.

Concerts

We've been very fortunate over the past few months to be able to go to several great concerts. I meant to give each one it's own post, but alas... this will have to do.

All Sons & Daughters and Dave Crowder | Floore's Country Store

Our good friends, Nick & Francesca, gave us tickets to go see this great show at Floore's Country Store back in October. I absolutely love All Sons & Daughters, and their show was pure worship--beautiful and heartfelt. Dave Crowder is a man I have long admired for his incredible talent and heart for God. He went all out, and it was so much fun.

All Sons & Daughters

Dave Crowder Band

On a side note, afterwards, we discovered the most delicious taco stand in San Antonio thanks to our friends, Dan, Caleb & Laura. We stayed out 'til like 12:30 eating tacos. Because we're not old yet. (Though I can't even tell you the last time we were out that late!)

Caleb, Laura, Dan, & Aaron. Tacos and Mexican Cokes. Oh, yes.

Pat Green | Gruene Hall

In December, we went with Jason & Natalie to see Pat Green at Gruene Hall--our favorite country guy at an epic venue! We got there early early and the guys waited in line so we could get a good spot while Natalie went across the street so we could sit down to eat dinner and hang out (don't worry, we brought food back to the guys). It was nice. Finally, the doors opened, and we were able to stand in the very front row. Literally about six feet from Pat Green's face. It was really cool. (Also a little unnerving/awkward.) But we had a blast. (You can imagine Aaron and Jason standing front row at a concert.)  I didn't love it nearly as much as the Stubb's show (it seems like he was playing up the dancehall/party guy rather than the family guy we've grown to love), but it was a fun show, nonetheless. Love me some Pat Green!

Pat Green

BFF's  (Why do I look scared?)

Brad Paisley | San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo

A few weeks ago, we went with the church staff to the rodeo and to see Brad Paisley. Our seats were way up top, but we enjoy his music, and he played a good show!

Brad Paisley