I Can Taste Fall!

The kids keep asking when will it be fall. Technically it's around September 22 I think.  But I've decided with football season, school in full swing, and the first of September comes fall.  So excited that tomorrow is September and with it being Labor Day, Matthew has the day off.  We are going on a field trip to Carl Sandburg's house in Flat Rock, NC.  We always like to spend Labor Day going on a family day trip and this one counts as an official school day being that we are going to a National Historic Site.  They even have a Junior Ranger program in which the kids are given booklets to fill out about their visit and upon completion receive badges.  Photos to come from this field trip!

All that said, I also wanted to post today to find out if I could attach photos from facebook to my blog.  My phone is giving me trouble and has decided it doesn't want to allow me to download photos from it directly to my computer.  (I think I take that as a sign from God to let go of the social media so closely and just go back to pictures on the camera and then pictures to the blog.  Argh, facebook and instagram have sucked me in again due to their instant gratification features.)

So if it works, here are a random assortment of photos from our summer.

Juliet enjoyed beginning preschool at Brooks Academy.  She worked on Frozen worksheets but will begin a complete curriculum next week.

 Just a few hours after arriving in Kentucky to visit family the first week of August, Braewyn fell from some monkey bars and broke her arm.  Off to the Louisville hospital we went.

 Two weeks later, her arm was recovery perfectly!  Only another month in a cast.

Cast or not, this girl keeps on smiling.  She was excited to get her pick of colors -- lime green!

 I love seeing the relationship forming between Philip and Rylan.  They share a room but are also close friends.  As close as a 9-year-old and 1-year-old can be seeing how 1-year-olds really don't have friends, but Philip can get Rylan laughing over almost anything.  So cute.

And it seems with each child, they just grow faster than the last.  Rylan is at such a fun age.  No words yet but LOTS of expressions.  My little cutie boy!

Brooks Academy 2014-2015

For the past three years of our homeschooling history, I've always begun our school year on the first Monday of August.  Sounded good again this year until another friend mentioned starting in July to allow time off for when her new baby came.  That made me think.  (Quick side note to announce, we're having a new baby join our family in January!  Think you all knew but just putting it out there to add to the excitement.)  I would like several (three-four) weeks off when the baby arrives so why not start a few weeks early?  Thankfully Philip and Braewyn were signed up to attend KidFuge at our church July 14-18 which would give me a good bit of the day to make preparations for school.  I wanted school to have a whole new feel this year even though we would be in the same space.  How to solve that problem?  Paint the bonus room.  We had talked about it last year but never did.  Matthew decided to devote July 4th weekend to this project and we made it happen.

The prep work involved pulling everything away from the walls and taping off edges.

 Our bedroom began a storage unit for a few days.

 Quick preview of our color palette.

 Still paint free at this time.

 As close as this kid got to painting. Have a good nap, Rylan!

And they're off!  Project has begun. 

The kids didn't stay long.  The girls were asked to go watch a movie and Philip helped for a bit before choosing computer time over painting.

Day two, we moved onto the green.  Matthew joked about the Brazilian flag with the blue painter's tape still in place.  We'll always remember painting this room during the World Cup.

 And done with the green.

 Our finished school room makes me so happy!

Everything fit back in nice and neatly.

 Elementary school side.

Preschool play side.  So extremely thankful to have a homeschool room in our home.  I know not all homeschoolers have one.  For me, it helps to let go of the rest of the house during school hours.  And it's a big help in keeping the little ones corralled while the big ones are learning.

Brooks Academy Directory for the current school year

Rylan, 1-year-old Preschool (1K)

 Juliet, 3-year-old Preschool (3K)

Braewyn, 2nd Grade

Philip, 4th Grade

Crying and changing

So my blog template was all out of whack. I had tried to work on it a while ago and just left frustrated.  Tonight at 3:08am, Rylan woke me up with his little gruntings which quickly turn to irritated cries.  Yesterday Matthew said we should again try to let Rylan cry it out as he was old enough not to need to eat during the night.  So at 3:10am, I went to my baby and put his lovey Raffi back within his reach and left his room.  Next I used the bathroom and came downstairs.  Reading others' blogs and working on mine would help fight my urge to go to him and end the attempt of crying it out.  It's now 4:35am, Rylan is sleeping, and I am still awake. Tomorrow (which is actually today) will come quickly.  This is all for tonight. I would like to blog again soon as there has been much on my mind to share.  Just a tidbit is John 16:24, "Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full." Oh if I can only get to asking for joy at the beginning of the day and not waiting until things are impossible and I don't know where to turn.  Tomorrow (today really) is another day.  

Back to Blogging

Hello, blog world!  I'm deciding to blog without pictures whenever possible and with pictures when possible.  We've been doing a lot of fun things recently and I've been taking pictures to blog about however the time runs out and the thought of saving pics to the computer, resizing them, posting about them seems too daunting a task.  Whew, breathe...   I make myself crazy thinking I'm so behind on blogging when in actuality this blog is the least of my things I'm so behind on, things that really matter and would make like run more smoothly.  But I thank my God for my wonderful husband who recently blew new wind into my sails! 

Last week, my children, my parents and myself took an 8 day trip from SC to GA to FL to GA and back to SC!  It was wonderful introducing Juliet to her last three living great grandparents on my side of the family (she's now met all 5 of her living great grandparents!) and letting them and some of my aunts get to know Philip and Braewyn better.  The downside was a packed to the hilt Trailblazer, sleeping 8 nights with my loveable yet sprawling sweetie Braewyn, and breaking up countless fights between my older two as I parent-ed solo for the week (albeit Nana and Papa were there but just not the same as Daddy).

All that said, we came home to a very cleaned up house thanks to my main sweetie, Matthew!  He said he didn't get to the vacuuming but I didn't care... every toy was in its place and the final boxes which we never unpacked in our master bedroom were now gone, put away into more appropriate places!  He even changed the kids' bed sheets! 

It was a wonderful feeling walking around a picked up house and rejuvenated me with a desire to keep cleaning harder each day.  Ok, ok I'm not making any promises but just saying that currently, I am in a much happier mood and do want to be a wife Matthew will be proud of by keeping a tidy house and making this a place we are happy to call home.

All that being said, I'm going to sleep with a spotless sink!  Some of you know how I've struggled with housekeeping all of my married life and how I've tried 3 or 4 times to follow the FlyLady's system (www.flylady.com) only to bail out a few weeks in.  Her number one rule is to go to bed with a clean kitchen sink.  Seems funny but I'm going to stick with it and see if it rubs off onto a better grasp on cleaning the house in general.  Also, need to make time to sit down and right out a monthly chore chart for the kids and me.  I'm still hanging in there with my daily schedule I created after reading Managers of Their Homes (www.titus2.com) but only successfully sticking to the schedule until 1pm.  The afternoon hours are still getting off track because I don't have the schedule printed out in front of me and every day seems to go a little different from the others. 

Ok, more to come about how things are going these days... we've enjoyed meeting twice now with our once a month 1st grade co-op, read through Charlotte's Web and then saw the play, began attending Children's Choir with Philip in the choir and Kim leading a 4th grade class through their rotations, spending a super fun weekend in the Georgia mountains, having fun and learning at the same time at an apple orchard and an aquarium, and watching our newest little Brooks grow by leaps and bounds overnight!  And I'll throw a picture in now and then too.

Ok, here's one picture!

We were visiting a bear attraction/zoo in Helen, GA.  I love my three bears!