I want to live in a fun house

Noooo, not like those crazy FUN HOUSES you go through at a carnival ... like a home that is fun to live in - where I'm more concerned with the relationships than the floors being perfectly clean. I want my girls to know it's OK to make messes, paint, use crafty supplies, have fun. I want them to know their boundaries, but know that their Mom doesn't take herself or her home too seriously. Sure, there are things I don't allow ... things like jumping on my couches and coloring on walls - but my children respect that and honor that and I'm thankful that they do.

Having said all that, I decided one day to give them a wall they COULD color on. A place for fun quotes, making lists or just drawing. And why not have it be a wall in the center of our home ... the very hub of where we all want to be?

And so .... I painted one small wall in my kitchen/dining area with chalk board paint ... oh gosh, I feel like it was months ago! I just forgot to post the pics!

Here is the before and after:

Before, yellow wall that separates the kitchen and dining areas:
And the small partition above the island counter. Sorry about the messy counters! haha

After, the chalkboard wall ...

The chalkboard paint goes across the partition too. I know my kids can't reach up there - but I can! =) {well, while standing on a chair, but still!}

We have used it to write messages to one another, to cheer on a fave sports team when they play, to draw pictures, to celebrate holidays, etc.

Here is my note to self one day when I really needed to prioritize my time!

I recently bought the chalkboard markers and they work really well too. It's been fun to have the chalkboard wall and I hope we don't outgrow the fun of it. {Because I'm sure re-painting would NOT be fun! LOL}

What I've been reading this summer ...

I always say I'm going to keep a detailed list of all the books I've read each year and of course my stinkin' memory is already failing me for this year! I seriously can't even remember all the books I've read but here are a few recent ones:

Eclipse - #3 of the Twilight series - I can officially say I'm addicted. I loved this book, the ending made me so sad that I literally teared up on the train, and I can't wait to read the next one!

The Secret
The Missing
The Telling - All 3 by Beverly Lewis. I'm currently reading #3. This has been a fabulous series and I can't wait to see what happens.

The Gift of an Ordinary Day - Katrina Kennison. Still plugging through this. I've been busy lately so haven't read much of it. It's still one I'd highly recommend.

That's all for now. I still have a lot more lined up on my shelf just waiting to be read. All in due time I guess! I'm trying to embrace the fact that it's summer and squeeze in as many books as I can before we get back to the daily grind of school work. =)

Let's Talk Curriculum

This week I'm taking part in the Not-Back-to-School-Blog-Hop and this week we're talking about which curriculum we're using in our homeschools for the coming year.



I haven't completed ordering all my materials yet - but I do have things planned out so here we go!

This year we are taking things back to where it all got started and we're doing Abeka for most subjects. I know many people choose different curriculums for different reasons - but I'll be honest, I was given most of the Abeka stuff for free from 3 different friends and I really see that as the Lord's way of helping to provide for us so we are gladly going to use what we've been blessed with.

For Hope who is entering 4th grade:
Math, language, spelling, reading and handwriting - Abeka

For Joy who is entering 2nd grade:
Math, language, spelling, reading and handwriting - Abeka

Together:
Spanish - we're still working through Hooked on Spanish - UGH, this is one area we really slacked on last year and I hope to finish this program this year and move on to something more advanced - we shall see!

Geography - Daily Geography by Evan Moor - LOVE Evan Moor products and I'm so excited to start this unit on Geography this year! We also plan to learn about the 50 states and their capitols and will be incorporating that into our geography plans.

History - Evan Moor as well - I can't remember the titles - I'll talk more about this at another time.

Music - I am most excited about this. I have a good friend who taught elementary music before she decided to stay at home with her son. We are working on a plan where she will teach music theory and history to the girls for me, then will teach piano to Hope. We hope to do this once per week and I'm so excited! Since I'm not a musical person I am happy to hand over the reigns to someone who is talented in this area!

PE. - In the fall Hope will do soccer, Joy will do swimming. In the winter months we are planning to get the wii fit plus to go with our wii so we can keep up with doing something physical all year. We also always do swimming {until it gets too cold}, bike riding and hiking in the fall.

Science - We're going to start Apologia Exploring Creation with Astronomy - I am VERY excited to start this with the girls!

Bible - we are continuing to use the Alpha Omega LIFEPACS we ordered last year. Yet another area where we slacked - but they also learn a lot from Sunday School and Awana so I usually don't stress too much if we don't do it every day. However this year I do want to focus more on the discipline of daily quiet time - both for myself and the girls.

I think that is all for now. I'm sure once I actually get all my materials in and sort through it all I'll have more to say. I hope to use this blog to share more about our homeschool days this year. Thanks for reading!

By the numbers

449 pictures scrapbooked
112 pages done {56 layouts}
13.5 hours on the train
4 days away from my sweet husband and daughters
3 meals eaten out WITHOUT KIDS!
2 trips to Starbucks + countless more cups of coffee
1 trip to Micheal's to replenish supplies
1 trip to Coldstone for some yummy ice cream
1 strawberry daquiri shared with a friend
Hours and hours and hours of shared conversation and laughter

All equal a priceless weekend that I will not soon forget! I'm so thankful to Julie for having me all weekend and to my family who all helped with my girls so that I could have this time away.

I'm taking a trip on the train ...

Today I am leaving on a new adventure. I am taking a train from here in New England all the way to Virginia to visit my friend Julie for the weekend.

We plan to scrapbook for 3 days straight with NO KIDS! We both love to take photos and love to scrapbook but never seem to make time for it. So this weekend we've enlisted the help of Grandparents and Daddies and we're making it happen!

I've never taken the train before - I mean little things like riding the subway in NY or Boston or taking a scenic train ride in NH - but never a 6 hour trip!!! It should be interesting and fun. I have books, magazines, word searches and snacks and plan to fully enjoy the hours of solitude!

Oh and my scrapbooking goal is to finish 100 pages this weekend ... think I can do it?!

I'll be home Monday night just in time for our church's VBS - I'll 'see' you all then! =)

Art Contest

My daughters recently entered an Art contest and BOTH of their paintings were chosen as winners! Wooohooo! I am so proud!

They have been taking art lessons from my Father in law for a few years now and have made some really beautiful art work. These are the paintings they submitted that won the contest. The first one is Hope's - she is 8 ... and the second one is Joy's - she is 7.

Wacky Wednesday

Last week my oldest daughter participated in Soccer camp. It was an amazing experience for her and she had a blast! On Wednesday they had a 'Wacky Wednesday' contest and encouraged not only the kids, but also the parents to dress up wacky.

Hope begged me to please dress up too and at first I was thinking how silly I would feel but then decided that it would make Hope soooo happy so I went with it.

Leaving my house in my car I was feeling a little silly, with my hair dyed hot pink and all - but overall it was really fun and I'm glad I did it! Sometimes you gotta just lay aside your pride and make those fun memories with your kids!


{she DOES have soccer shorts on under that skirt - you just can't see it in the pic!}

Ordinary

I'm reading the most fabulous book right now. I won it on a blog giveaway a while ago, you probably remember me mentioning it. It's called 'The Gift of an Ordinary Day' by Katrina Kenison. After having the book in my possession for several weeks I suddenly realized with much delight that it's actually signed personally by the author! "To Kathy~ Wishing you many wonderfully ordinary days! Katrina Kenison"

It's been an eye-opening book, one that I have already shed some tears over and smiled wide, happy smiles over. In the very first chapter I decided that it would never be a book that I'd pass on to anyone else and I pulled out my pink highlighter and began highlighting many, many, many parts. So many wonderful thoughts and ideas that I just wanted to be able to go back to and find easily. Don't get me wrong - I would highly recommend this book for any Mom and will very likely buy copies for friends -- but this highlighted copy I will keep for myself. Forever. ;)

I know for sure I will share many, many quotes/thoughts from this book in the coming days/months/years. But for now, here is just a small sampling.

"The ordinary acts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest." ~~Thomas Moore

"I don't think anyone 'finds joy'", writer Dawna Markova observes, "Rather, we cultivate it by searching for the preciousness of small things, the ordinary miracles that strengthen our hearts so we can keep them open to what is most difficult."

"And it may be too that happiness is really a state of mind we choose for ourselves, a way of being that we cultivate from one moment to the next, rather than the result of realizing our ambitions or acquiring whatever it is that we think we most desire." ~Katrina Kenison

I'll be sharing more soon! But for now I've been enjoying the simplicity of long summer days watching my daughters swim while I immerse myself in a book on the deck. I'm embracing the 'ordinary' and enjoying every minute of it!

Maine

Sorry for being a total blog slacker lately ... the truth is we've just been enjoying our summer so much that I haven't had much time to blog ... but I guess that's a good thing, right?!

This past weekend we went to Maine with our friends and stayed with them at my friend Lynn's parent's cabin {wow that was a mouthful!} Lester and Nancy were very welcoming hosts and we had a very relaxing and fun time. There's something to be said for a vacation where you do nothing but relax. No shopping, no site seeing, no rushing about to amusement parks or venues - simply swimming in the lake or floating in the water - complete and total relaxation!

OH, and we did have some FUN too ... have you ever been on one of these?! If not, you are missing out - big time!

Behind the kids on the tube is the house we stayed in - it's right on the lake, has a great dock and waterfront area and is tucked away in this great little cove.

I could NOT stop smiling and laughing the whole time I was on the tube! Well, that and a little screaming when we hit some big bumps!

Each of us on the boat ...

Bob and the girls - I love this picture of them enjoying the summer so much!

This is what I did pretty much most of the time up there ... floated and floated and floated in the beautiful water!

This is what the kids did pretty much all the time - jumped and jumped and jumped off the floating dock ...

Summer + friends = FUN, FUN, FUN!!!

Hope you are enjoying your summer too! Make time to jump in the water, swim with the kids, jump off the dock, float in a lake/river/pool/ocean ---- enjoy and have fun! I want to add real quick that the whole time we were there I did not fix my hair, put on makeup or worry about how I looked. It was more fun to just enjoy the time then to worry about those things. Summer is going by really fast already - what will you do to have some fun before the time is gone?

Fun Family Fourth - the people!

What would a fun, family holiday be without the family? That's the most important part! We are blessed to be able to live fairly close to much of our immediate and extended families. Most of our families on both sides live within a 3 hour drive of us. How we got so lucky I'll never know ... especially when I grew up in an entirely different country!

Here are some of this year's attendees ....

Our daughter Joy.
Aunt Debbie and Hope

Joy, cousin Thomas, Hope and cousin Jonathon

All 5 cousins eating homemade red, white and blue pops {more on that later}

Cousin Jonathon

PopPop and GiGi

Aunt Debbie and Uncle Rick

My in laws - Dan and Robin

My lovely Mom and I

My wonderful sis in law and I

Cousin Thomas {or I guess to me he's a nephew}

Hope

Joy {love this shot of her!}

Cousin Andrew

Uncle Danny with Jonathon in the pool

Family is truly a treasure to us. We are blessed beyond words to have been raised in the families we have. We couldn't think of a better way to celebrate a holiday than to be surrounded by our families.