A Quiet Christmas

We had a nice and quiet Christmas this year.  We spend Christmas morning at our house, eating sausage pinwheels, drinking lots of eggnog…  YUM!!  Then in the afternoon we headed to my parents house, just up the dirt road.   I love being around my family, all 15+ of us.  A lot of tissue paper being thrown everywhere, Thank you’s being yelled across the room,  kids squealing when they see what new toy they got…  We missed having Lou Lou and Squishy with us this year, but they visited us via Skype… My sisters and their technology… gotta love it!  I didn’t get many photos of Christmas day, but these are all from the month of December!!

Waiting to see Santa in Warms Springs

Trying to remember what she wanted for Christmas…

A Yummy Quail supper.  I have never eatten quail before, so this was a new experience for me.

Popcorn for the tree

A Job well done and a little girl very happy!!

Making clay Christmas ornaments

Swinging with Daddy.  Family time is my FAVORITE gift of all!!

Swinging to high, trying to touch the tree!!

Christmas Eve service and our family photo this year…

Our Christmas tree

Cookies and milk left for Santa

Santa’s stash left for Lily

Lily sounded this out all by herself!!!  

Merry Christmas!!  I’m super proud of her!!!

Pulling on the wish bone with her cousin!!

Christmas Snow!!!!  First time I have ever seen Christmas snow!

She was determined to catch a snow flake!!

Playing in the snow at Bidi’s house!!!  It wasn’t much, but it sure was fun!!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  And I pray for a Blessed New Year!!

~Kristina

Cathedrals

**  I received this in an email from a friend.  Touched my heart, thought I would pass it on…

To my mom friends with love...

I'm invisible.

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, The way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone
And ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, "Can't you see I'm on the phone?"
Obviously not. No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor,
Or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all.
I'm invisible. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can
you tie this? Can you open this?
Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, "What time is it?" I'm a satellite guide to answer, "What number is the Disney Channel?" I'm a car to order, "Right around 5:30, please."
I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again.  She's going ? she's going ? she's gone!

      One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare
and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a banana clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it.

    I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, "I brought you this."
It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: "To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees."
In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:

* No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record
of their names.
* These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never
see finished.
* They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.
* The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

  A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, "Why are
you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it." and the workman replied, "Because God sees." I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was
almost as if I heard God whispering to me, "I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become."

      At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.
I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the
book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our
lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

     When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, "My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for
three hours and presses all the linens for the table." That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add,  "You're gonna love it there."  As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

Merry Christmas

~  Kristina

Organizing...

I LOVE organizing... I love how everything looks when I have everything in place. I love that I can find what I need when I need it.

I went to a Tea with my mom a few weeks ago for her birthday. It was AWESOME! It was the first "formal" tea I have been to. It was a fund raiser for toys for foster children in that county. We had delicious tea and treats and there were wonderful door prizes.

One of the door prizes (and I wish I had photos, sorry) was a little matching notebook and pen set. The lady bought a small plain notebook and a pack of the clear RSVP pens and some Christmas Scrapbooking paper. She covered the notebook with the decorative paper, then cut a small strip and put inside the pen to make it match the notebook. It was SUPER CUTE!! Then she told us what she uses the book and pen for:

Keeping notes on what presents she has bought for her family.

She has been keeping a book like this for years. I just love this idea. I can never remember what I bought or made the year prior. So I have started my own Gift notebook this year... It isnt all Christmas-y pretty... I bought the book at the dollar store and there is a dolphin on it, but it works.

YAY!! I am getting Christmas Organized.... makes me happy

Well, this is my random thought for the day :)

Merry Christmas!!
~ Kristina

Thoughts at Christmas Time

This Christmas season brings about so many lessons for me- forgiveness, patience, trust- just to name a few. 

I am reminded daily/nightly that Christ was born to be the savior of us all.  He is our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace- Isaiah 9: 6-7

   Our pastor preached on this Sunday.  It has me thinking-  what do these names, titles mean to me??

   Wonderful Counselor-  means that he is here for me, I can go to him with all my problems, and that if I pray and read the Bible I can find any answer I need…

   Mighty God-  He is stronger than anyone.  He can handle anything we throw at him, nothing will surprise him, nothing will him love us less.

   Everlasting Father-  I have a great relationship with my Dad, and for me to think that there is a Father that loves me more than Daddy-  it just BLOWS me away!  His love is never ending!

   Prince of Peace-  He is the prime example of peace.  He is what we all should be striving for in all our relationships.  (I have a quick temper, I get frustrated easily and I am not fond of change in certain areas of my life…  so this part hits home!)

   This Christmas season (and all year long, too)  I want to be able to remember why Christ came, why he died and how I need to live my life to honor him.   In Night Light, a devotion Jon and I are doing, we are talking about honoring each other.  How can I live my life to honor Jon?  How can I live my life to honor God?  Am I making him proud by how I am living my life?

   Just a handful of questions going through my mind tonight…

Good night and

Merry Christmas

~Kristina

The letter "L"

Up in the clouds I see the trees,
and in the trees I see knees,
and the bees say please.

~ Lily age 4


Lily said this while we were driving down the road today, then exclaimed "Mama, I rhymed! Trees, knees, bees... What else rhymes? Can we play I spy a rhyme with trees?" So for the next 10 miles words were thrown out... Please, cheese, sneeze, just to name a few (and alot of the words were repeated multiple times) but it was fun to hear her excitement in learning more rhyming words.

This is our first week back doing school since the week prior to Thanksgiving. I am so glad this is a "learning year". I am learning that I NEED a calendar with activities and projects and outtings to keep me on track. I am learning that with out SERIOUS organization nothing would get accomplished. So I am going to continue learning what I need to make sure I can provide what Lily needs.

This week is the letter 'L'. We did L worksheets with Lily flowers on it. Tomorrow she will do her dinosaur page, I cannot remember which L dinosaur it is, but she LOVES doing them. We ran into town to return the limb chipper to the rental shop and stopped by the bank. Lily has quite a fan club there, all the ladies come to the drive through window to talk with her. She got a Lemon Lolli pop today. She was talking about Lily Licks the Lemon-Lime Lollipop, then she would giggle. Once we got home we raked up LEAFS and jumped into the pile. It was a HUGE pile, too...

Oh- the webpage I use for most of Lilys work sheets is
http://www.first-school.ws/INDEX.HTM It has lesson plans for ages 2-6. It has seasons, bible characters, themes, you name it. I just love using this site. I would buy their book if they put it all into one :) It is great, and it is all free! Just print from your computer...

Today was a good day. Tomorrow will be more of the letter 'L', but also vaccuming and moping and finishing up laundry.

I hope everyone is having a very Merry Christmas season!!

CHRISTMAS TIME- YAY!!!

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE CHRISTMAS TIME!!!  It is my favorite season/time of year.  I love spring and fall weather, but I love the feeling of Christmas time. The carols being sung, the smell of the trees, just everything about it…

We spent Thanksgiving in South Carolina at Jon’s parents home.  He grew up on a Christmas Tree farm so we come home almost every year with a fresh cut Fraser Fir. 

Prior to heading north, I packed up all our Thanksgiving decorations, linens, books, etc. in anticipation of coming home and getting right into decorating for Christmas.  Trees, wreaths, apple- cinnamon candles, bells, snowmen and randomly placed Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer toys…  I smile just thinking about it.

A few years ago Jon and I decided that we would give 3 gifts to Lily, representing the 3 gifts of the Wise Men.  It is hard to choose just 3 things, I want to get so much for her, but I think we did good. We found an art easel that becomes a desk as well.  (I am thinking multi-purpose, art time, school work sheet and letter writing), we found a pack of dinosaurs ( she is really into dinosaurs.  One of the few T.V. shows I let her watch is Dinosaur Train on PBS, it is a really great show) and lastly a LARGE coloring book. 

While in SC we went “Black Friday” shopping.  I normally don’t do this because I don’t like getting up early, well- I just didn’t go to bed this year.  So many shops were opening around midnight, so I was able to get ALL of my shopping done in about 4 hours.  It was GREAT!  I found some awesome deals, too…

Tomorrow is grocery shopping.  I think I will just get groceries for about week, then work on meal plans and go shopping again Monday morning (hopefully with out the rain)  It was so much easier to cook and shop when I had my meals all planned out.  I can tell you this- I will be making a Pumpkin Pie tomorrow.  We didn’t have one Thursday and I am CRAVING some pumpkin Pie!  :)

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and a wonderful time with your families!! 

oh yeah-  my grass is growing!!!  I am SO excited… apparently the grass seed I had been planting is Fescue, a fall seed, so now my yard is sprouting baby grass everywhere!!  It is beautiful!!

Starting back slowly...

Hi- I am back, sort of... I am going to try to limit my time on the computer, trying to keep family and home first and foremost... I got onto Amandas blog and read a few posts from this month and I realized how much I missed you all, how much I was learning from you all and mostly how much I needed you. This being my first year of homeschooling, I was learning so much about how to balance house work, life, school, etc... and I have to admit, I have been feeling a bit frazzled these past couple of months!

Update on us:
Jon has a new job. He was fired from the FD job in April and God provided so many lttle odd jobs to hold us over until we really (and I mean REALLY) needed more money. I am still amazed at all the blessings we recieved during this summer.

Lily is still Lily. She is 4 1/2 and thinks she is everything! I am still having a hard time with getting her to poop in the potty (sorry for the, literal, potty talk). She seems to be wanting more of this and more of that (materialistic) and I wonder if she is learning it from us, or friends or where... (going to work on that more, hopefully)

I have had a few photos sessions this fall, so far. Nothing big, but I am hoping it will help get the ball rolling, more...

I stopped blogging back in Sept. because I wanted to be available for my family more. I felt like I was on the computer too much, that I wasnt spending enough time with Lily and teaching her like I should. Well, shortly after I stopped blogging I found a new way of filling the time (and not how I had imagined). It was another one of Gods blessings, though... A new restaurant opened up in town and asked me to make desserts for them, twice a week... nothing major just brownies, banana pudding and Oreo delight, but these desserts took up 4 hours of my morning (when we usually do school work) twice a week, not to mention the time of driving 35 miles to the grocery store every week to get the ingredients and then to deliver the desserts.
I am thankful for the income it provided us in those last few strapped weeks, but I am so happy knowing that I delivered my last batch last week.

So- I am, once again, making my "New Years Resolution" list (at the of the year) of things I want to accomplish... I never make these lists on January 1st because I know I will be making them regularly through the year... lol

#1- SIMPLIFY our lives
#2- Structure my time to be most productive, both in school and house work
#3- Be a GOOD, Godly mother and wife


So, all this to say- I am back, but probably wont be a daily blogger like before. I hope you all have a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving!!!

~ Kristina

Au Revoir'

This will be my last post for a while. I have spent the last week, for the most part, away from the computer. Trying to finish construction on the guest bathroom (I grouted it myself, super proud there!!), getting the house cleaned up, trying to get photography orders printed up and shipped out, not to mention all the normal day to day activities such as cooking and cleaning and teaching... And it was actually quite nice!

I realized, at some point, that here I am, trying to simplify my life, make things less stressful, a bit easier, less hectic and yet I am on the computer at least 3 hours a day, searching for things, reading emails, blogs, facebook, etc...

I have LOVED reading what all my new bloggy friends are doing. I love getting inspired from you all. I get a kick in the tush at times, reading what all you are doing and realizing I was falling behind (ie: bible stories and praying together...) I have LOVED, most, every minute. There have been times, though, not gonna lie, that I felt that I was not being the best I could be. I would read what all you are doing, and wonder - "Why cant I be like that?" or "What special 'mom gene' did I miss out on where I can't get all this accomplished, too?"

You all wear Super Mom capes, in my eyes, and I hope to be as great as you all. At this time, though, I feel that my time, attention, energy is best spent here, in my home not in my computer and dream world. I need to realize what all I can be and not what all I wish I could be. I need to spend more time focusing on what I can teach Lily and what all we can do and not what I am unable to do because of location, finances or relationships...

I want to say THANK YOU to all you wonderful women. You have lifted me up when I need it, you have made me laugh when I though none would come that day. You have shared with me, allowed me to visit in your world and home. You have prayed for me and allowed me to pray for you. You have ministered to me in many ways during a tough time. And I thank you all for that!! God gives you what you need in your time of need... and you all were exactly what I needed!

Dont get me wrong, I hope to be back. :) I hope to be able to still stop by and read what all you are working on now and then. I hope to get back to blogging what all is going on at the farm and what new book I am reading... but for now I just wanted to say-

Thank you!!

Seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33

Remembering

November 13, 2001 I enlisted in the Army Reserves as a Photojournalist.  I shipped out for Basic Combat Training, BCT, in Missouri on February 15, 2002.  Graduating at the end of May, I then headed to Maryland for my Advanced Individual Training, AIT.  I graduated from AIT August 6, 2002 and headed home, a soldier in the United States Army Reserves.

I was never deployed overseas, however I did cover some AWESOME events and went on some amazing Annual Trainings.  I spent a few weeks in Washington DC, shortly after the WWII Memorial was opened.  I spent nearly a month in Germany.  I have covered Change of Command ceremonies, Deployment and Re-Deployment Ceremonies.  I have had stories and photographs published many times in various magazines and papers.

I was given an early discharge in September 2008.  I was suppose to be in until November of 2009.  I received a knee and ankle injury during BCT, then reinjured it during AIT.  At some point I injured my wrist.  I was unable to pass the Physical Fitness test.

In June of 2006 I delivered Lily, via C-Section.  Recovery from the surgery was not at all pleasant and I had a lot of pain from the scar preventing me from doing sit-ups…

I turned down promotion for over 2 years because of my being unable to complete the PT test.  I felt it was not right for me to be in charge of lower enlisted soldiers when I was not a “complete” soldier.  I did not want to be in the position of expecting them to do something when I was unable.

I have spent this week going through both my and my husbands duffel bags.  He was in the Marine Corps for over 11 years before receiving a medical discharge.  (We make a good couple, huh… both broken)  :) 

Plastic totes now cover my kitchen floor.  Contained in them are memories from what seems like a lifetime ago.  Memories that make up who I am now, memories that have changed my life so drastically that some would not be able to understand unless they have walked in my shoes.  My life changed from a scatterbrained college girl to a “dress-right-dress” adult.  I like things in a row, organized, clean cut. 

I made so many friends from so many different walks of life while in.  I was Reserves, so one weekend a month I reported to my unit.  This unit took care of me.  I knew if I were to be deployed I would not need to worry, they had gone before me, they knew the ropes and they would keep me safe.  Even after getting married and being offered the chance to change units to one closer by, I stayed with my unit, 6 hours away.

I miss being a soldier.  I miss the camaraderie that comes with being in the unit, being part of the gang…. I miss the traveling, the different assignments.  I would LOOOOVE to go back to Germany.

Anyway, these thoughts have been going through my mind while I go through our uniforms, while I get them ready to pack away.  3 large boxes will now occupy a space in our basement, filled with BDU’s, Utilities, PT uniforms, class A’s and B’s, Covers, shoes, belts, rank, ribbons, plus much more.  Not to mention all the memories that go along with it…

 

A Hunger for the Holy

We are doing this book study on Wednesday nights at church.  Our pastor is leading the study, and BOY was last night GOOOOD!!  I just had to share my notes (took 3 pages worth!!)

***********************************************

A Hunger for the Holy   by Calvin Martin

Session 2- Nurturing Intimacy with Christ

Psalm 107: 8-9

vs.8 Let them praise the Lord for his great love, and for all his wonderful deeds to them

vs.9  For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

- Christ is the ONLY one that can satisfy the hunger of our hearts-

Psalm 51 ( whole thing)

vs.10 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.

**Barriers that keep us from being hungry for the Holy**

1) EMPTYNESS-  God wants to fill us with his Holy Spirit.

~  We must spend quiet time with God to be filled with the Holy

* just because we go to Sunday school, put money in the tithe plate or carry a Bible does not mean you are filled!

We can have all the newest gadgets, all the latest and greatest of everything, but if we don’t have God filling us, daily, with his word, his love, then we have nothing.

2) SHALLOWNESS- Its about how much can we be consumed by God!!

We have the mindset of ‘What can God to do for me’ rather than ‘How can we be filled with the Holy…’  We act as though we are entitled to what he can do for us.

How often do we think about what we can do for others?  How often do we wonder if there is something that someone else needs…  We need to be so consumed by God that people around us can feel His love radiating from us.

3)  SIN- 

       Psalm 51:10  Create in me a clean heart…  acknowledge that we are sinners, that we have a dirty heart.

In verse 3 of chapter 107 David recognizes his sin.  He admits them to God and asks Gods forgiveness and to ‘clean his heart’.  We should recognize and ask to be forgiven for specific sins, ask Him to clean your heart and help you to not repeat the sins.

  “God, create in me a clean heart.  Forgive me of ________ sin.  Help me to be rid of this habit.”

4) POWER- Power can be a sin because it is connected to the ego.  The thought or idea that something or someone belongs to us.

  “Drunk with power”

5)  BUSYNESS-   

Psalm 51:17  The sacrifice you want is a broken spirit. A broken and repentant heart, O God, you will not despise.        

             Someone willing to slow down and spend time in the presence of God.  We are too busy to enjoy the intimacy of time spend with Him.  We have cell phones to do everything for us, talk, email, schedule, directions, etc…  We rush from one thing to another, not taking time to enjoy what he has made.  We rush through Sunday service to get home to lunch and the game, we rush from school to get to practice to get to friends, only to neglect spending time with Him.

vs.15 Unseal my lips, O Lord, that I may praise you.

   Only when we are filled by God will we be truly satisfied.

“Dear God, Show me the obstacles that are in the way of me wanting to be filled with the Holy!”

***********************************************************

This is so totally what I want.  I want more than the high school ‘Jesus high’ I would get, after going to youth camp.  I want to be FILLED with the HOLY SPIRIT!!!  I want an intimate relationship with HIM!!!   Jono (pastor) said that people can sit for 4 hours watching a game on TV, but get mad if he goes over 5 minutes with his sermon.  He suggested having a 2 hour worship service… I just about whooped for joy, I would LOVE that!  He is the type of speaker that really draws you in, he is easy to listen to, he makes the Bible come to life…   of course, there will not be a 2 hour service :(   Maybe one day he will, maybe one day people will get all fired up for Jesus, they will yearn to learn more about the only one that can fill us with joy, love, happiness, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and self control…  How awesome would that day be!!!

    Anyway, like I said, last night got me all riled up.  I just wanted to share my notes.

2nd week of school

This week is letter 'B'... We are painting a bird house, we are reading books that begin with 'B', talking about butterflies (We might go visit the Butteryfly House at Callaway Gardens), making Blueberry muffins... So much to do...

This week started off, however, finishing up from last week and letter 'A'. We finally did our Acorn art. I will post photos later, but pretty fun stuff!!

Just an FYI-

The next few weeks are going to be crazy, its WEDDING time. My youngest sister is getting married next Saturday. So lots of cleaning, guests, photos and much more will be happening over the next few weeks...
So, after all is said and done- I will do a debriefing, of sorts... post lots of photos and such...

Have a great week!!

Not what I expected

The end of my first week homeschooling... it didn’t go like I was expecting. 

      Tuesday went like I thought it would.  We did some work book pages, read books, played outside, practiced writing... 

      Then Wednesday came along- Library half the day, then 2 1/2 hour naps for both of us, an afternoon of laundry then church in the evening.  No work was accomplished. 

     Thursday was suppose to be school in the morning then to the lake to swim with the home school group.  First time meeting up with them...  then finish up work in the afternoon... well, we didn't do any work in the morning, late to get to the lake, stayed longer than I wanted, met a few moms but not much interaction, home to get supper started then off to bed. 

      Today we went to Columbus to pick up Kasey’s wedding dress.  Poor girl!  This is the second time she has gone to get her dress and both times it isn’t ready, needing a little more of this, a little more of that... 

So all this to say-  We didn’t do half of what I wanted to get done this week.  The acorn art supplies are still sitting on the shelf waiting to be used...  I may do it next week, just because...

     I am fairly flexible.  I like some structure, and being able to change up our routine is what I am looking forward to most about teaching Lily at home.  Are you still able to teach amidst all the running around?  How??  I know there are ways to incorporate everyday activities into learning… But is it normal to have weeks like this, where not much gets done?? 

How do you ladies do this??  I haven’t done any house work, I need to vacuum horribly!!  The dished need to be put away, laundry finished, folded and put away... 

     How to you find balance between being a teacher/mom/wife/homemaker???  How do you find the time to do it all???  Is there a secret schedule I need to find?  A book I need to buy?? 

     Hopefully next week will go better.  Nothing planned, as far as outing (other than our Wednesday trip to the Library), so maybe all our "B" activities will get done.

Have a great weekend.  We are off to the Circus... (even though right now I feel like I  am the circus!!)

First Day of School

We had our first day of school today.   First thing this morning, after breakfast, we went to the Institute to “exercise”.  I enjoy running (and am really out of shape right now), so we took Lily’s tricycle and I ran a few laps while she biked… 

      We are studying the letter A this week. So we did an Ant Study…  5 different types of food on a plate

1) peppermint

2) lettuce

3) gum

4) Apple

5) crackers

Lily thought the ants would be healthy ants, so we decided to see what they would like to eat. 

We placed the plate under a tree where there was a HUGE ant hill.  We waited a little while, Lily wanted to see them eat.  I convinced her to go inside and we would come back out in about 30 minutes to see what was eaten… well, when we got back out side the cats or dogs, not sure which one, had eaten everything… go figure!!  :)

This is her first Letter A work sheet. I have some that are like this that will help her with writing and some that are just the block letters.  I hope to use those for art projects.  I also have a “make your own book” out of dinosaurs, each letter has a dinosaur.  She is really into them right now.  She loves to watch Dinosaur Train on PBS.

Our next project/assignment was to color a picture frame for her school photo.  $2.00 from Hobby Lobby, not a bad deal, so she colored it, then we went outside for her photo.  It only took 20+ frames to get her to smile pretty.     

I have a lot of goofy looking faces, but I just LOVE this smile!!!

She wanted this photo in the frame…  still a pretty good smile!

This is a photo of our September schedule.  It looks BUSY, but it really isn’t.  I have 3-4 things a day to work on, reading, art, music, cooking, science, play… lots of fun things I hope she will enjoy doing as well as learn from while doing them…

 

And these are the two books that I am using mostly right now.  I am LOVING the Backyard Discoveries book.  It has hundreds of games, art, science, math, you name it, it has it all in our back yard!!!  Awesome!!  Then the Complete Early Childhood Curriculum Resource has suggestions for each subject, charts and forms for “monitoring” their progress, for documenting what all they need to learn, are learning and have learned.  It goes month by month giving holiday suggestions and such, more structured but full of great information… 

So this is our first day of school.  I think it went smoothly.  Tomorrow we have Story Time at the Library, always fun, and more of the letter A!!  Hope you all are doing well!!

~ Kristina

Windows

50's during the night
70's during the day

Lots of time spent outside playing and exploring.

The feeling of FALL is on the way!

I am LOVING this weather. Projects are getting done around the house (It has been too hot to work on some of them) A play house is in the works for Lily, make out of scrap wood laying around the house and yard. Our windows have been open for 3 days now, letting in the fresh air. Oh how I love the smell if a crisp morning in the house!!!

I feel like I can do EVERYTHING when the weather cools down! I just love the fall!!!

BUSY weeks and tons of photos!!!

Our summer has been so busy! I love writing and posting photos of what all we are up to, down here in GA, but the past month or so it has seemed as though we were going non-stop.  September is looking as though it will be just as busy.  We will go to the Circus, see Sesame Street Live, Sassy’s wedding is at the end of the month!!  So much to do, so much to get ready for!  Not to mention I will begin my first year homeschooling….  oh boy… 

I have had days where I went to bed thinking “What did I do today??”  Or on Saturday night “What happened this week??”  I simply cannot remember what we did. I have a calendar with the “big” things, but as for the smaller things, like laundry, working in the garden, shopping, cleaning… it all seems to run together…

These are some photos I have been wanting to post for some time now… here they are!!

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Cleaning up the Breakfast area and switching tables :)

 

**I still need to clean off this table, but at least there is more room to walk around it!! 

Cleaning, repainting and rearranging the Dining Room.  Still more to do, but I am happy with it so far!!

Lily playing with a bag full of packing peanuts..

Tons of blueberries to put away… jams and lots in the freezer

Pa gave us a lot if corn from their garden… YUMMY!!  We will be cooking LOTS of corn this fall/winter!! 

Jake found an abandoned fawn on the side of the road.  He was a calm little thing.  Lily enjoyed petting him. He just sat there.  

RAIN!!!  We finally got rain!!!!  Can you tell we were excited!!! Lily was a bit apprehensive when we first got outside.  “Mama, I need my rain boots on!!”  Then she felt the mud between her toes and proceeded to JUMP!!!  “Can I sit down??”  Um- of course!!!!  It was a FUN afternoon!!!

Lily built this with her blocks.  It is a boat (big orange rectangle) in the water (blue around) with lots of alligators (smaller orange rectangles) and a bridge (yellow piece)… 

Cherry tomatoes and carrots (or that is what they are suppose to be) from the garden…

Sweet potatoes from the garden.  Which reminds me, that is on my to-do list this week.  Dig up more potatoes… yummy!! We are not sure if this looks more like a duck or a stomach (if it is turned the other way….) But is sure is GOOD!!!

Cousins that came to visit.  Holding the kittens,

Swimming in a nearby creek…

Playing a cooking game…

 

Placemats (quilted, too) found at Big Lots for 75 cents…  SUPER CUTE!!

Swimming at Robin Lake.

 

Learning to swim with Bidi and sassy

Jumping, well, actually she just wanted to hug the turtle….

Sliding, she climbed up the other side all by herself!!

 

Before and after photos of our Home School shelf.  Jon still needs to attach the doors, but this is it.  All of Lily’s art supplies are in the bottom.  It will be hidden by the doors.  Her writing stuff is on the bottom visible shelf, then my books and Jon’s are on the two up top.  Lily is excited about it.  She keeps asking me when we can start home school.  I think she is excited to get into the art supplies…  crayons, glue, markers, construction paper, play-doh, stickers, etc…