Lifesong

Snippets of Disney

We had a super fun family vacation to Disney World this past week. It was full of memorable moments and lots of good times!

John and Avery on Thunder Mountain Railroad. This girl couldn't get enough of the roller coasters! She even rode Tower of Terror, and said it was "so fun!"

JonJon and Avery on the Mine Train.

Back in our room with the Minnie Mimi bought for her. I think this picture is so sweet.

Hanging out with our good friends from Knoxville who were there at the same time. This was in France, just before Avery threw up in Belle's house, right before meeting her. She was such a trooper though. And thankfully it just lasted that evening and then it was gone.

JonJon, Missy, Ansley and Christian in Hollywood Studios. Avery didn't want to get out of her stroller, but she had on a shirt just like Ansley's and it would have been so cute for everyone to be in their Star Wars gear, but this is the shot I got.

We enjoyed the Electrical Parade, the Fantasy Parade, the fireworks show and the light show. So many magical memories, and it's made even better when family is there to enjoy it all together!

 

Better Together

My friend Amy and I meet for what My Father's World calls a Synergy Group every other Friday. On the way to meet them last week, Christian asked what synergy meant. I have this weird disease that when I'm asked to define something, I can only think of that word to define it. So I had to ask Siri. And I discovered such a beautiful picture of friendship, homeschooling, and relationships in general.

Synergy is the creation of a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

I just love that. Amy has been a huge supporter of me. When I was going through a tough time (you may have read my post about it), she picked up my slack, encouraged me along, and challenged me to make hard decisions that turned out so much better than I would have ever dreamed on my own. I am very thankful for our friendship that was so God-ordained, coming into my life at the perfect time.

What I'm trying to say is that we are better together than we would be alone. And that paints the perfect picture of the homeschool life. We can encourage each other on hard days, throw school out the window and meet at a park on the hard days, and text like madwomen on the tough days. Oops. I accidentally left out the easy days. I wouldn't say homeschooling is ever easy, but there are certainly plenty of days that we laugh together, eat together (of course, and that's always happy), and bounce ideas off each other, all while our kids are enjoying each other's company as well.  It's a great picture of synergy.

So on Friday we met at a nature park and the kids had a BLAST. It's always such a good reminder for me that my kids love being outside, and school doesn't always have to mean four walls.

The crazy crew. Don't feel too bad for Christian - he loves these girls, even though he likes to pretend he doesn't. It is such a sweet group of kids, and they all love each other. They really don't have a choice, so it's a good thing that they naturally do.

We found fish and frogs, identified trees, and found cool nature things to put in our nature bags. (Every child has a minion bag to collect nature finds in.)

See? He and Campbell have fun together.

Checking out a cool cave on our hike.

Avery running after the big kids. With her minion bag.

Everyone exploring the water below.

Such a fun day, and we will definitely do it again as long as the weather stays so beautiful!

Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake

I made this for breakfast a few mornings ago, and everyone claimed it delicious. Christian said he thought it would have a coffee taste, but since it didn't, it was even better. (We discussed the phrase "coffee cake.")

John said it was so yummy I needed to make it once a week.

Cinnamon Roll Coffee Cake

3/4 c butter
1 c sugar
2 large eggs
2.5 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup milk
1 c sour cream
Cinnamon Spice Streusel (see below)
Maple Glaze (see below)

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9" square baking pan with baking spray with flour. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar with a mixer until fluffy. Add eggs, beating well after each addition. In a medium bowl, combine flour and next 5 ingredients. Gradually add to butter mixture, alternating with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Stir in sour cream. Spoon half the batter in prepared pan. Top with half the Cinnamon Spice Streusel. Spread remaining batter over topping, and top with remaining streusel. Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool ten minutes before drizzling with glaze.

Cinnamon Spice Streusel

1/2 c firmly packed brown sugar
6 Tbsp flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground allspice
1/2 c cold butter, cut into pat

In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and next 4 ingredients. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.

Maple Glaze

1/2 c maple syrup
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 Tbsp milk
1.5 cup powdered sugar

In a small saucepan, combine maple syrup, butter, and milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until small bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Whisk in powdered sugar until smooth.

Enjoy!

 

A Tween Cinderella Party (Turning 12)

For Ansley's 12th birthday, we decided to do an outdoor dinner and movie night. Since Cinderella came out on DVD on September 15, which is her actual birthday, we thought that would be the perfect movie for the September 18 party.

Since we were watching Cinderella, I went with a pumpkin theme. Each girl's place setting included a tiara, glass slipper, and a baby pumpkin with her name on a place card. Ansley's favorite food is Japanese, so we had that set up for the girls to eat, as well as pink lemonade.

While the girls were eating, they rotated into the basement, where they got makeovers. They got to pick a hairstyle and their makeup colors. This was a big hit!

After dinner, we brought out the Cinderella cake, complete with glass slipper on top, and sang happy birthday. It was delicious!

While we waited for it to get dark so we could start the movie, they all painted pumpkins. I set out various paint colors, chalkboard paint, mod podge and glitter so they could get creative!

Avery was so excited to finally be old enough to participate in her sister's birthday party. Here she is coming out from her makeover. She was thrilled!

Every movie night must have a fun concession stand. Ansley had requested several of my homemade treats for it, so we had lots of cookies, candy, popcorn, and mini soft drinks (so cute!).

She wanted chocolate chip cookies, homemade Oreos, Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies, and Christian suggested pumpkin shaped sugar cookies, which I thought was a great idea.

Ansley getting her makeover.

We were running out of time, so we had to squeeze in opening presents just before the movie started. It was a little rushed, but it was still fun!

Then it was time to start the movie. Everyone got settled onto quilts with plenty of blankets and stuffed animals. And treats, of course.

The very end of the party, after makeovers and lots of sugar! Ansley is so blessed to have such sweet friends! She had a wonderful time, and I enjoyed putting it all together. We are so thankful for Ansley and the blessing of friends!

When Friendship Ends

I am a communicator. I love to talk, laugh, and write. It’s a part of who I am.  I may process more than the average person, but I feel a need to talk through things and communicate honestly. If there is something that weighs heavy on me, I will share it with you. It’s how God made me. I am a talker. Feel free to pray for John how you feel led.

I am finding that this is not a subject that is talked about often or openly. But I think for me, writing is part of my processing, it’s cathartic, and if it can help anyone else, then it’s worth it to get it down.

I had two good friends, Amanda and Jennifer*, and we lived A LOT of life together, the three of us. I met Amanda a few years ago, and we hit it off immediately. I’d known Jennifer for a few years longer, and we had become close quickly, and I considered her one of my good friends. We were all very similar, we had similar aged kids, we homeschooled, and many of our daily activities overlapped. We had good times. We talked. We laughed. We had cookouts. We attended birthday parties. We lived life. These were not casual friendships or acquaintances; they were close friends.

And then one day, they stopped talking to me. Perhaps I have simplified it a bit, but that’s pretty much what happened.  Amanda completely stopped talking to me – not returning phone calls or texts. Jennifer’s was a little less subtle, but she pulled away, responded to texts very sporadically, and then eventually not at all. Both of them blocked me on Instagram and Amanda unfriended me on Facebook (I am pretty sure Jennifer would have, too, she just isn’t on Facebook.)

No matter who you talk to, that says “We’re done here.”

I love music. I always connect with certain lyrics in songs, and I usually have my favorite line from a song that just hits me. This song by Tenth Avenue North instantly came to mind.

Maybe there's something I missed
But how could they treat me like this?
It's wearing out my heart
The way they disregard

This is love, this is hate...
We all have a choice to make

It sounds extreme, doesn’t it? Even as I type it out, I can’t believe that it’s happened. I think part of our fear in sharing stories like this is we are afraid what people will think. Right now, I’m wondering what you are thinking about me. You are probably thinking that surely there is something major that happened to cause this. But, to my knowledge (and my knowledge is all I have), there is nothing. To say that I was shocked, hurt, confused….is an understatement. I was left reeling for several weeks, not understanding what had happened. And here’s what happens when you don’t understand something, at least when you’re me: you start to analyze everything. I played back conversations, interactions, and went through every character flaw I have ever had, and I might have even made some up, just to try to figure it out. I found plenty, to be sure, but none that related to our friendship. You also discuss, ad nauseam, with your husband every possible detail, scenario, and thought that comes into your head (bless his heart).

I talked to many people about this (because I’m a communicator, remember?), some who know me well, and some who don’t know me at all, and some who have just met me. I received wise advice, lots of “I’m sorry’s”, and plenty of compassion.  No one looked at me like I had turned into an alien. There is freedom in transparency, in sharing the things that cause us pain. And I wasn’t alone - this also affected my kids, because Amanda and Jennifer’s kids were good friends of theirs. My kids saw my tears and confusion, and they were hurt and confused, too.

We all constantly have a choice to make, with every interaction, every response, every situation – love or hate. I was desperately trying to choose love. A week or so in (or maybe it was several weeks, it’s hard to remember), I was so devastated and worn down by the weight of all of this. Rejection is hard. To me, it felt very personal. They might as well have said “You are no longer worthy to be my friend and invest any effort in.” (And honestly that would have been easier for me to take than silence.) My heart ached. My head pounded. My eyes were puffy. I made one last effort with Amanda and wrote her a letter, but I heard nothing. More rejection. My mind was plagued with doubt, fear, and uncertainty. What could I have possibly done to make two good friends reject me like this? Why would they not even speak to me about it? For me, in my world of communication, it seems an unspeakable cruelty to just completely cut someone off. And without communication, I can come up with lots of different reasons why someone would no longer want to be friends with me, none of which are healthy or helpful (mostly because they aren’t true. Satan likes to use lies to fill us with fear when we are uncertain and down.)

But one day I woke up and immediately felt the heaviness that accompanies stress, and I knew I couldn’t live like this. I turned it all over to Him. There was nothing more I could do. No amount of effort on my part was having any effect. I had nowhere to turn but Him. I grabbed my Bible off the nightstand, opened it to where the ribbon was, and I read:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.”

What JUMPED out at me was lean not on your own understanding. All this time, I’d been trying to figure it out, go through everything, play back conversations, and there was God, saying: YOU DON’T NEED TO UNDERSTAND. You just need to trust me.  A few days later I heard Just Be Held by Casting Crowns while I was in the car.

So when you’re on your knees and answers seem so far away

You’re not alone, stop holding on and just be held

Your world’s not falling apart, it’s falling into place

I’m on the throne, stop holding on and just be held.

If your eyes are on the storm

You’ll wonder if I love you still

But if your eyes are on the cross

You’ll know I always have and I always will

And not a tear is wasted

In time, you’ll understand

I’m painting beauty with the ashes

Your life is in my hands.

Isn’t that beautiful? So much of it spoke to me.  I’m holding on to too much, I’m trying to trust in my understanding of things, and if I continued like that, I’d be a worn and weary person. God is not saying “Wow, I didn’t see that coming.” He knew when I first met Amanda and Jennifer that this is how it would turn out. He knows that my world is not falling apart, it’s falling into place, just how He knew it would. There is freedom in surrender. He knows He’s painting beauty with the ashes. There’s beauty all around me. I just have to stop focusing on the things that hurt and focus on Him.

So that’s where I am and what I’ve learned in this painful journey. When I meet girlfriends that I just love, I always have this “friends forever” in my head, which usually sounds a lot like Dionne Warwick (if you’re much younger than me, just nod your head like you know what I’m talking about). I had envisioned our kids friends forever, going off to college together, being in each other’s weddings. (I’m a writer, and I think writers are dreamers by nature.) I knew they would be on my side forevermore. I hope you weren’t thinking this has a fairy tale ending; it doesn’t. Amanda has never spoken to me since her initial text over a month ago. Jennifer and I exchanged some superficial texts initially, but my pleas for getting together so I can try to understand have fallen on deaf ears. She has never responded to my last text.

But here’s what I know: God is on his throne. He is painting a beautiful picture with my life, even when I can’t see it. He will use this for his glory. He is shaping me into who He wants me to be. He works all things together for my good. I don’t know why it has to be so painful; I may never know. But that’s okay. I am no longer trusting in my own understanding. I am focusing on the beautiful friendships that I shared with these beautiful women for many years. I look back on our time together with fondness. We lived a LOT of life together, and in that season of my life, these women were a blessing to me. We laughed, we cried, we carried each other’s burdens for a portion of this life’s journey together, and even though it was shorter than I would have liked, that makes it no less beautiful. I would have never chosen this; I wouldn’t choose it for anyone – it’s far too painful! But I see the beauty from these ashes. I am no longer focused on my circumstances. My joy is found in Him, not in how others treat me.

And don’t worry - I will never give up on friendship. LONG LIVE FRIENDSHIP! I can’t imagine life without the friendships that I have had and the ones I currently have. They make life richer, funnier, and I see God in them in so many ways, teaching me, shaping me, and transforming me more into who He wants me to be.

Nowadays, when my head hits the pillow every night, I am thankful. Finally, after all this pain, I can wake in the morning and see the beauty. I can lay down my own need for understanding and find His peace. I can pick up joy and contentment. I see the good gifts that the good Father has given to me, and there’s no need to focus on what’s been taken away. Life is such a beautiful journey, and I am so blessed….when I keep my eyes on the cross.

* not their real names

Turning Forty

John threw me a wonderful surprise birthday party that was so fantastic. I was surrounded by friends who know me best and love me anyway, and family, who has to love me. Oh, just kidding. But they do. I feel like they'd love me even if we weren't related.

It was such a fun evening! The decor was absolutely beautiful - lights strung from trees, tea lights burning, beautifully decorated tables and lots of pictures from my life. John and my good friend, Amy, worked a long time to pull everything together. It was magical.

There was a chef on site that prepared the food, which was absolutely delicious. After dinner and dessert, there was a big screen set up where John showed a movie he had put together. It was the sweetest thing ever - birthday wishes from friends and family near and far, as well as from the pastors at our church, the Chick Fil A crew, and Tim from Target (these are places I frequent). It was so sweet!

It was such a lovely night, and a great memory of turning forty.

Here, in no particular order, are forty things you may or may not know about me, in honor of this milestone:

1. It's taken me well into adulthood, but I have embraced my curly hair. I am frequently asked by strangers what products I use, if it's natural, and less frequently, if they can touch it. (No.)

2. I am quickly endeared to people who engage and pay attention to my children.

3. Being a Mama is my favorite.

4. I love my family fiercely, and I enjoy spending time with them.

5. I buy things on Amazon a LOT. It's scary-convenient. I never knew there were so many things I would think of at any given moment that I really need.

6. I'm sort of a curriculum junkie. (See #4. I totally blame Amazon.) I love looking around and the idea of so much stuff out there appeals to me, but I am guilty of buying it and never using it.

7. I love friendship, and meeting people that I really connect with.

8. I seem to buy a new throw blanket (or two or ten) every fall.

9. I have an obsession with tea, Chick Fil A, books, and kitchenware.

10. I talk to my Mama every day.

11. I am a cat lover. Some people may call me the crazy cat lady, but I prefer feline enthusiast. I absolutely adore my cats, and I'm partial to all the cats.

12. I love my dog, but I'm not a dog person. I don't like how other people's dogs sniff and bark and growl....it makes me uncomfortable. A dog nose in the crotch tends to do that.

13. I LOVE to bake. I bake often. My kids childhood memories will certainly consist of cookies.

14. I don't love to exercise, but because of #13, I'm forced to.

15. I take pictures every day of my life. I compile them in a book at the end of each year, so I have a photo and a little blurb about that day, every single day for the entire year. I have been doing this for seven years now.

16. The older I get, the more I'm able to set aside worry and strife, and pick up faith and thankfulness.

17. (I still worry some.)

18. I love buying my kids clothes. It brings me great joy.

19. I love encouraging my kids passions, and exposing them to lots of different things so they will know what they are passionate about.

20. We read a lot of books around here.

21. Most days, I could toss my tv out the window and be just fine.

22. I am very thankful for the sweet homeschool community we have.

23. I love pumpkin, and feel the need to bake every pumpkin thing imaginable once fall arrives.

24. This life of mine brings me so much joy, happiness, and love, and I'm grateful every day that I get to live it. Life is so different than you ever imagine when you are young and carefree, but it is so rich and full and wonderful.

25. Forty is kind of a high number.

26. I laugh a lot. I like people who make me laugh, and find I'm drawn to friends who laugh a lot.

27. I love to write, and I really want to keep this blog going, but it doesn't seem to be working for me. I can't really figure out why. I don't think I can continue to blame having three, when I've had this gig for 4.5 years now.

28. After nine years of homeschooling, my dream has come true this year. Since the very beginning, I have wished that we could homeschool with another family that we were good friends with, doing the same curriculum, getting together for fun activities, meeting in parks, sharing in the assignments. And this year we are doing that, and it's been such fun! Cinderella was right - dreams really do come true!

29. I don't care for sports.

30. I am very hot natured. I'm hot most of the time. Yet my feet are freezing, so I wear fuzzy socks. Strange.

31. I take a bath every night, and a shower every morning. Call me weird.

32. Seriously, 40 things?!

33. I would love to open a bakery, and write a book. In some other life where I have lots of spare time.

34. I don't have much time "away" and I used to stress over this. But now (that I'm older, I suppose) it doesn't stress me. I think everyone is created different, and some people need more time to themselves than others.

35. I don't like being alone.

36. I eat eggs just about every morning of my life.

37. My kids love to help me bake, but it makes me bonkers.

38. I am starting to wonder if I can make it to 40 things.

39. I drink tea every day.

40. I try to live every day grateful for the wonderful life that I have - my Jesus, my family, my friends, the beautiful place I call home.....I'm so thankful.

Week One

There's always something a little comforting about having the first week of school behind you. Our first week went really well! Some things are what they are - math is math - but overall the kids are really enjoying our new curriculum!

Avery participates in some things, but certainly most things are a bit over her head. She is very into painting lately, and she set up her little painting station here, which I thought was cute. She cranks out masterpieces while we do grammar and spelling!

My Father's World has a library book list with every few weeks with books that go along with what we are learning about. This week I picked up our books for the next few weeks, and put together our book basket. The kids all spend time here each day, looking through whatever books they like, and we read a few out loud.

The first few weeks are an introduction, so there are lots of books on maps, geography and people of the world. The kids have really enjoyed learning about maps, as well as drawing maps of their own rooms.

While I was at the library, I picked up the Little House Cookbook, because I thought the girls would enjoy looking through it. Within an hour of bringing it home, Ansley had made the Maple Cakes.

They were very tasty little mini muffins with maple frosting. And you should know as I was taking this picture, Christian said "WAIT! Let me grab an oven glove so it will look like I helped." I laughed out loud - he totally didn't help, and also, he calls them oven gloves and I just go with it. I might have contributed by calling them oven gloves myself. It fits.

Here is Christian doing on his mapwork.

Ansley loves to arrange the reading and spelling tiles back on the boards after Christian's used them. It works very well for me!

And, even though we are starting early, we are still done pretty early, and since our neighbors haven't started back to school yet, there is plenty of time for play.

Ansley and Eliza and Moky got in some painting time. We have a bird nest under our deck that Ansley is obsessed with, so that's what her painting is. Moky loves baby birds, too.

Avery and Amelia also enjoyed painting one afternoon.

And we are able to get in some pool time as well.

That's our Week One recap. So far, so good!

 

Back to School

Today we started back to school! I always love the first day of school. It's full of yummy food, surprises, celebration and thankfulness. I feel so blessed to live this homeschool life, and be able to enjoy and witness my kids' growth over the years, and celebrate their milestones, big and small. I've determined to be purposeful in the rest of the school year to create more days of celebration over school successes, and just becauses. After all, I'm really a party planner at heart. Thankfully, homeschooling allows me to do that as well!

Starting a bit early gives us the chance to take days off during the year so we can go on field trips, vacations, Dollywood, and have fun with friends. We don't start Classical Conversations for another month, so we can get into our routine before adding that. Most of our other activities don't start til August, so I like getting our groove before things start getting hectic.

This was the breakfast table this morning that sets the stage for our fun first day. I admit I do go a little over the top, but it's tradition now. I made coffee cake muffins and homemade granola for parfaits, and purchased donuts with juice and milk. It's important to have a high carb breakfast to get through the school day, apparently.

Then we head to the school room, where there are always more fun school supplies and surprises. I got some really cute things from Oriental Trading that go along with our exploring the countries theme this year. Each child had a little treat box filled with pencils, a bookmark, crayons, and fun little treats. Then there are all the typical notebooks, folders, crayons, markers, pencils. This year I got each child a clipboard and clip the day's work to it so they know what they need to complete, along with a checklist.

After exploring everything, and getting it organized, it's time to get started. Avery was really excited about several things I found at the Dollar Spot at Target - a Jake and the Neverland Pirates paint set, and a dry erase/chalkboard combo. She got started right away on these, while I started with the other two. This year we are doing My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures with my older two. This will be the first time that I am using the same core curriculum for both of them. This is also the first year that I will be schooling alongside my good friend, Amy, and her kids. We will be doing the same curriculum and getting together regularly for projects and activities (not to mention we've been planning together all summer and constantly bounce ideas off each other). I am very excited about this, since I have always wanted to do this, but have just never had the opportunity. I think it will be such a fun year together! My Father's World includes geography, social studies, and science.

Avery has made huge strides. HUGE. But my biggest challenge is keeping her busy. She is very interested in school things and wants to learn right alongside us, she just finishes her activities so quickly. I didn't plan enough for her today. She is doing All About Reading for preschool, plus lots of extra activities. She loves these Cuisanaire rods from when Christian was in Kindergarten, and I also picked up several workbooks from the Dollar Spot that she enjoyed, but it still wasn't enough.

Nevertheless, we are able to get a lot done nowadays, and Avery listens to our read alouds as well. Some things the kids can do on their own, and some things they need help with. I switched to A Reason for Spelling for Ansley this year, and on Day One, she proclaimed it awesome. So that's always a good sign. She can complete spelling on her own, so while she was doing that, I taught Christian's spelling lesson from All About Spelling, which he enjoys.

I found a really cool handwriting book for Christian that is all about the presidents. He started it today and was so thrilled. I can't seem to find it anywhere now, but it's really neat. I'll try to get a picture of it.

Then we moved on to Language Arts, where I am using Learning LA Through Literature for both of them. The jury's still out on this one. Sometimes it's really hard to judge something by just looking online. More than once, I've ordered something only to not like it at all, and end up getting something else. That may be the case with this one, but I do hate to judge after just one day. It was a little bit too hands on for me, a bit confusing as to exactly what to cover, and a little too Charlotte Masony. I like Charlotte, don't get me wrong, but there's only so much dictation my kids can take before they are like "can we be done now?!" So I'll have to see how the rest of the week goes on that.

I do love seeing them help each other. Christian enjoys teaching Avery and explaining to her how things work or how to do something. It's very sweet.

We do take several little breaks during our morning, and every spare second Christian was working on his catapult, which was his first day of school gift. He loves this kind of stuff, so I knew it'd be a hit! The girls got Shopkins, which they played with all day as well. Moky really enjoyed the catapult, too.

Christian getting some schoolwork done on the porch. I'm not picky - you don't have to sit in the schoolroom to get your work done. Sometimes they prefer the quieter porch, and the older two come out here to work on things while I'm working with Avery.

If this doesn't melt your heart, your heart has turned to stone. I think I've mentioned once or five thousand times that I love these furry boys, although I can't remember exactly. They are constantly with us, and want to be wherever we are. They are both very "paw-y" boys, meaning they love to put their paws on your face, leg, arm - they aren't picky. While Christian was getting math done today, Moky jumped up and did this. Good grief they are the sweetest.

For math, I use Math U See for both of them. Math is Ansley's roughest subject, and Christian's best subject. So tricky. This year I have learned to have them do math at separate times, because it really frustrates Ansley that Christian finishes so much faster. So, Ansley does it first thing in the morning, and Christian does it after lunch.

I had ordered an Apologia study for Ansley for Science, but after today, I think My Father's World Science will be enough for both of them. As the year progresses, if I think they need more, I will add Apologia, because they both love their books.

They all loved this catapult, and soon were doing experiments on what traveled the farthest, as well as putting the boys stuffed mice in there and sending them down the hall, while Juju and Moky raced after them.

Homemade chocolate pie for dessert, of course. First Days call for things like this. (It was delicious.)

That wraps up Day One. It was a wonderful day, and I so enjoy being home with my kids and learning alongside them. Every day certainly isn't picture perfect, and we will have challenges and set backs, tantrums and tears, and we may even change some things before we get too settled in, but I am so thankful for these three and these days together. They are such a gift!

When do you start school? What curriculum are you using? I'd love to hear!

 

Summertime

Summertime is full of such fun memories, and I realize as they get older that my children's summertimes are limited. I mean, yes, God willing, they will have plenty of summertimes, but a limited number under our roof, enjoying summertime the way we do.

We made pizza rolls, one of my kids favorites for lunch. Or dinner. It's like cinnamon rolls, just with pizza ingredients. So yummy!

Some days are too much for Avery. All the outdoor playing, swimming, and playing with friends catches up to her, and she crashes.

Summer meals and summer desserts can't be replaced. Lots of grilling, lots of baking....yum. Here is one of our favorites - chicken fajitas - that everyone loves.

Ansley and Addisyn at a Fourth of July parade. To note: the Christmas blanket! I can't recall a cool July in....well, ever. But it was chilly!

These boys. Man I love them. And, obviously, they love John. (But they seriously love the rest of us too!)

That's a glimpse of our summer so far! We will be starting school back up pretty soon, which is so hard to believe. Our summer has gone by fast!

Books For 11 Year Old Girls (On Ansley's Shelf)

I get quite a few questions on books that my oldest is reading, since she loves to read. So, I'm going to try to do frequent updates of her stack of books. She LOVES to read, and her latest book can always be found on her nightstand. When she doesn't have anything new to read, she rereads old favorites.

Here are some of Ansley's favorites.

The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards - This is such a fun, imaginative story full of adventure and fun. This was one of our Book Club books (we do with a group of girls and Mamas once a month) and all the girls really enjoyed it. A very good read!

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart - This is a series of books that are very captivating. They are really big books, but the story is so intertwined and engaging that the pages fly by. A group of children are selected for their extreme intelligence to undergo a secret mission. Their escapades will have you glued to each page, wondering what will happen next. Some surprising twists in the fun storyline results in a very good, page-turning book! (The book pictured is the second in the series.)

Dear America series - There are a bunch of these in this series. They are historical diaries about different young girls (and sometimes boys) journeys at various moments in our history. I haven't personally read these, but Ansley has read about a dozen of them, and says they are very good. She's always grabbing a couple each time we visit the library.

The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall - This is also a series that Ansley loves. She has read the whole series, following the adventures of four sisters creating summertime fun and adventure. Funny and charming! I believe there are three books in this series.

The Magic Half by Annie Barrows - This is a fun story about a girl named Miri, who travels back in time to 1935 and discovers Molly, a girl her age who is in desperate need of a family. A very entertaining read about their adventures and how their lives merge. Ansley and I read this book in less than a day! It's one of those books that you just have to find out what happens!

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin - This was a Book Club book as well, and it was SO good. It follows Minli's journey as she seeks to change her family's fortune, and she encounters many magical characters along the way, including a dragon. A very engaging book!

Magic in the Mix by Annie Barrows - This is the sequel to The Magic Half, and Ansley just found it at the library and was so excited. This follows Miri and Molly's journey back to the Civil War, where the sisters try to save two soldiers and come to terms with the truth about Molly's past. Ansley started reading this in the library (couldn't wait til we got home!) and she's almost done.

Seven Wild Sisters by Charles de Lint - This is the companion novel to The Cats of Tanglewood Forest, which Ansley immediately loved. I haven't read these either, but Ansley loves them and says they are very captivating stories. The subtitle to this book is A Modern Day Fairy Tale, and Ansley really loves stories like this.

I hope you enjoy Ansley's list! I think these books would be wonderful for girls several years younger as well, as they are just such enjoyable and engaging reads. I'd love to hear your thoughts on them if you read them, and what's on your reading list!