Summer Reading

I love summer reading.   Nothing takes the fun out of summer more than "required" summer reading.   I hate seeing those stacks and stacks of lists that schools require kids to read over the summer.   I love to read and I have no desire to read some of those.  

There is so much that the boys are required to read during the school year that I just want to encourage them to read for pure love during the summer.    If I can create a lifetime love of reading in them then I will feel like I have accomplished something.

Here are a few summer reading programs which will reward the kids for their reading efforts.... 

Madison County Library System - Our local library system theme is "Dream Big... Read!"   I am not a fan of their reading program because it doesn't reward everyone who reads.  It only gives you a chance at a reward.   The reward is great -- a NOOK, but I prefer rewarding every child who reads instead of just one.

Barnes & Noble - Read any 8 books and record them in the Reading Journal (PDF).Bring the completed Reading Journal to your local B&N store. Choose a FREE BOOK from the selection on the Reading Journal list at the store... Enjoy reading!

Scholastic Summer Reading - Log in your reading minutes to the Scholastic site and your child will be able to participate in a World Record challenge as well as earn digital prizes!

Half Price Books - Read for at least 15 minutes each day for a month. (Grown-ups may read aloud to kids who are still learning.) Add up your minutes and have your parent or guardian initial each week.Once you've read 300 minutes, turn in your completed reading log to earn your $5 HPB Back-to-School Bucks reading reward for the month.  They will award one top reader per age group each month with a TOP READER prize - a $20 HPB Gift Card!*


Happy Reading!!

Little Guy: Finished With 5th

Talk about shock.    My Little Guy is finished with his elementary school years and will be entering middle school next year.    One in high school and one in middle school.    Time doesn't just fly fast it flies at warp speed!

His Course Load:

Math - Little Guy has been working through two of the Life of Fred mathematics series.   He completed book the fractions book and the decimals and percentages book.     

Zoology -  Our homeschool co-op offered this class.   He loved taking this with all of his friends.   Just last week they took an end of year field trip to New Orleans.   They visited the Audubon butterfly garden, the Insectarium and the Aquarium.

Writer's Express - A curriculum that introduces writing skills.   It covered everything from poetry, essays, letters, reports, stories, journaling, and note taking.

American History -  Little Guy did a biography study of great men of US history.   

English/Grammar -  We have been using Easy Grammar forever, but this year I added this English Grammar 101.   

Spelling -  Being a part of the spelling bee is the primary focus of our spelling curriculum.   I firmly believe that reading encourages better spelling which is why I insist on daily reading.  

Reading - One of my big goals for Little Guy this year was in reading.  He has an amazing reading level, but he never wanted to read on his reading level.   When he looked at a book, if it looked too big he let it overwhelm him.     My friend in Atlanta made a casual statement about organizing lesson plans that sparked an idea for me with his reading.    I picked a book and gave him two weeks to read it (which is really a long time).   I divided the pages by 14 and listed that on a piece of paper and taped inside the front cover of the book.   Each day he read a section of pages and marked it off.    He could read more than one section if he wanted, but he had to mark it off.   By giving him "bite size" pieces, he realized that it was more doable than he thought.    Now handing him a 350 page book isn't overwhelming to him at all.   He asks when his deadline is and he breaks it down in his head.      He is often done in just a day or two, but he likes knowing that he has a set amount of time if he needs it.

Music Theory - Another class which he took through CurrClick, both boys took this class of basic music concepts.    It gave them basic musical knowledge of notes, clefs, time signatures, notes of the piano, accidentals, half and whole steps, etc... 

Geography - This hasn't been a curriculum as much as a book which Little Guy has worked on to keep working on his geography skills.  

P.E. -   Little Guy also took bowling club and 4H shooting sports.   He also participated in CrossFit.   He LOVES it!   

This is our third year to homeschool and definitely the most challenging for Little Guy and I.   I take full responsibility for that.    Big Guy's learning style comes more naturally to me and it is easier for me to figure out how to give him what he needs academically where as that is not so with Little Guy.     He and I can ask each other the same exact question, but mean two entirely different things.    I have flashbacks to doing Algebra with my Daddy in the 7th grade.  *smile*   The only problem is I am still the dummy in the situation.   Daddy is brilliant and now I have just replaced Little Guy in the equation as the brilliant one!

I am not complaining though.  I am glad he is so smart, but as we all know, school only gets more challenging from here!  

Although it makes me sad to see how fast time is passing, I can't wait to see where God is leading my sweet boys!

Big Guy's Speech

Today was Big Guy's final in his communication class.    He had to prepare two speeches.    I wish you could have seen his teacher's face after he gave this speech.    She is a tough teacher.    She is a retired college professor and she teaches our kids like they are college students.     Her words were, "Big Guy, you have always been one of my quiet students, but your work has been solid.   Whenever you decide to talk the entire class stops to listen because what you have to say is quality.   Today's speech is no exception."


When I was a child, I was taught a song called "The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock".  It says the wise man built his house upon the rock while the foolish man built his house upon the sand.   Although a simple childhood song, it is easy to make the transition to the more complicated topic of creation and evolution, with creation being the solid rock and evolution being the sinking sand.

You don't have to go far for people to tell you that there is no God and that a big bang created our existence.  The big bang alleges that billions of years ago the entire universe was packed in a little ball.   At some random point it exploded.  One of the problems is that scientists have no idea where this ball came from.  Creationism builds its facts starting with the book of Genesis which states the entire earth was created in a six day period.  If you look around you will see animals, trees, the sky and ground.  None of this happened because of two planets colliding or because of some big bang.   All of this happened because it was the will of God.  Thinking that a big bang could produce a mass of earth that just happened to be suitable for life is like thinking a tornado can go through a junkyard and assemble a Transformer.   In order for this to actually happen, the things needed for this to work have to be man made, the process happens an infinite amount of times causing no beginning or end to time and the laws of physics are broken in the process.   It can't happen.

The second challenge in our evolution verses creation discussion comes from the origin of man.  Genesis 1:26 makes the creation foundation clear.    Man was created in the image of God.   The theory of evolution states that man gradually evolved from lower animals.   This is where big bang and evolution start to collide.  It is a proven scientific fact that life comes from life and science has disproved the theory of spontaneous generation.  Then the question is how the first living thing happened like evolution claims.  The creation side to all this is that we were created in God's image.

The last point in our evolution verses creationism discussion and what this all boils down to in this sinking sand solid rock discussion is do you or do you not believe the universe was created by God?  To believe in creation is to believe in the one true God who is the creator.   Believing in the universe means that He must be older than the universe.  Isaiah 40:28 says, "The everlasting God is the creator of the ends of the earth."   If God is the creator then God has created all life.   As we established before, life comes from life which means our creator God must be eternal.

God gave us clear instructions to follow, but we stepped off the Solid Rock in favor of an educated guess.  Christians read the Bible, fell in love with our Creator and believed.   The proof is in the love.   If you love someone in your life, do you believe them?   Of course you do.   It is how we are wired by Him.  The battle between creationism and evolution is not necessarily about facts or the evidence because we are both dealing with the same set of facts.   The difference is in how we interpret them.   This is how these two beliefs began.   We interpreted what we had as something other than what He intended.   In the end we can't make someone believe in something.   They can either choose the solid foundation of creation or they can choose the sinking sand of evolution.    To believe in something you have to have faith and faith is what this is all about.

Big Guy: End of Freshman Year

*sniff sniff*  It was hard for me to type that title and not get a little choked up.    Big Guy's first year of high school is just days away from being finished.   Right now he is in the other room putting the finishing touches on his Communications final which is tomorrow.    At the beginning of this year, I had feelings of sheer terror about whether or not I could homeschool him through high school.   I can say that those feelings have only diminished slightly as this year has reaffirmed to me just how challenging and important these high school years are going to be.

I wanted the chance to sit down and write down some things about this past year.   I know that he and I will both want to look back and remember that we survived this freshman year!

His Course Load:

Algebra 1 - We tackled this at home with a curriculum we purchased called Teaching Textbooks.  

Biology -  This class was taken online with CurrClick.com through a professional teacher, Debbie Mackin, who offered the Apologia Academy Biology course.    He went to online lectures once a week and had to submit all of his assignments to her.   Even his tests were taken online and she graded them.   Loved this!    To complete the lab requirements, he went to Millsaps for a lab class with Dr. Paul.

Communication/Speech - There is no doubt that this is the hardest class that Big Guy has had this year.   It is taught by a retired college professor.   She is TOUGH!    However, she has taught Big Guy a valuable life skills:  "You don't have to like something to do it well."

Latin - Out of all our classes, this is the one I am still trying to figure out.   We chose Visual Latin for this class.    He likes it, but I need to make sure he is progressing correctly.  It has been a LONG time since high school Latin for me.

Mississippi History - We ordered the MS history textbook written by a professor at the University of Mississippi.    It was recommended to us by our pediatrician.    In addition to completing this textbook, Big Guy had to complete a major Mississippi project for this class and take a test which included labeling all the counties of Mississippi.  

Mississippi Literature/Writing - All of Big Guy's literature and English was tied into his Mississippi history.  

Music Theory - Another class which he took through CurrClick, both boys took this class of basic music concepts.    It gave them basic musical knowledge of notes, clefs, time signatures, notes of the piano, accidentals, half and whole steps, etc... 

P.E. -  Between bowling club and 4H shooting sports, it was no problem meeting the PE requirements this year.

I am sitting here looking at him working at his desk and I realize just how much he has grown this past school year in so many ways.   He has changed so much physically.  He is now so much taller than I am and his voice is becoming deeper and deeper.    He has always been a very introspective and shy person; however, I have seen him step out of his shell this year.    Big Guy is the kind of person who would do anything for you if you asked, but he isn't going to jump out there and say, "Hey, I will do it."   I have even seen that change a little.    He has been a part of the audio/visual team at our church for the past three years and recently he has begun asking to go over extra days to help with certain projects.    I like seeing him step out of his comfort zone and do things for others.   

I love being his Mom.   The older he gets the more I love and admire him for the man he is becoming.   I love watching God mold him into who He wants him to be.   I can't wait to see where God takes us next on this amazing journey.

Clever Poster

I saw this poster on Facebook this morning.  LOVE IT!!   This article said it was created by a non-profit group called Burning Through the Pages.     This is definitely clever marketing!

Girl's Day Out

 My sisters and my nieces and I went out for the day.    Can I tell you this is one of my favorite things in life?     The first thing we decided to do was go and get manis/pedis.   I decided I would get a pedicure.    The last one I can remember getting was about 5 years ago.    It was such a treat not only to get one, but to go with the girls.


I don't think any of us were as relaxed as MM getting our nails done.   She was so chilled out I thought she was going to fall asleep sitting in the chair.

Kennedy was fascinated with having pretty nails.   She loved getting her nails done and watching all of us get ours done.

They were so proud of their nails...

When we got in the car the girls knew exactly where they wanted to go next.... the toy store!   It was so fun following them around seeing what attracted their attention.   My sister got tickled at them because they seemed to play with all the same things they have at home.     At one point I asked if they were ready to go explore some more and LK said, "My sissy isn't ready yet."   I love how much they love each other and look after each other.  

We walked around the corner to Charming Charlie's.   It is a big jewelry store that is organized by color.    They love all kinds of jewelry so I thought they would like it.   I think it all that choice was a little overwhelming.   They loved anything sparkly and shiny.    Those girls are like their Mama... they love some bling!     My favorite moment was when LK picked up an eyeglass case and said, "This is perfect for holding hot dogs."    Speaking of sunglasses, they had a great time trying on sunglasses.

Right outside Charming Charlie's are the splash fountains.    We told the girls they could play but not to get their clothes wet since we did not have any extra clothes.  Unfortunately when you get two sweet girls running around in water and getting more and more excited, one of them is going to fall down.   MM fell down and her heart was crushed.   We convinced her that it was OK and then told them to put their shoes on so we could head over to the bookstore.    May I mention that my three year old nieces can buckle their shoes by themselves?    That is AMAZING!!   I have substitute taught kindergarten and there are tons of those students who cannot do that.   

We spent the rest of our time in Barnes and Noble looking at books.   Aunt Sheba took MM into the bathroom to see if they had one of those hand dryers to get her clothes dry.    While we were waiting, LK and I browsed books.  

By this time we were all hungry and MM said that chips and sauce sounded good.   You can tell these girls are pros at Mexican restaurants.     While we were all eating our burritos and tacos, MM was eating her tortillas.   Apparently that is one of her food groups these days.    She will eat them for breakfast, lunch or dinner.    This night she ate FOUR!   

We are full of Mexican and the girls decided they wanted to go back to my house to jump on the trampoline.    Man I wish I could bottle their energy!    If I had jumped on that trampoline I would have lost my supper, but they jumped and jumped and giggled until my sister they just had to go home for baths and bed.

They didn't want to leave and I didn't want them to leave.     When is our next Girl's Day Out???  I am already ready!!

Boys Will Be Boys

Walking into the boy's bathroom I see something red spattered all over the wall.   It is also on the towel and along the picture frame.    It is early morning and I am the only one awake so I wait until the boys wake up to start asking questions.

My husband is the first up so I ask him if he knows anything about it.  He goes to look.

Husband:   "It looks like blood!"

Me:  "I thought the same thing at first, but it would be tough to get blood all over like that."

Now we are both curious.   

When both of the boys are up and fully awake we can't take it any longer.   We ask them.

"Boys, do either of you know why there is something on the walls in the bathroom?"

They look at each other sheepishly and start grinning.

Big Guy says, "Do you remember the other day when you bought us lunch because you had that WinShape meeting?"

"Well, we have always wanted to try out this cool prank.   You put a ketchup packet underneath the toilet lid and when someone sits down it squirts ketchup on them.   

We did that except we didn't sit down.  We just stomped on the toilet lid and it shot ketchup everywhere."

At this point Little Guy pipes in... "Most of it shot into the shower!"

Hubs and I looked at each other and just died laughing!  

"Um, will you mind cleaning up what is left behind?"

"Sure thing Mom!"

No doubt about it... boys will be boys.

Simple Happiness

Our schedule has been very packed.    

Monday - baseball practice

Tuesday - archery practice and/or baseball game and Metamorphosis

Wednesday - church, music theory class

Thursday - shooting practice, communication class, science class, Crossfit class, biology class

Friday - archery practice

Saturday - baseball

Sunday - church

There is not one day that we do not have some sort of commitment.     Thankfully, this kind of craziness only happens for about nine weeks every spring, but I still do not like it.

I don't know how it worked out, but recently we had an entire day without any commitments.   My husband took the day off work to stay home with us.    During breakfast he asked if there was anything I wanted to do and I told him that the thing that sounded best to me was just sitting outside with a book and reading.    He and Little Guy decided that they would go out and hit a few rounds of golf during the cool morning hours.   

After lunch I looked out the window and the above chair was sitting outside.    My sweet husband had gone out and bought me a chair so I could do exactly what I said -- just sit and read.

Some women want jewelry, flowers, big houses, new cars.... my husband gave me the best gift of all.   It wasn't just the chair.   It was the fact that that he listened to me!  

Simple Happiness.

Birthday Eyebombing

My birthday was earlier this week.  I won't tell you how old I am, but my Little Guy gave me a birthday spanking and stopped when he got to 21 licks.   Man I love that kid!!  

My sweet husband had offered to take the day off work, but I had leadership training for the Winshape day camps all day and then praise team practice during the evening.   I had a crazy schedule for my birthday.   That did not stop my boys from spoiling me.    My boys got up at 6:00 a.m. and made homemade chocolate chip muffins.   I am not kidding when I tell you those were the most delicious muffins I have ever eaten.   AMAZING!    My sweet husband went and got me my favorite coffee from Seattle Drip.    Of course, they each had bought me precious cards with notes written inside. 

But the most creative thing they did was eyebomb me.    If you haven't heard of eyebombing, it is a new fad and it just cracks me up.    Here are just a few pics of places they eyebombed me.   They even included my birthday cake.     I. LOVED. IT!

Thank you, my sweet boys.   You know me best and this birthday just proved it again!!    I love you!

A Prom Dinner To Remember

Saturday night was prom night for one of our local high schools.   It is a tradition for our friends to host prom dinner in their home for the students who want to attend.   Eating a delicious dinner with all your closest friends in a beautiful setting... what could be better than that on prom night?    I worked with some of my sweet friends as waitress/waiters for this special evening.   My friends are amazing at putting together a meal like this.   They transform their home into a restaurant.   Beautiful tables are set up in the living room, sunroom, foyer and library and of course, they use their dining room.    I wish I had photos of the food, but we were too busy serving and taking care of the students to take those photos.      The big beautiful white house is where we took the kids in the limousine before supper to take prom photos.   I can't wait to get those back from the photographer.  

This Week's God Story

Last night after arriving home from choir practice I plopped my exhausted body on the couch and grabbed my computer so I could check our schedule for today before I went to change and crawl into bed.    After jotting down the address for where Big Guy's communication class had been moved to, I started closing down tabs when something caught my eye on facebook.    The headline said this:

"If you ate at the McDonald's on McFarland Drive between February 28th and March 14th, please be vaccinated for Hepatitis A before March 30."

Wait... What?   Quick check of the calendar confirmed my fears.  We had visited that McDonald's when we were driving to Atlanta for Spring Break.   

At first I could not believe it, but then I realized what an amazing God thing it was for me to even see this news headline.   This was a restaurant we ate at in Alabama.  Two weeks ago!  I do not read Alabama newspapers.  However, God provided the link through Facebook so I could see it and get my boys and I vaccinated.  

Now the boys were not excited when I woke them this morning and told them that we had to start the day with shots (and then another one in six months); however, even they realized what an amazing God story this is for our week!

"In All Things Give Thanks!"  1 Thessalonians 5:18

Things That Would Only Happen To Me

My boys consider it a "code red" emergency when there is no milk in the house so I ran to the grocery store last night.    Sometimes I feel like I need to move next door to my friend, Japanese Redneck, and let her teach me how to have a cow to milk we go through so much of it! 

Anyway, since I was there I was walking up and down the aisles grabbing a few other items that we needed as well.    The boys and I are going to be out of town next week and I wanted to make sure hubs has plenty to eat while we are gone.

I walked around the corner and there was a man leaning over his buggy, coughing and very red in the face.    I asked him if I could get him some water or something.

He took a deep breath and said, "No thanks.  Mouth to mouth will do just fine."

Ummm.  Ummm.    I just kept on walking and I heard him say, "What?  You are just going to let me die here?"

File that under, "Things That Would Only Happen To Me".

In Vicksburg for Christmas -- Yes this is LATE

My sweet Little Guy in front of my parent's tree.   He isn't so little anymore!

The sweetest Christmas angels ever playing with the same vintage nativity set that my sisters and I grew up playing with as little girls.

Play Date with My Sweeties

Any time I get to have my sweet nieces over is my favorite day.     They came over right before Christmas and we had so much fun playing with my nativity set and baking cookies.   I hope they had as much fun as I did.

Run As Fast As You Can Gingerbread Man!

Our No Good Terrible Horrible Day

We always spend a week in December with our friends from Atlanta.   We decided since we were already in the mountains, hubs would just drop us off there and we would meet him the next weekend in Birmingham to go home.     It was the perfect plan until...

Somehow in the unloading of luggage my suitcase got left in the car.   I don't know how it happened because hubs and I are both so OCD about things like this.   I think we were both very tired from the intense rain we had been driving in and sleeping in a bed that wasn't the norm.    Regardless of how it happened, about an hour after hubs left I asked the boys to take all of our things upstairs and Big Guy said, "Mom, your suitcase isn't here."    We searched again, but he was right.  

As I was dialing hubs I was so frustrated with myself.    When he answered I told him what happened and he said he would check when he stopped for gas.   A few minutes later he called and said it was in the back.    My first thought was that I would just go to Wal-Mart and buy a few things and  make do for the week.   However, he insisted that he drive it back because all my medicine was in that suitcase and I couldn't without THAT for a week.    We hung up.   I cried.   Then we waited.   

A few minutes later the phone rang.   It was my sister.   She asked where hubs was.  I told her and she said a gentleman had called and he had hubs phone.  WHAT?!?   Apparently when he stopped for gas he accidentally left it there.   We decided the best thing to do was ask him to hold it until hubs got back.  We asked him to ask for photo id before releasing the phone.   We hung up.  I cried.   Then we waited.

About an hour later the phone rang again.   My sweet husband.   He wanted me to know that he lost his phone and he didn't want me to worry in case I called him.    He didn't want ME to worry?   He is the one on the road driving back and he didn't want ME to worry?   Is it any wonder I love this man?

He arrived back at the house and I grabbed him in my arms and told him how sorry I was and he smiled this big smile and said, "It is no big deal.  I am just so thankful that I convinced you not to come meet me on the interstate halfway (which is what I wanted to do).   Since I left my phone behind we never would have been able to find each other."  

He gave me another great big hug.    Gave the boys a great big hug.   Then he sat down on the couch and gathered me in his arms and took a long nap.   

I don't know what the boys will remember about that day, but I hope they remember that they have a Daddy who goes the extra miles to love his family.    

Some People Pay For Water Features

Some people pay to have this type of water feature in their front yard.   Not us.   It just happened naturally.   The good news is that it is not a water main break which is what we feared when we first saw it.   Apparently the underground drain system cannot handle all the water and exploded the pipe producing this lovely fountain.     We have had a LOT of rain lately and knew that our backyard drain system was having a hard time keeping up.   It looks like we are about to do some digging and installation of a larger french drain system.   Doesn't that sound like fun? 

That is NOT the type DIY project I enjoy at all.

Time in the Mountains with Hubs' Family

Right before I started my fasting, we went on a trip with my husband's family to the mountains in Tennessee.   We stayed in a beautiful cabin and enjoyed time playing games, hiking, going to some museums and just relaxing.   Even though I am not really a morning person, I could not resist waking up early each morning to see the sun rise over the valley.  The perfect part was that I could just crawl to the end of our bed and see it from warmth of our blankets from the large picture window.  It was breathtaking!

Out of Hiding

Wow!  Has it been that long since I have been on my blog?   I gave up blogging when our youth pastor challenged us to give up something for our 40 day fast which started back on December 4th.    They say it takes about 30 days to establish a new habit and apparently the habit took hold because I haven't even looked at my blog except to post a required book post or two.  

I hope you are all doing well.     December and January were wonderful months and I will try to update you as I have a few minutes.

However, my sweet husband gave me a Valentine's gift better than chocolate and flowers... he took two days off work to spend with us.    Priceless!

Merry Christmas

Happy Birthday, Jesus

 ¹ In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while^[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.
 ⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
 ⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
 ¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
 ¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
   and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Luke 2: 1-14