Just in case you haven’t decided where you’ll be ordering yours this year, you can check out my sister’s Facebook page. Colleen does a great job and will work with you to get it how you want it!
This was our card from last year, and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with this time.
Before I get to the thanksgiving, I wanted to let you know about my friend Mer who is having a giveaway every day this week (but she’s not determining the winners until the end of the week.) So you still have plenty of time to stop by!
After reading a book this summer, I realized that I had lost the habit of thankfulness and that somehow ugly cynicism had crept in its place. I don’t think there was some big event that caused this to happen, but it sure has. One of the things I want most for our girls is for them to be truly joyful, but I realized that if I was full of complaints and looking at the negative side of things, that they were going to pick up these nasty habits as well. Yuck.
I don’t really have a well-laid plan, but I’m going to try to post a little thankfulness on my blog just to keep my thankful/joyful juices flowing.
I’m thankful for a GREAT husband who works so hard at a very thankless job so I can stay home and train our sweet girls.
I’m so thankful that I get to be the one to teach our cuties even when being at home really stinks – I’m trying to remember to tell Todd this, too, so he’s not always hearing about how hard homeschooling can be. I really wouldn’t trade it for anything!
I’m thankful for a great community of homeschooling friends – seems like I make a new one every week or so. (That includes the ones here and Jill, too!)
I think I’ve mentioned this before, but just to make sure, I’m so grateful for our church home. We have been a part of some really great churches, but this is one that finally fits in just about every sense of the word. Our church family has really become our extended family, and I don’t know what we’d do w/o them.
I’m thankful for Ashley who was crazy brave and went to the outlet malls in San Marcos with me and the girls today. I would have even more gray hair if it weren’t for you!
I’m thankful for finished Halloween costumes! Pictures to follow sometime this weekend, I’m sure.
Oh, and the thought which inspired the blog tonight – I’m SO thankful for good health. We have had people battling illness left and right all around us, and we have been unscathed. I’m especially thankful for this as Todd is away this week. Thank you, Lord!
So, I’m going to try to make some headway on Emma’s costume and finish up Aubrie’s. May not get that much accomplished, but I’m going to give it a shot. Thankfully, E’s doesn’t require sewing, and I’m done with the sewing on Aubrie’s. Thank goodness for glue guns – that’s the only tool I’ll need to finish A’s. What would we do w/o glue guns? I shudder to think.
Also, I’ve GOT to figure out a way to get in some more exercise. I find that the “at home video routine thing” is proving a little too much for my level of discipline. I’m really hit-or-miss w/them which means I only work out about once a week, and let me tell you, friends, that is NOT cutting it. At all. I’m really trying to be aware of my eating, but w/o some sweat, I just don’t feel like much positive is going on. I had worked so hard a while back (two summers ago) to shed some pounds and get fit, and I’m so discouraged that I’ve completely backtracked to where I was before. I’m probably more fit now (not sucking wind when I run), but the scale is a real downer. Of course, I could be working out instead of typing…choices, choices. Maybe if I put on my workout clothes, I’ll get motivated!
I won! I won! I won! I’m not gonna gloat any more than that, but it sure does feel good. I won the advent book and the additional freebee, a Moleskine, that were given away here. Happy Friday to me, happy Friday to me, etc.
I love Fridays because we don’t do “formal school.” We may catch up on a thing or two left undone, but then we either go to the library for story time or do a homeschool p.e./playdate thing. Both are really fun and at the same time so we have to alternate. Today it’s pretty chilly so it looks like a library day. I better get movin’ because we’ve got to be in the van in about half an hour.
Hope yours is a happy Friday.
This year we decided to school three weeks on and take a week off and to pretty much school year-round. We have found that we I just don’t do very well without some routine and structure to our days, even in the summer. So, the first week we took off was for a trip to Dallas to see my dad and for me to go to an alumni board meeting since I hadn’t been to one in over three years. Pathetic.
This week has the potential to be pure heaven. I have been saving up some projects to work on during our week off. I’m planning to sew Christmas shirts for the girls to wear in our Christmas card picture. If they turn out decently, I may post a picture of the shirt, but I don’t want to give away too much of what our card may look like.
My other project is to finish the girls’ Halloween outfits. I’ve got Aubrie’s pretty much wrapped up, Jessie’s requires no work (super), and I haven’t even started on Emma’s. I really want to have these finished over the weekend so I can devote the rest of my time to the sewing of shirts and my other big project.
As anyone who has been in our home knows, we don’t have much “new'” stuff. We kinda sorta inherited furniture from my family for which I’m very grateful. However, none of our stuff is of the valuable antique sort. It’s worn, not particularly attractive, BUT it is solid wood and well-made, and so, much to sweet man’s dismay, I don’t want to part with any of it. I am hoping to give it a face-lift. I am trying to be realistic about this project because stripping and painting furniture always takes forever. I’m starting with the smallest piece, a bedside table, and we’ll see what happens from there. I would love to finish all three pieces, but this is VERY unrealistic.
So, if we can avoid major catastrophe for a week, and the weather cooperates, this week could such a fun break for me! I’m keeping my fingers crossed!!
for you to visit this site for another free giveaway. I still need to get my copy of the book just in case I don’t win one.
No time for anything else today. I have three busy little ones upstairs waiting for me to come and teach them something good!
We had our first cold spell last weekend, but of course, it’s Texas so things warmed right back up this week. Last night a cold (ok, a cool front) blew in, and we get to wear long sleeves to the park today – heaven!
I really need to mention that we had a first last Saturday. Emma scored her first soccer goal! Since she plays on a co-ed team, I’m extra proud of her because the boys do dominate most of the time. I had wanted to post pics (We didn’t get any of the magical goal, but I thought any soccer pictures would help set the mood.), but practice was rained out Tues., and Todd took her last night. Maybe I’ll get some good ones at tomorrow’s game.
Just guessing, but I think this may unleash the soccer wild-person in E. She’s very assertive in other areas of life but has yet to let that out on the soccer field. I think it will be so exciting when it happens. Got a little glimpse last Saturday, and it was a beautiful thing. I had to fight all my mommy urges not to run out on the field and hug her when she scored. Don’t think that hugging a player in the middle of a game would have gone over very well…
As promised, here is some footage of Aubrie's and Jessie's ballet classes. Aubrie's class is more like movement and music rather than ballet, but is bunches of fun! Jessie's class does actually practice "real" ballet, but the video shows what they get to at the beginning of class. I love her concentration playing hop scotch.
P.S. If the videos don't start, you can press F5 to refresh the page. At least that's worked for me.
