Happy Friday

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.

Potential Bliss

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!!

Just a Reminder

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!

Loving the Weather

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…

A Chance to Win

I love winning things or getting anything for free. My friend Meredith's husband is giving away a copy of his new book about Advent (which I haven't read yet, but I'm sure is wonderful), and all you have to do is post a comment on his blog about your favorite Christmas song. So easy and so fun!

Here's what I said, and I hope you'll take the time to contribute, too! (But I really want to win the book.)

1) O Come, O Come Emmanuel - I love the word "ransom" in connection with Christmas. He really is our rescuer in every sense of the word! 2) A choral song I learned in high school called Baby, What You Goin' to Be? I found a choir singing it on YouTube so here's the link, and you can judge for yourself! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnPxBpYY5z0

Ballet Class

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.

Friday Fritters

Some things you need to know…

Jessie had mono and CMV this summer except that she had NO symptoms (so crazy). We didn’t know anything was going on until she wanted to wear her pajamas in the middle of the day and lay down. She tested negative for mono because she technically didn’t have it anymore. More blood work showed that both viruses had been in her system but a while back. The human body is truly an amazing thing. She still gets a little tired but hasn’t wanted to wear her pajamas during the day for a while now. It’s so good to see some improvement in her.

Our house search continues, and in the middle of this economic uncertainty I have to wonder if it’s really a huge blessing to have such a wonderful place to rent. There are lots of things that bug me about this place, but when I find myself starting to complain on the inside, I remind myself how much it would cost to rent an apartment and how much we’re paying for a large house on five acres. Keep your mouth shut, Dee Dee Williams!

Emma and Jessie both took swimming lessons this summer and were little fish by the end of the summer. Emma was already swimming fairly well, but Jessie’s more like her hesitant mama and wasn’t so sure about this swimming thing. The last day that we were able to go swimming Aubrie (who has gills, I think) swam for the first time. What a fun summer and even better is how much easier next summer will be for Mom!

Now for some real fritters:

I love that Aubrie will say something silly and will pause and then add, “Just kidding,” at the end.

I love that all three girls will create a new make believe game just about everyday and carry it out all day long. We have to make them stop at mealtimes because they REALLY get into their roles.

I love that the girls are getting to have some real time outside.

I love that they play in the back of Todd’s old truck and have made it their clubhouse of sorts. They even have a flag flying from the bed of the truck.

I love that Emma grabbed her Bible and asked me to read some more about David and Absolom yesterday after we learned about part of their story in our history lesson.

I love that the girls are learning so much about nature and the outdoors from their sweet dad.

I love that we can watch hummingbirds, cardinals, finches, wood peckers and a variety of doves from our dinning room window.

I love even more that, thanks mostly to their dad, Emma can identify all of these on her own; she’s even better than me at telling the different doves apart.

I love that we have a great church family and that we get to go to homegroup tonight – sure to be a lot of fun!