Our Recent Trip to Disneyworld

We went on our semi-annual (isn't that every two years?) trip to Disney World January 2-9. This marked the 6th time we have done this Disney vacation with the Mims family (Kelly and Lynn and kids). The Johnsey family (Joe and Leanna) have joined us three times, and this year we added Julie's husband, Big Sam, and Parker's wife, Alyssa. (Parker is Lynn's oldest son). Our family was missing Olivia and her husband, Brian, but we did have a new family join us, the Green family (Mike and Amy). Our total headcount was 26. 

Just looking at the hundreds of pictures we have between my phone, Jimmy's phone, Jimmy's camera, and the Disney Photo Pass makes me want to go back! The weather was so nice, and we had so much fun!

I selected several pictures from the week to give an overview of our time at the four parks. We visited each park two days except for Animal Kingdom--we only went there one day. But the day we visited Animal Kingdom, we were all on the 7:00 AM bus in order to be there when the park opened. Our plan, along with hundreds of other people, was to run straight to get in line for Avatar. Which we did. And after a 2.5 hour wait, we rode it! It really was amazing and entertaining, and worth the wait. However, I am not sure I would have waited much longer for it. As we exited the attraction, we saw that the current wait time was 4.5 hours! 

All four Disney parks were exceptionally busy and crowded the whole time we were there, and we spent a good bit of time waiting in various lines. But, since our people are all older, it was fine. We just enjoyed each other's company (and lots of snacks!) while we waited. We did have fast passes each day, but other than that, we had to stand in line. For example, we stood in line for The Little Mermaid for over and hour! Crazy! But it was still fun.  One thing we did to minimize the wait (and again, this worked for us because our children are older) was to take advantage of single riders lines when they were available. We don't mind riding with strangers if it speeds up the wait!

One of the things the children enjoy doing on the rides that take your picture at the "most thrilling part of the ride" is to pose in crazy ways for the picture. I am sharing several of these pictures to give you an idea. 

Here are some pictures from the fun week:

What a fun filled week! I can't wait to go again!

I Am Lea November

Author Wilson Adams, his daughter Lea, and me at his book signing last Tuesday

My friend Wilson Adams wrote this book chronicling his journey of adoption. Jimmy and I bought several copies for various friends and family members as Christmas gifts, and after I finished reading it, Wilson asked me to write a book review for him to use. It took me a while to adequately express my thoughts after reading I Am Lea November.  I have included a copy of my review below.

If you are interested in purchasing this book (and I highly recommend it!), here is the link:

Courageous Living Books.

I Am Lea November

A Review

If you are considering adoption, if you are currently in the process of adopting, if you have already adopted, or if you have a friend or family member who is adopting or has adopted children, then I encourage you to read I Am Lea November by Wilson Adams. Long after finishing this book, the Adams's story has stayed on my mind. Wilson eloquently and honestly, with great transparency, describes his and his wife's journey of adopting a group of three siblings from Bulgaria. I was both moved to tears and also struck with laughter time and again while reading his account, sometimes on the same page. 

My personal views of adoption---it's expected and unexpected repercussions for both the children and the parents, the vast amount of documentation and bureaucratic paperwork required, and the immense expenses entailed--have been greatly enlightened. I now have a much better understanding of adoptive parents and what they all go through. This book also helped me understand and appreciate more the members of my own family who have grown their family through adoption.

Wilson encourages all of us to do our part to foster a culture of adoption. He earnestly and effectively educates the reader about the ongoing need of support for both the children and the adoptive parents after the adoption is final. I learned we can all do something. Even if we do not adopt a child, we can provide support (physical, material, financial, and/or emotional) to the families who do adopt.

Simply put, this book has inspired me to be a better person, and to seriously consider what I personally can do for the least of these.

Our Trip to the Outback Bowl

Recently after talking with a few people who used to read my blog (when I actually blogged), I realized that I missed blogging! I like sharing my faith.....my blessings, my struggles.....putting my thoughts into words is something that I like to do, and I hope that it can serve as an encouragement to others as well. Plus, I really do like recording some of our family events.

So....to play a little catch up....

Our family (minus Olivia and Brian), the Peters family (Julie, Sam, and Mae), the Mims family (Kelly and Lynn and their four kids plus Parker's wife, Alyssa), the Johnsey family (Joe and Leanna and their four kids), and the Green family (Mike and Amy and their three kids) all planned our every other January trip to Disney World for January 2-9. We normally go later in the month, but our college kids wanted to come too, so we had to move our trip up earlier in the month before their classes began.  (Our headcount for Disney World was 26.)

Sometime in December, it was announced that Mississippi State would be playing in the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Florida on New Year's Day. Kelly sent out a group text asking if we were interested in going to Florida a couple of days earlier to go to the game. Since Jimmy was already off because of his holiday schedule, we said, Yes! The Mims and Johnsey families were in too, so we bought tickets, reserved hotel rooms, and bumped up our departure date. The Peters and Green families joined us at Disney World like they had originally planned.

So. We left at 3:00 AM on December 31 for the 12 hour drive to Tampa. Our goal was to make the Outback Bowl parade in Ybor City at 5:00 PM. We made it! Even though Clay was involved in a minor car accident on I-75 in Georgia, we still made it. Barely. And we were tired, and we looked like we had been on the road all day with little or no sleep! (Lynn never even went to bed the night/morning before we left.....I slept 2-3 hours I think).

at the parade...running on caffeine and cowbells!

Fun Fact: A local news reporter asked me a few questions about our trip to Tampa, our going to the bowl game, etc.

The crowd was so loud, and I don't even remember what I said! But it was on the news that night!

The kids were also featured on the front page of our local newspaper on January 1, with a story about our families traveling to the Outback Bowl.

Here we are the morning before the game.

And here is the whole crew!

Jimmy and Me

We arrived about 2 hours before the game began so we could enjoy all the pregame festivities and just take in being at a professional football stadium. It really was a lot of fun, and the weather was beautiful!

Our family of five

We sat in front of the pirate ship which was cool!

Sadly, Mississippi State lost the game to Iowa. Iowa was considered the home team, and it certainly felt like they had a home team advantage in some areas. The announcers kept making it a point to remind us that this was Iowa's 6th Outback Bowl appearance! However, the Iowa fans that I met were super nice. And all of us enjoyed the sunshine!

After the game we searched for some time to find a Cuban restaurant that was open on New Year's Day. We were joined by Jimmy and Leanna's first cousin, Warren and his family too. Next we returned to our hotel to repack and get ready for our early morning departure the next day to Disney World!

Merry Christmas, Etc.

Wow! It's Christmas Eve!

I am so excited! All of my children, their spouses, and my sweet grand baby are all here! Everyone arrived on December 22, and they will all be here until New Year's Eve. My house is so full and so is my heart.
Here are some random pictures of our last few days.

Sweet Baby Mae!

She is 4 months old today. This is her sitting in Aunt Leah's lap last night. She does so well with large crowds of lively people over here. She just lets people hold her while she smiles at everyone!

 Annual sugar cookie decorating.

 I set up my crib Saturday. Mae had been sleeping in a pack n play, but Julie needs that for an upcoming trip, so I got out the crib. It was stored behind my Christmas decorations, so I had planned on getting it out in December anyway. 

I could not find my baby bed bedding that I used for Leah. It is pink and green, and so pretty and girly. I cannot imagine where I put it or why it is not in a labeled box in my storage room. I did find this boy bedding that my mother made for Sam. However, the bedskirt and diaper holder that hangs on the crib were not in the box.....it's a mystery! I guess I am not as organized as I thought!

 Even though it is blue and not pink, I think Mae likes it! She has slept well in there the last two nights.

 Our Christmas tree, side 1

 and side 2

Ten people will be opening gifts here on Christmas morning, and we all have gifts for each other, so the tree is pretty full. I am so thankful for my large family. It is my greatest blessing on this earth. I thank God in my prayers to Him every day for giving me the privilege of being a wife, mother, and grandmother. I am so grateful.

 Benny the elf.

That elf. Sometimes he moves, sometimes he doesn't. 

 Sweet baby Mae!

 Our Christmas card tree

 Sweet baby Mae again

My favorite Christmas shirt this year.

I may wear it one more time today.

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Love from the Joyful Johnsons!

Christmas Planning Binder

I wanted to share a little bit about my Christmas Binder. (I know I should have shared this much earlier, but maybe you can glean some ideas for your Christmas planning for next year.) 

***Also, I know that I blogged about my Christmas binder in 2016, but that was two years ago!

I first began keeping a notebook in the year 2001, and I switched to a binder in 2007. It's just a 3 ring binder with dividers that I made by typing the categories on cute Christmas paper and laminating them. My first binder is now completely full, so I made a new binder this year and titled it "Christmas Binder 2". The sections in my binder include:

I began keeping a spiral bound Christmas notebook in 2001. In 2007 I switched to a 3 ring binder with the following dividers:

Gifts:

• This section is subdivided by year.

• I create a document for each year in a table format with the following columns: To, Gift, Bought, Wrapped. I list the recipient's name and the gift. Then I put an x when I buy (or make the gift), and an x when I wrap the gift. On the pages that I create for my children, I make one page per child. I print this out to use as I shop and wrap, but when it's all done, I print out one final clean copy to include in my binder. I love looking back over the years at the gifts I have shared with my family and friends. This also prevents me from giving someone the same exact thing I gave them last year! I also love to look at what I gave my kids in years past, especially when they were younger.

Addresses:

• I print out my Christmas cards address list each year and make any corrections or additions. Then I print out one more final copy for my binder. I am not sure why I feel the need to have a hard copy in my binder....I guess that's in case my computer crashes. 

• I also make a list of addresses for any parties that I send invitations.

Parties:

• I keep copies of party invitations in this section.

• I also keep guest lists for various parties here.

Food:

• This section has recipes for all the Christmas goodies we make and share each year.

• I include menus and recipes for Christmas meals and parties.

• I make labels for the homemade treats we give to others, and I have the master copies of those labels in this section. I like to put who the goodies are for on these labels. This helps when distributing them.

• A new addition to this section this year is I am going to list what foods I take to various gatherings. I think this will be fun and useful to review each year. 

I have included some pictures below, but first I must share my crazy idea from last year. I saw on Pinterest where some ladies were making their own super cute Christmas notebooks, and I thought, "I should totally do that! In all my spare time!"

And so I did. I ordered a personalized notebook from Erin Condren. I clicked on all my cute Christmas notebook pins on Pinterest, and I spent hours crafting this beautiful notebook. Complete with a table of contents, cute stickers, and red and green pens. It turned out great!

Except that I still used my binder as well. I could not resist having copies of everything I recorded in my cute Christmas notebook in my binder too. So, while I enjoyed the festive notebook, I went back to my trusty Christmas Binder this year. I did use the Christmas notebook this year for some list making, and it is good to carry around for that, but my binder is a keeper. 

The Erin Condren notebook I used last year

a divider in the notebook to keep me in place

from the notebook

I had a page for each person.

recipes for my binder

binder dividers

my original binder

my current binder

And that's it! That's how I organize my brain during the holiday season.

Our Thanksgiving Weekend

Our Thanksgiving week was overall just delightful! Our family (minus Olivia and Brian who stayed in Indiana to celebrate Thanksgiving with Brian's family) enjoyed each other's company so much! We  ate a lot of good food and were able to visit with much of our extended family. We put together a difficult nutcracker puzzle which I plan to frame. We have started another puzzle, but interest has waned since the holiday has ended. I keep a Christmas themed puzzle going on our dining room table during the holiday season. I think I am going to frame all the ones we put together this year and hang them during December each year.

Clay's friend, Lauren joined us for a couple of days at the end of their Thanksgiving break. Leah, Sam, and I took them to the airport in Memphis last Monday, and after dropping them off we did some Christmas shopping (mostly for Mae!) at Target. I had so much fun buying baby things!

Another highlight (or should I say lowlight) of our Thanksgiving break was that half of our family got sick! Big Sam, Julie, Leah and Sam all had some variation of a stomach virus, fever, and aches and pains. Thankfully, Jimmy, Clay, Lauren, nor I got sick! We watched several Christmas movies during the time while the sick people were feeling poorly. Clay and Lauren tried to stay away from everyone, so I gave them the task of preparing my Christmas cards! I was so grateful they did that for me. I got them in the mail last Friday.

After spending last Tuesday cleaning house all day, we got back to school. We will continue our schoolwork until December 14, and then Yay! Christmas Break!  We will resume our school on January 11. I am really looking forward to this extended break.

I wish we could be in full holiday mode right now! But I must stay strong and keep doing school until next Friday.

Here are a couple of pictures from my Thanksgiving Day table.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I hope you and your family enjoy your day today. I spent all day yesterday cooking after I made one last trip to Kroger and Hobby Lobby (I decided last minute to make some sort of table decoration for my Thanksgiving dinner--good thing I was last minute because most of the fall items were 80% off!)

This morning all I have left to do is cook the turkey (first time ever for me), finish decorating the table, and do all the things on my list. I am printing out some Thanksgiving themed conversation starters and activities. I hope everyone will be a good sport and play along! 

We plan to eat at 1:00 when Jimmy gets home from work. Tonight we are going to Kelly and Lynn's to eat leftovers with them and watch the Egg Bowl.

Enjoy your day! 

The Thanksgiving Celebrations Countdown

Whew! Yesterday afternoon I typed my to-do list and timeline for this week. This is my first time ever to prepare the Thanksgiving meal all by myself and serve it at my own house! My mother is unable to host this year, so I am using all her traditional recipes and hosting my immediate family. There will be eight  of us for Thanksgiving lunch: Jimmy, Me, Clay, Leah, Sam, Julie, Big Sam, and Mae.  I plan to serve the meal on my fine china that I have used only once or twice in our 27 years of marriage.

Thursday night we plan to take our leftovers over to Kelly and Lynn's house to eat with them and watch the Egg Bowl on TV. Friday night we are having a Thanksgiving dinner at Russ (Jimmy's brother) and Megan's house, and on Saturday we are going to Rhett (my brother) and Amanda's house. Lots of fun and food ahead!

Here is the timeline: As I just read over it, I realized that I forgot to list actually buying the Christmas tree! We will buy it sometime Wednesday and decorate it Friday.
Oh. And we will do some school today and tomorrow, and we also have CrossFit and piano lessons today.

Monday:

• clean upstairs
• change Clay's sheets, guest sheets, and Julie's sheets
• get out Christmas dishes
• decorate for Christmas (after supper)

Tuesday

• vacuum downstairs
• clean guest bathroom
• make dressing
• make carrot salad
• slice ham
• freeze hambone

Wednesday:

• grocery store early for last minute ingredients

• make sweet potatoes
• make corn/rice casserole
• make orange delight
• make green beans x 2
• thaw dressing
• make chocolate and pumpkin pies
• clean my bathroom/bedroom

Thursday:

8:00 AM

• bake turkey
• vacuum downstairs
• vacuum stairs
• set table—wash and dry tablecloth on quick cycle to remove wrinkles

11:30AM

• set out all casseroles
• boil eggs
• make gravy
• prepare cranberry sauce

12:00PM

• bake dressing
• bake green beans
• slice turkey
• put ham and turkey on platter

12:30PM

• bake sweet potatoes
• bake corn/rice casserole
• set out butter

12:45PM

• bake rolls

12:55PM

• set out orange delight
• set out carrot salad

1:00PM—EAT

Friday

• white chili in crock pot on high (for lunch)
• brown ground beef for tomorrow
• decorate Christmas tree (hot chocolate and popcorn!)
• make banana pudding
• make chocolate pies
• make chocolate chip pound cake 
• bake green beans one hour before going to Megan's.

Saturday

• put 7 can soup in crock pot on low (for supper)
• make strawberry spinach salad
• take cake and salad

Happy Thanksgiving Week to you!

Podcasts and Books

A while back I shared which podcasts I listen to. My list today is pretty much the same with maybe one new addition.

• The Lazy Genius. Kendra, the host of The Lazy Genius, would so be my friend in real life if she lived in my town! I love her ideas! She gives practical, doable tips about all areas of homemaking and personal care. Her topics range from how to cook chicken, to skin care, to planning your holidays without losing your mind. She always breaks down things into small, manageable steps, and I am always encouraged after listening to her. Her podcast is weekly, and it is fairly short, around 15 minutes an episode.
• The Big Boo Cast. Sophie and Melanie are so much fun to listen to. It's really like listening in on their phone conversation. They discuss lighthearted topics such as college football (specifically Mississippi State and Texas A&M), make-up, skin care products, fashion, pets, TV shows, books, and a host of other topics. I love this podcast! They just released (just this morning!) their much anticipated holiday gift giving guide. I cannot wait to listen!
• Happier With Gretchen Rubin. Gretchen and her sister Elizabeth discuss ways to be happier in your daily life. They include tips on improving your quality of life in areas like fitness, productivity, and relationships. Gretchen and Elizabeth live a life very unlike mine (Sophie and Melanie from the Big Boo Cast are certainly more relatable)--Gretchen is a former attorney and now she is a best selling author, and Elizabeth is a TV writer and producer, yet most of the time they have practical ideas. This is a very polished podcast. 

I am currently reading Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry. I previously read his book Hannah Coulter, and it ranks up there with one of my all time favorite books! I highly recommend it. Most of his books are set in a fictional town called Port William. The books read like memoirs, but they are fiction. I hope to read all of Berry's works.

I will share more of my summer reading later. 

Today

I had planned to blog last night about either books I am reading and podcasts I am listening to or about my Christmas planner and Thanksgiving plans, but instead my family invited me to watch Elf with them! I am not much of a TV or movie watcher unless I am on the treadmill, and when I do sit down to watch a movie with the family I am usually multitasking. However, last night I decided to sit on the couch with nothing extra to do and just watch the movie. I enjoyed it so much! I felt like I was in college.....just sitting on the couch with Jimmy, watching a movie.
After the movie I told everyone goodnight and put on a new set of sticker fingernails. Then I was too tired to think so I went to bed.

This morning I have to make my grocery list which will include all the non-perishable ingredients I will need to cook for our three Thanksgiving celebrations next week. I am off to the grocery store soon, and then I will do school with Leah and Sam for a little bit before it's time for Leah and I to go get our hair cut. After that, more school and then cooking for a Family Bible study and potluck dinner tonight (at Julie and Big Sam's house). Also Julie and Mae are coming over for the day! That's the most fun of all.

Later tonight I hope to get my thoughts together about all the books I have read over the summer and into the fall. I have a few good ones!

Facebook Shopping Parties

Here's something else I have been doing lately......Facebook shopping parties. In the past few months I have been introduced to Norwex (three parties), Younique, and Color Street Nails. I know there are many Facebook parties out there, but these are the three I have been invited to recently. Before these online parties, I knew nothing about these companies' products. In fact, when Lynn was showing me her sticker nails and was trying to tell me where she bought them, it took several tries before I understood what she was saying. Color Street Nails. I still don't know why they are called that.

Ok. Disclaimer. I am not selling any of these products. I am not hosting any online parties. I am getting no financial or other company benefit from telling you about this......I have just had so much fun, and I am sharing my life with you readers again! :)

1. Norwex. This is the only Facebook party that I have participated in live, and it was fun! I am sold on their enviro cloth, mirror cloth, and dusting mitt. I have enjoyed cleaning so much with them. The dusting mitt really attracts the dust, and my furniture stays dust free so much longer than before. I will not be using their body cloths to shower without soap or their kitchen cloths to wash dishes without soap, because, well, I like soap! I like the smell of soap! I do have their makeup removal cloths, which I love! I still use Mary Kay eye makeup remover to get my mascara off, but the Norwex cloths and hot water get my face clean. It's very easy. I have three of these cloths, and since I do laundry every. single. day. I always have one clean. 

2.  Younique.  Makeup. I am not high maintenance in the makeup department. I still wear some Cover Girl products just like I did in high school. I use several Mary Kay products, including my long time staple, tinted moisturizer, along with various other products all sold at Walmart. 

But, I watched several tutorial videos, spent a long time chatting with a consultant while I held Baby Mae late one night while Julie slept, and before you knew it, I had bought some new makeup! I am now using some sort of foundation, a fabulous foundation/powder/concealer brush, and mascara and a fiber lash set--all from Younique. This is the first time I have worn actual foundation in decades, and I really like it. It is very light and goes on effortlessly with the brush. (I don't wear the tinted moisturizer if I wear the foundation.) I also just bought some face primer, which I used for the first time today. The Epic mascara may be my new favorite mascara. I have used the fiber lashes a few times, but I really don't have time for too much extra in my daily "getting ready" routine. 

3. Color Street Nails. This is my favorite of all. I have painted my fingernails maybe three times since Olivia was born (she's 23), and I have had one manicure in my entire life. (last year). I have had some sort of fingernail infection on most of my fingernails (it comes and goes and alternates nails) for  almost 12 years. Yuk. It's not a fungus. I have taken many different medications over the years, and nothing helps. I am pretty sure I have chronic paronychia. (Google that. It's gross.) Anyway, I do not have pretty fingernails. But these Color Street Nails have changed my life! I bought four sets (because the party special was buy 3, get 1 free! :) With each set I am pretty sure I am getting two full manicures. I bought three sets of regular polish, and one set of glitter! I use the glitter stickers on my currently yucky nails, because I have found that they stick the best. 

The first time I applied them Lynn did most of it for me. She was concerned that I would not have the patience to do them, and she was right! If I had tried them all by myself the first time, I would have given up. But she showed me how to do it, and now I have done two more sets all by myself. I think the company advertises that each "manicure" lasts two weeks, but mine have lasted only six days each time. But wow! Six days. That's great to me! After 5-6 days they start cracking and coming off little bit on the tips. I am sure it's because I keep my hands in water so much washing and scrubbing dishes.

In case you are not familiar with Color Street Nails, they are nail shaped stickers made of actual nail polish. You apply the sticker and then gently shape it to your nail. I can do it in less than 30 minutes now. And no drying time!

I am done with Facebook parties for now, because I need to get onto online Christmas shopping.

But it has been lots of fun!

Countdown to Christmas: Part 1

No. I'm not "robbing the Pilgrims" as Kelly tries to tell us when we decorate for the Christmas Holidays well before Thanksgiving. It's just that Christmas decorations are so much fun. The tree, my Santa collection, the special ornaments, the greenery--I love it all, and I want to enjoy it a little bit longer than 3-4 weeks. 

I saw this sentiment somewhere on social media recently:

November 1-21:  Christmas

November 22:  Thanksgiving

November 23-December 25:  Christmas

I agree!  

My plan is for "the other Kelly" (Jimmy's college roommate who decorates for me each year--not be confused with "Uncle Kelly", my best friend, Lynn's husband) to come over next Monday night to work his magic. In about two hours he has the living areas of our home decked out in Christmas finery. It takes me way, way longer to take it down and pack it up each year than it does for him to make it all look so beautiful! 

But today's plan is to make a plan.

If you are beginning to think about the holiday season, now is time to make a list. Make lots of lists! 

Here is my plan for today:

• Take inventory of the gifts I have bought so far this year. I try to pick up a few things here and there for people as I see things that I think would be perfect for someone. I create a word document on my computer each year of each family member and friend's name that I buy/make gifts for, the gift, and when I wrap it. Actually I delete all the previous year's information and use the same document template each year. I don't make a whole new document. I just save the new one with the current year in the title. I think they are all called "Christmas 2018", etc. 
• Look in the various places I hide gifts and bring them all to a central location.
• Type the gifts into my Christmas document.
• Record the amount of money already spent on various Christmas items (gifts, cards, stamps, supplies etc.) in another document. I do set a Christmas Holidays budget each year, and I save money all throughout the year for this purpose. 
• Rehide all the gifts, but this time begin grouping them for wrapping.
• One more thing--when I am done shopping and wrapping, I print out all my gift lists and place them inside my Christmas binder. (More about my Christmas binder another day.)

P.S.

I ran/walked again this morning! Today I did 2.5 miles, so now I have 4 miles for this week. My goal is 10, and I think I can do it!

Do you have any exercise goals?

Do you want to start your holiday planning fun with me?

Happy Tuesday!

I May Be Back

Well. It's been a long, long time since I blogged.

I have heard on social media more than once that blogging is dead. That podcasts are the new thing now, and many people just don't read blogs anymore. True. I listen to a few podcasts myself, and I don't read blogs like I used to. However part of that is because of the stage of life I am in, and part of that is because many of the bloggers I used to follow are no longer blogging!

But I miss my blogging community, and I miss writing. I like getting my thoughts down on "paper", and I like sharing a little bit of my life and hopefully some encouragement to my readers.

So here goes. Again. I am going to try to jump back in.

Here is some of what has been going on in my life:

• Julie and Big Sam moved back to Mississippi (from Romania).
• Julie and Big Sam had a baby in August!  A precious baby girl named Mae.
• I am a grandmother! I love being a grandmother so much!
• It is difficult being a grandmother, a mother to a married daughter 9.5 hours away, a mother to a college sophomore 12 hours away, and a homeschooling mother to a 12 and 14 year old. (Plus Julie who now lives only 15 minutes away! :) All of those roles together have been quite the task. But I love being a wife/mother/grandmother most of all. Even when it's hard.
• Olivia and Brian have visited us twice--once in July and once over Labor Day weekend. I love having my children come home.
• I hosted Clay's college cross county team for an overnight stay last week. All 18 of them. It was delightful!
• Jimmy and I were able to travel and watch Clay's college end of season conference meet and also Leah and Sam's national meet over the last several days.
• I have basically quit running. :( I sometimes meet Leanna once a week or so for a 4-6 mile run, but that's it. I am not sure how or why I lost my motivation to run, but it's gone. And I am working on getting my motivation back. I ran/walked 1.5 miles this morning. I have set a goal of 10 miles this week.  For the first time in probably 10 years, I am not running the St. Jude Half Marathon (I ran the full marathon back in 2011, and I skipped 2014 to run a full marathon the next weekend). I signed up for the 10K instead. Now I am sad that I will be getting in the line to pick up the 10K bib instead of the half or full marathon bib! That may motivate me to get back into running! (Not that there is any shame in running the 5K or 10K, it's just that for so long I was running 2-3 half marathons a year, and now.......nothing.)
• I am still doing CrossFit once or twice a week. Our class meets three times a week, but going twice is always my weekly goal. 
• I am beginning to work on my Christmas Holidays plans. That makes me happy! This is the topic I will probably blog about first.....as I get my thoughts and plans together I will share them.
• I have read several good books over the last several months.
• I stated an inductive Bible study. I have found a new groove in my personal Bible study that is working well in my life right now.
• I love my church family. 
• I love my best friends, Lynn and Leanna.
• I love my family. 
• I am so thankful for all of my blessings. 

Back To School: 18th Edition

Well. Our summer came and went like a flash!

I began our 18th year of homeschooling on Tuesday. Thankfully, I had Julie here to help me with the fun, cute, and yummy special back to school snacks!

These are the adorable sugar cookies Julie made!

I did some simple decorating to make the first day of school special. No one (including me!) was really ready for school to begin again, so I was hoping that some fun decorations and special snacks would make the inevitable a little more bearable. 

 I reused this banner I found on the Target bargain aisles last year.

 I stayed up too late sewing seven cloth napkins and a table runner out of this fun school fabric. (I actually just cut and serged the edges.) I only had enough fabric to make seven napkins, but that worked out ok since I have only two students this year! Julie and I ate breakfast with Leah and Small Sam, and seven napkins were still enough when we all ate together at suppertime. (Jimmy, Me, Julie, Big Sam, Clay Leah, and Small Sam)

 My fiesta dishes matched the colors in the fabric perfectly!

I created 10 clues for our annual back to school treasure hunt. It gets harder and harder to think of new places to hide clues each year. I think I had some repeats this year, but maybe Leah and Sam were too young when I first used them to remember. 

The last clue led them to their school desks where I had their "treasures" displayed.

(It gets harder to be creative with the treasures each year too!)

 Sam's desk

Leah's desk

 Leah's treasures.....

new notebooks, a folder, pencils and lead, candy, and these super cute pretzel pencils lovingly made by Julie

Sam's treasures were the same---just different colors.

For the first day, we did only a Bible lesson, math, and science. I spent a good bit of time reviewing their daily checklists and what would be expected of them in each subject. I decided to ease them into a full day of school this year.  Yesterday and today we did only Bible, math, and science. Then we are off until next Wednesday, because some of our family will be attending a wedding in Virginia, and then Jimmy is off for a couple more days after that. When we start back next Wednesday, I plan to add English (reading and composition) and Sam's Sonlight. Then on the following Monday, August 13, they will begin doing their complete daily checklist of subjects. 

 Leah's Checklist

Sam's Checklist

The number beside each subject indicates the number of days each week they are to work on each subject. For most subjects they will complete one lesson per day. I asked Leah to set a timer when she is working in algebra, biology and literature for 45 minutes, and just stop after that. 

We started our school year earlier than normal because Julie is expecting her baby girl in about 5 weeks. I wanted to get as much school done before the baby comes.

Happy Back to School!