We're Home From Disney World!

In case you have wondered why I haven't been blogging in over a week.....we have spent the last week in Disney World!  It was a fantastic week of fun!  We joined Lynn and Kelly and their children, Esther and Greg and their children and Heather (for 4 days) in sunny Orlando.  Six, sometimes seven adults and sixteen children!  Yes, we were continually counting heads, and twice we were called The Duggars. 

While we were there, Lynn and I ran the Disney Marathon, and Jimmy, Heather, and Esther ran the Goofy Challenge--which is running the Half Marathon on one day and then running the Marathon the next day--39.3 miles in two days!  Goofy!

I plan to blog later all about our fabulous trip and the races, but for now here are a few photos.  I just finished downloading over 500 pictures from the trip.  Don't worry, I am not going to share all of them!

 Me and Lynn during the marathon.  See Cinderella's castle in the background?

Jimmy's cousins, Stacee and Leanna, joined Heather, Esther, and Jimmy for the Half Marathon.

 Jimmy and Heather after finishing the Goofy Challenge

They each got three huge medals and three cool shirts for completing this challenge.

 Our children at the Magic Kingdom

 The while crew at Hollywood Studios

 The children in the lobby of our hotel

 Our family at Epcot

 Our children with Goofy

 Meeting Mickey

 Chatting with Minnie

The entire family!

We left 80 degrees and bright sunshine and were welcomed with 30 degrees and icy rain/sleet/snow!  What a change in the weather!  

I let the kids sleep late today, but we are still doing school.  And laundry.  We unpacked yesterday, so that's behind us.

It was a magical trip!

The New Year So Far

January is always busy for me.  Not as busy as December, but still busy.  There are Christmas decorations and such to organize and put away.  There is 2nd semester of school to plan and prepare.  We have two birthdays in January, so that means fun family parties to plan for Leah and Sam. And then there are all of those goals and resolutions to set!  I decided to do like I have the past two years or so, and choose one focus word for the year.  I finally picked a word

steadfast

More on being steadfast later...I am still pondering and planning. I have a couple of books that I want to read this year.  One of them is Les Miserables.  I am on page eighty-something.  

We started back to school on Monday, doing just Bible and math.  Yesterday and today were full days. And I mean full, eight hour days!  I fell asleep reading aloud to the children after lunch yesterday (Augustus Caesar's World has very long chapters!), so today I flip-flopped our schedule and did all of my reading aloud before lunch.  Even though I was still doing school with Sam at 3:00, I can't fall asleep teaching a wiggly six year old.  He could win the award for wiggling and getting distracted during school!  

I have a couple of posts written for The Homeschool Classroom that will be published later this month. One is about drilling math flashcards, and the other is about helping your children to set goals.  I'll let you know when they are 

Christmas Day 2012

Well, I am finally posting pictures of our wonderful Christmas Day celebration.  These pictures uploaded in no particular order, and I am not going to try to rearrange them into chronological order!  I will just comment on them as they are......

First of all, these are some of our family traditions....

Santa Claus visits our home and gives each child one present.  He also fills their stockings with useful items (like nail clippers or hand lotion), small toys, and candy.

My children give each other a store bought gift (they "shop" from my sibling store--paying a flat rate for all 4 gifts), and usually they create handmade gifts for each other as well.

The children also "shop" in my store for gifts for their daddy, and they also sometimes shop at the mall for Jimmy and me too.  This year they did both, and we received delightful gifts.  They usually create handmade gifts for me and/or Jimmy too.

Sometimes Jimmy and I exchange gifts and sometimes we don't.  Some gifts are small, and some are large. It just depends on the year, and if there is something special that one of us wants.  Jimmy creates wonderful handmade gifts too.  This year he made me a beautiful frame for a huge picture our our children made at Seaside.  I love it!

We spend Christmas Day at home.  All day.  In our new pajamas.

I cook a special breakfast (homemade cinnamon rolls this year), and I also prepare a special lunch/supper.  We eat around 2:00 PM.  The menu is basically them same each year--grilled steak, steamed shrimp, potatoes, salad, and rolls.  I serve this meal on my best Christmas dishes, complete with cloth napkins and fancy placemats.  We enjoy this fancy meal---in our pajamas!  It's great!

The children, Jimmy and I spend the day leisurely opening our gifts.  I let the children take their time.  If they open a new toy or activity and want to play with for an hour before opening another gift, I let them.  We take our time and enjoy the day.

At the end of the day I try to pick up all of the trash, boxes etc.  Each child keeps his presents in a certain location in our den.  I save the major clean-up of the den for the day after Christmas.  No one wants to clean on this special day!

Ok, now for the pictures!

 Olivia with her new light-up crochet hook.  

For crocheting in the dark (like in the car at night)!

 Leah with her new American Girl doll, Addy,

 Julie and Sam with Sam's cute little crocheted rabbit that Julie made him.

 An overview of the den before we began opening presents.

 Our Christmas breakfast

 Julie, crocheting with some new yarn.

 Leah with her etch-a-sketch, and Sam with his slingshot.

 Sam and Bo

 Olivia with the race number holder that Julie made her.

 Our Christmas Dinner

 6:00 A.M.

Waiting to come downstairs to begin the fun!

 Julie with the bear (from The Lorax) that Olivia made her.

 Sam with his new race track and hedge clippers.

Sam with his knife that Clay made him.

It was a merry Christmas!

Homemade Granola Bars

In our quest to eat as much unprocessed food as possible, I decided to attempt to make my own granola bars.  I eat a Clif Bar for breakfast on most mornings, and while they are dairy free and "mostly" organic, they still feature an ingredients list that is very, very long!  Every couple of weeks I try my hand at making from scratch something that we normally buy ready-made.  This was my first try at granola bars.

I googled recipes, and then combined and modified a couple to come up with the following.

Chocolate Chip Granola Bars (from theKitchn.com)
2 cups toasted old fashioned oats
1 cup rice krispie cereal
1/2 cup chopped nuts (pecan, walnut, almonds)
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup brown rice syrup
3 Tbs. peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt

Toast oats on baking sheet at 325 degrees for 10 minutes.
While oats are toasting, chop nuts.  I buy bags of raw walnuts and almonds at Sam's or Costco, and we get pecans from Jimmy's parents' yard.
Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Measure brown rice syrup into a glass measuring cup and microwave for about 15-20 seconds.  Stir in vanilla, peanut butter and salt until well blended.  Pour this mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until well combined.  Press into an 8x8 glass baking dish that has been lined with parchment paper.  Spray non-stick spray on your hands and press the mixture into the pan.  Bake at 325 for 25 minutes.
Using an oiled spatula, press the bars into the pan.  Allow them to cool completely in the pan.
Once cooled, cut into 10 bars.  Lift the bars out of the pan using the parchment paper.
Wrap each bar individually in plastic wrap to store.

Cinnamon Raisin Granola Bars (from theKitchn.com)
2 cups toasted old fashioned oats

1 cup rice krispie cereal
1/2 cup chopped nuts (pecan, walnut, almonds)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup brown rice syrup
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt

Follow directions from the bars above, omitting the peanut butter and chocolate chips, and adding raisins and cinnamon instead.

Protein Bars (from OhSheGlows.com)
1 cup toasted oatmeal
1 cup rice krispie cereal
1/4 cup vanilla protein powder
1/2 cup brown rice syrup
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/8 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup chocolate chips

Combine oatmeal, rice cereal, and protein powder in a medium bowl.  Microwave the brown rice syrup and peanut butter for about 1 minute.  Stir in salt and vanilla.  Add to dry ingredients.  Stir until well combined.  Spread into a shallow baking dish that has been lined with parchment paper.  Microwave chocolate chips for about 1 minute, until melted.  Spread the melted chocolate on top.  Place in freezer for 10 minutes.  Cut into 10 bars.  Wrap each bar individually in plastic wrap to store.

My family has enjoyed these bars very much!  I plan to make all three recipes again tomorrow afternoon, this time doubling each recipe.

Our Christmas Eve

Every year on Christmas Eve I have one gift for each of my children to unwrap.  It really is no surprise what is inside.....it is always pajamas, and most of the time it is pajamas from The Children's Place--those fleecy pajamas.  My children call them polar bear pajamas.  I always act like it is NOT pajamas inside, but of course everyone knows that the only surprise is what color pajamas they are getting!

 Our pretty Christmas tree!

 This year I had a present for Jimmy too!

 Here is everyone opening their gifts....eagerly waiting to see what was inside....

Owl printed pajama pants with matching black t-shirts.

No, they were not "polar bear" pajamas.....

They were "made by Mama" pajamas!

This was my secret sewing project that I had been working so hard on--7 pairs of matching pajama pants!  I know it doesn't seem like much, but it took me way longer than I planned to complete them.

Notice Sam's face.....he was expecting polar bear pajamas, and he was disappointed.  We had a talk about thankfulness!

 a family photo, modeling our new Christmas pajamas!

(Sam is still not happy!)

We were supposed to make a crazy face--Sam is still unhappy, and I did the best I could--my face is crazy all the time!

Everyone went to bed soon after our photo session.....visions of sugarplums were dancing in everyone's heads!

Christmas Celebrations #2 & #3

Jimmy's parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all joined us for a night of food and fun.  I cooked two different kinds of soup, and everyone brought various appetizers and desserts.  We always have so much delicious food!  I also made hot spiced tea, and of course we had soft drinks and lots of coffee.

We do not exchange gifts at this gathering, but some ladies like to bring homemade candies or baked goods for each family to take home.  We spent the evening visiting...for many of us, this is the only time each year that we see each other.  Our guests coming from the farthest away were Warren and Holly and their children--from the Atlanta area.  We enjoyed our evening so much!

Before everyone began to leave we attempted to take a couple of group pictures.
1.  The younger cousins.
2.  The entire family in attendance.

Here are the results!

Isn't this picture great?

The Family

Our final family gathering was held at Jimmy's parents' house.  His brother and sister and their families, his Aunt Julie, and Will's fiance's family all joined us for lunch and gift exchanging.  

Jimmy suggested a new meal idea--ordering Mexican take-out--and that was a hit!  We girls were glad to have a break from all of the holiday cooking!  I think that Mi Toro will be a new Christmas Eve tradition.  Christmas Eve is also Jimmy's mother's birthday, so we sing Happy Birthday before we begin the Christmas celebrating.  

Here are some pictures from this fun-filled day:

 Seth and Cody enjoying their Mexican dinner

 the present opening in full swing

 Megan gave me breast cancer survivor socks!  I'll have to wear them to a race some day.

 sweet Olivia

 Julie and Millie Janalee

 Sam with his new super-de-duper colored pencils!

 Pop and silly Sam

 Elle and Will

Cousins--just hanging out

I don't have any pictures of Jimmy's sister, Jenny, or his brother, Russ......I had great difficulty transferring the pictures from the day from Jimmy's computer to my laptop!  I know that Megan will have many, many great pictures to document the day.

We ate Mexican leftovers for supper, and then our family came back home to get ready for our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day traditions......and I had a little surprise for everyone in our family!

Christmas Celebration #1

Each December we have three separate gatherings/parties/celebrations with our families.  We gather with the Simmons family which is my parents, my two brothers and their families, and my two grandmothers.  We host Jimmy's extended Johnson family in our home for a night of food and fellowship, and then we gather with the Johnson family again--Jimmy's parents, his brother and sister and their families, and usually a few other family members too.

For the Simmons Christmas party, we all went to my parents' house.  It was a lively gathering, complete with Christmas games that my mother had planned.  It was a lot of fun, and she even had prizes!  Thankfully, my parents did all of the cooking, and they prepared and served a delicious meal.  It was really nice not to have to bring food!  After enjoying our meal and dessert, we opened presents.  Excitement reigned!

 My brother Rhett, Amanda, and Johnson

 Mary Margaret and my brother Ryan

 cousins playing legos

 Leah, Causey, and Bounds waiting to play a Christmas game

 Olivia and Julie, ready to play too

 Me and Jimmy

 Julie, helping Sam with his answers to the game

 my grandmother, Meme, opening her presents

 the presents!

 Leah, with her new Furby!  

Sam got one too--we are still training them to be nice!

 My grandmother, Momo, and Uncle Rogers, opening gifts

 Olivia and Julie, modeling their new furry jackets that my mother gave them.

 Younger cousins waiting for the football to be thrown....

Clay, the football thrower.

It was a fun day!

A New Year!

"Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines;

Though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food;

Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls--

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation."

Habakkuk 3:17

I love the first day of a new year!  It is like a blank page, a fresh start, a new beginning. It is a time for counting your blessings, and for both looking back and looking forward.  I like to spend some time reflecting on the past year, thinking about choices I made that I am pleased with, and the choices that I made that I am not pleased about.  

That was my focus word for 2012:  Choose.  A lot of things happened last year in my life that I did not choose, but I did try very hard to choose the right response to those circumstances.  As I reflect, I see areas where I could have chosen differently.  And that is how we grow!  We look back at our mistakes, and the resolve to do differently.

As the new year begins, I join millions of other people in making New Year's Resolutions.  I think that resolutions are good to make.  Setting goals is a good thing!  I like to set realistic, attainable goals, but they are goals just the same.  I plan to choose a new focus word for 2013, but I have not selected one yet.  I also plan to write down goals or resolutions in several different areas for this year.  Some of my categories will include spiritual, physical, homemaking, homeschooling, service, and family.  Like all of the other recent holidays, New Year's has arrived before I was completely ready, and I am still sorting out my thoughts and making my plans.

Today I began my Bible reading goal for 2013:  reading the Old Testament all the way through once and reading the New Testament four times.  This plan requires six chapters of reading, six days a week--three chapters in the O.T. and three chapters in the N.T. Here is a link to the plan. My husband and my older two girls are reading this same plan.  Clay (13) is either going to read the O.T once or the N.T. four times.  Leah (8) will be reading the N.T.--one chapter a day.  I think she will get through the N.T. at least two times this way.  Since Sam is still a beginning reader, he is not going to be reading his Bible independently this year!  However, he still joins us for daily Bible study, and I read to him from a Bible story book at bedtime each night.

I began my New Year's Day today with a 5 mile run with Leanna.  Since it was raining, we ran side by side on the treadmills in our basement.  Leah has been telling me for several days now that she wanted me to rest on New Year's Day.  I am not sure where she got this idea, but the more she mentioned it, the better it sounded to me!  So I made muffins for our family's breakfast, took a shower, and then went back to bed!  Her plan for me includes computer time, reading books, playing games on my iPad, and her bringing me a Coke in bed!  What a great plan!  So today I will rest.  And I will catch up on my December blog posts.  Also I plan to redo our chore charts, daily schedule, and update our weekly meal plan.  I have a stack of cookbooks beside my bed along with Les Miserables--I am on page 52.  Finally, I will list my resolutions and goals for this year and choose my focus word.

If you have some resolutions that you would like to share or a focus word for 2013, please leave a comment.  I love reading other people's ideas!

Happy New Year!