Our Summer Vacation

Yes, I know...I have again fallen off of the blog wagon, and have lots of catching up to do...hopefully soon.

However...

We just returned from a fun summer vacation to California last week, and I am proud to say that I have already ordered a photo book with our pictures from Snapfish!

Yea for me...that NEVER happens!

Here is the link if you would like to check it out.

A Great Save

We have had a busy weekend.  

Some good stuff.

Some bad stuff.

One of the not so good things, is that we realized the Little Rock 1/2 Marathon...
that Caylie has been dutifully training for months for...has filled up, and I did not register her in time!

I felt H.O.R.R.I.B.L.E.!

She and her sweet friend Carolyn were planning to run it together.

Ugh...

So...the wheels in my head started turning, and something good started to develop.

I told dad about it, and he helped me search online for some other fun 1/2 marathons.

We have decided on this one, and are going to turn the fun road trip into our family's

Spring Break! 

It is an area that will be new to us all...

Galveston, TX

...and we are getting pretty excited.

We are even planning for Carolyn to go with us so that they can run together!

We will get to go to the beach... 

and to Schlitterbahn Water Park...

and also plan to spend a day doing some fun things in Houston...just 30 minutes away! 

F.U.N.  

Have any of you been to Galveston or Houston?   We are on the hunt for fun things to do!

Are you making any plans for Spring Break?  

Writing the Waves,

Christi

Valentines Day In The Kitchen

Yesterday, Carson and I got busy in the kitchen to make Valentine's treats for everyone.  We made this recipe for Valentine's Confetti.  

Carson knows how to make microwave popcorn, so he got us started by popping our first bag.

After he popped the popcorn, I melted the candy coating.

We poured  it into the popcorn, and added the MnMs.  

Carson then stirred it up for us.

We spread it out on parchment paper to dry.

Carson sprinkled a few more MnMs, and some peanuts on top!  

He was feeling pretty proud of our little project!  :)

His attention span maxed out when it was time to fill the bags,

so I finished that part up.

We were both really happy with how the treat bags turned out!

When Caylie came home from CoOp, we started handing bags out. 

It was fun to give people a treat that we had worked together to make!

Caylie and Christian each made cards for everyone in the family, and they were 

very special. 

 I love things that are made by my kiddos!

Corey got us gift certificates to some fun stores, and then we all went out to eat at Chip's, one of our favorite casual restaurants. 

 It was a fun and relaxed Valentine's day!

Writing the Waves,

Christi

Homeschool Mother's Journal

In my life this week...

This week we have had snow. 

I have loved having the slow moments to just be together at home.  We have eaten together, played games together, relaxed together, enjoyed friends, and yesterday, I even got quite a bit of laundry done!

Everyone loves it when that happens!

In our homeschool this week...

Since we have had snow, I caved in, and gave the kids Wednesday and Thursday off so that they could relax and play.

Today we are kicking back into gear!  :)

. 

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

Yesterday Corey took the kids to a big hill close by.  They met another dad, and some friends from church there, and had great time playing in the snow and sledding. 

After that, we had a house full of kids for the afternoon.  It was a fun day.

My favorite thing this week was...

I was thrilled to have such a heavy snowfall for our area.  It is rare for us to have as much snow as we have had this winter, and especially rare for us to have as heavy of a snowfall in one day as we had on Wednesday.  It was beautiful and exciting to see it falling, and covering everything in a blanket of white!  I didn't want it to stop!

What's working/not working for us...

Other than having a few things that I don't want to do staring me in the face...like more laundry, and cleaning out the fridge, things have gone well this week.  

Maybe it is just because we haven't had much going on!  :)

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

I keep thinking that I am somehow missing the boat on how I plan out my curriculum.  

I hand write it all.  

I do the original planning and scheduling in my teacher planner, and then I write out individual daily plans in the kid's binders.  I know that there must be an easier way, but this actually seems to have worked for us so far.  I really only do planning twice a year...before each semester, so although it takes a lot of time at those points, it is a small part of the year.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share..

As your kids grow they may forget what you said, but won't forget how you made them feel. (parentingzone.com)


Writing the Waves,
Christi

Let It Snow!

This is the peaceful view from our porch today.

We are lovin' it.

Since we have already had a few snow days this year, the kids weren't in such a rush to play outside.

That will come tomorrow.  

Today we enjoyed being warm and having a nice lazy day inside.

I treasure these times.

Boys and their games.

And some warm apple crisp to wind up the evening.

Mmmm.

You can find my super easy, and yummy recipe here on my recipe blog if you want some for yourself!  

What's happening today at your house?

Writing the Waves,

Christi

Valentines Craft Time

Yesterday, Carson and I had some fun crafty time together.

I got him set up to make Valentines cards for his preschool teachers.

We started by ripping up pieces of scrapbook paper. I let Carson rip up some papers that he liked, and we put them in a little box.

Next, I took a sharpie, and drew a heart on the outside of two folded pieces of scrapbook paper that he would use as cards.

We used a glue stick to glue the pieces of paper inside the hearts.

After he finished filling in his hearts with paper scraps, I asked him to tell me a message to put inside the cards. At first it was all about rocket blasters and things zooming around, but eventually I convinced him that as much as his teachers would love a message about rocket blasters, it really needed to be about them, and Valentines Day...not rocket blasters...he finally gave in. :)

After I wrote "his" message, I drew dotted letters to help him "sign" his own cards.

The one with the white paper inside was a little bit of damage control after he got carried away and smeared the glue stick inside the card...just gotta go with the flow!

He is pretty proud of his cards, and is excited to give them to his teachers next week.

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Back From Blissdom

Caylie and I returned yesterday from our fun trip to the Blissdom conference in Nashville.

When we got there, started talking to other bloggers, and attending the sessions, we quickly realized that although we have both been blogging for a while, there is sooo much that we didn't/don't know!

We were able to meet many helpful, more experienced bloggers, have lots of good mother/daughter time, and we actually came back knowing quite a bit more about this fun world of blogging!

Caylie suggested that we take a picture of ourselves each morning before heading out of our room.  Although I really, really, really dislike having my picture taken, I decided to throw caution to the wind, and go with it!

I'm crazy like that!

Michelle Branch was the entertainment for Thursday evening.  

On Friday, we were treated to a nice lunch.  

We were at the table with these sweet bloggers...(from left to right) Cha Cha from sitrelaxandread.blogspot.com, Lisa from thepenningtonpoint.com, and Kellie from thisblessednest.blogspot.com.  

On Friday night, we were treated to Chris Mann and then Crystal Bowersox!  Both were just great!  I especially loved hearing Crystal!

Of course I forgot my camera that night...and wouldn't you know...we were close enough to the stage to have gotten great pictures, but whatever...you'll just have to take my word for it!

Dang it!

Anyway, last but definitely not least, before heading home on Saturday morning, we enjoyed a great breakfast at Cracker Barrel with this fun bunch of bloggers!

Left side (front to back)...Meghan from thetuckerstaketennessee.com, Sami from samicone.com, Alicia from Confessionsofasnowflake.com, Christina from Fieldtoforest.com, and of course my sweet Caylie from Lifethesedayscaylie.blogspot.com.

Right side (front to back)...Michelle from somegirlswebsite.com, Lindsey from anewlifehartz.blogspot.com, me, and then Jenny from thesoutherninstitute.com

It was a special treat to get to sit and visit with such sweet, honest women, that love the Lord, and really desire to not only live out that faith in their everyday lives, but also want to allow their faith to be revealed to readers through their blogs. Several of these girls are using their blogs for the specific purpose of encouraging others to grow in their faith.

Quite a few of these gals were homeschoolers...and a couple will even be speaking at the 2012 homeschool bloggers conference in Washington D.C. (The 2:1 Conference).

Such a neat group of girls!

It was an encouraging morning, and a great way to end our Blissdom experience!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

We Made It...By The Skin Of Our Teeth!

Well, last night, Caylie and I arrived in Nashville for the Blissdom conference.

To say that it was a stressful trip would be an understatement, but thankfully we made it safely, despite the very difficult drive. 

My poor vision, combined with driving at night, combined with heavy, blowing snow = NOT fun!  

At one point, I was so tempted to just stop the car in the middle of the road, and have myself a good cry, but I made myself keep driving, and driving, and driving. 

Finally, around 11pm, we arrived at the hotel.  I wanted to get out and kiss the ground, but it was too cold, and I was too tired, and wouldn't have been able to get back up! 

Caylie then told me that during the drive, she had been so afraid that I was going to throw up in my own lap from the stress, that she was trying to figure out how she would quickly get into the driver's seat to take over! 

Yeah, it was that bad.

I. WILL. NEVER. DRIVE. IN. THOSE. CONDITIONS. AGAIN.  (You CAN quote me on that!)

Now we are all settled into our room at the beautiful Opryland Hotel.  We have picked up our name tags, gotten our swag bags full of fun little treats, and are excited to head to the first event in a couple of hours.  :)

I am so excited about all of the new things that we will learn in the next couple of days!  Can't wait!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Blissdom...

The latest buzz around our house is that Caylie and I are planning to go to the Blissdom blogging conference next week!!!

We both have blogs, enjoy recording the events of our lives...(she's more consistent than me!), and are interested in learning more about blogging.

I had never considered going to a blogging conference, but when I started hearing about the Blissdom conference, it looked kind of interesting, and I mentioned it to Corey.

Corey has always encouraged me to learn more about blogging, and our family loves to be able to look back and read the posts that both Caylie and I write.

My birthday was last week, and although we went out to eat together, and Corey had some beautiful flowers delivered to the house, I guess he had not given me what he considered "my real birthday gift", so he and Caylie came to me last night, and handed me a hand written "certificate". It said that as a late birthday gift, he was sending Caylie and me to Blissdom together!

I was surprised, and speechless!

He knew that I would start coming up with reasons why it wasn't practical, etc., etc., and so he had already written things like, "Not An Option!", "Kids Are Taken Care Of", and "You ARE Doing It" on the paper!

He knows me well...

Caylie and I are both excited to get to go and learn more about blogging, and spend some quality girl time together with others that share the same interest!

But I'm nervous too!

Aaaa....

Writing the Waves,
Christi

OK...So I'm A Little Late Posting Our Fall Pictures....

One day in November, we went to a park to shoot some pictures for our Christmas cards. 

I didn't get my hopes up.

 It was a very last minute kind of thing, and kind of thrown together...in broad daylight...with a less than cooperative four year old! 

Sooo...I bribed him with ice cream if he would cooperate...

...and it worked pretty well!

Christian is old enough now that I don't have to bribe him to cooperate...

...but he thought that he

might as well get some ice cream...

ya know...since Carson was getting some...

Can't believe how much my big guy has

grown up in one short year!

Melt this mommy's heart...

My sweet, precious Caylie.

Beautiful on the outside,

but most importantly...on the inside.

Can't believe that she is 17 now.

 Time flies way too fast...

Oh, how I love these kids...

...and they love each other too

...most of the time anyway!

Counting my blessings.

Loving the little things.

And laughing along the way!

So, there ya have it...

another Christmas card to help remember these 

treasured times!

Writing the Waves,
Christi