This is my newest student, Caycee.  Doesn't she look ready for school??

 Here's Sydney. We went on a horse drawn carriage ride through downtown Dallas.  She was good with it, I think!

And here's Sophie on a saddle at the Royal Gorge in Colorado.  She also looks very happy.  These are just a few of the things we did this summer.

Well, lots has changed since my last post....I am now getting ready to start the new homeschool year with my two kiddos and my niece Caycee.  She is 17 and is a senior.  She's already started her classes at my friend Karen's house; Marine Biology and American Lit.  I have never homeschooled a high schooler before, so this should be interesting!  Actually, I am super excited for the year, even with all of it's unknown bits.  I get lots of advice from friends who have already walked this road before me, and the Lord goes before me.  That's it for now.  Hope to post more in a week or so!

In the weeds

Well, we have moved, gotten all settled in, figured out how to take care of the pool, the well, and the septic system, and now spring has sprung!  Well, at least the weeds of spring....they are popping up all over my 1.1 acre, and that's A LOT of ground to cover with weed killer!!  Makes me think of God trying to weed stuff out of my life.  As I am squirting the weeds down, I am being ever so careful to not hit actual plants.  I notice also that good stuff and bad stuff can grow out of the same place.  Hmmmm..

Ok, so we are thinking that next year we will consider putting the kids into a 2 day a week co-op type program.  I am thinking about one that is just down the road, that I have never heard of, and where Sydney would be the highest grade they have.  I am also considering one that I have heard of that has lots of experienced people teaching and is a bit further away.  And so here are the complexities that come along with homeschooling....knowing when to give away some of the reins to someone else, and how to do it.  Praying to see God's best for my children in all of this.....

Koda swims

Here is our dog, Koda.  Koda is a girl dog, though most people mistake her for a boy.  She's a lil sensitive to that fact....she has always aspired to be a girlie girl dog, but alas....

She is part yellow lab (loves water) and part Shar-pei (hates, hates water), so she truly has an internal fight going on when it comes to water.  Recently, we moved to a house with a pool.  She hasn't even looked at it.  She acts like it's not even there.  Enter one beautiful sunny gorgeous day.  We were all out back after a bike ride, enjoying the sun and the view of the pool.  We don't dare get in; it's about 60 degrees in the water.  But Koda decided to!  She stepped off onto the large step and swam a couple strokes and turned back around to face me.  I was happy to see her get in till I saw the look of distress on her face!  She was trying to get up onto the side of the pool, and knowing she'd try that, I talked her (with a potato chip) into coming back toward the large step.  Didn't have my camera until it was all over, but you do get to enjoy the "after" pictures.....

Checking it all out....

"Yeah, I got in, what do you gotta say about it??"

 "A little bit of sun and I'll be ready for the backstroke....."

Now, back to school, of which we have done about half the day.

Till next time....

Urban Air

Yesterday, I took the kids to Urban Air in Southlake for a little midday jump.  It was fun...and jumpy!

They have a dodge ball room, a foam jump pit and the trampolines are all in the floor, so that there's no chance of someone falling off!

The kids got hot and sweaty pretty quickly....and tired....

and smelled a bit like gym socks afterward.....buuuut, they were happy and tired when we left.  This is one of the beautiful things about homeschool; we can go at 2pm on a schoolday and burn off some energy.  We can go someplace in the middle of the day just to get a change of scenery!  Love the lifestyle.....

Movin' to the Country...

I just found this previously unpublished draft from our blog!  It's almost like extras on a DVD!  The date on it is 1-16-12, in case that matters.....enjoy!


Hello all!  Well, since I last blogged, we have moved to the country!  Well, sort of.  We have an acre out west of the DFW area, where the doggie can roam and the kiddos can swim (well, come summer, they can).  We are looking forward to a new lifestyle and one that fits in nicely with our homeschool lifestyle as well.  As soon as I can, I will post pics of our new homeschool room.  It seems to be more....um...how do I say it....more quiet than it was when we were sharing an office with Steve.

Here are a few shots of the statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream in the book of Daniel.  We made a cookie out of it, then crushed the feet of the cookie with a rock from outside.  Then we ate it.  That part is NOT in the book of Daniel, but did I mention it was a cookie???

 My sweet girl carving some detail into the cookie statue.

Sydney, looking cute as usual...even early in the morning....