Monday, December 27, 2010

Happy Homemaker Monday





The weather in my neck of the woods:

Cloudy and cold. It is 26 degrees right now...A definite change from a year ago when it was sunny and in the upper 60's.


Things that make me happy:
Snow. A husband that gives practical gifts. :D


Book I'm reading:
BROKE by Glenn Beck; Never Say Diet by Chantel Hobbs; The Rising (prequel to Left Behind) by Tim LaHaye



What's on my TV today:
nothing


On the menu for dinner:
I have no idea yet


On my To Do List:

Clean the house up, do laundry, get the Christmas stuff put away


New Recipe I tried or want to try soon:
None


In the craft basket:
Nothing necessarily in the basket. I need to clean up from the last minute Christmas gift frenzy.


Looking forward to this week:
Getting my house back in order and making some goals for 2011


Tips and Tricks:
Don't let your laundry pile up!!! I am not looking forward to getting in there and getting busy on the laundry...



My favorite blog post this week:
A homeschool blog...I can't remember which blog it was...but she was talking about how we each kind of play a part in 'The Christmas Carol' around Christmas. I realized I was being rather Scrooge-ish, so I tried to change real quick before Christmas.


Blog Hopping (a new discovered blog you would like to share with the readers):
Don't Waste Your Homemaking


No words needed (favorite photo or picture, yours or others you want to share):
I've got no pictures uploaded right now...


Lesson learned the past few days:

That I really need to get organized and get some sort of schedule going for homeschooling. I cannot deal with chaotic running around. I just don't function well like that, and the kids NEED a routine.


On my mind:
Too much to share right now


Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Hebrews 12:1

Sunday, December 26, 2010

changes.

I have been away from here for two long months. Not a very good blogger, am I...

However, I do have a good excuse for being incommunicado for so long. There have been many, many small changes in our household in the last couple of months. There has also been one huge, life altering (for us as well as our children) change that has affected every aspect of our lives since mid-November.

Starting November 15th, we pulled Bones out of the Public School system. We are now homeschooling through an online school, Ohio Virtual Academy which uses the K12 curriculum. We looked into homeschooling before we even put Bones into Kindergarten back in San Antonio, but The Hubs talked me into letting him do one year of public school first so we could see how it worked for our boy. Well let me tell you, it was terrible! Once we got to Ohio this summer, we decided to enroll him in the school here, thinking maybe the problem was just the system in Texas. Again, we were wrong. I'm not going to get into the nitty gritty behind our reasoning right now, but I feel (as do many, many others) that we are doing the right thing for our children.

Come spring we will be heading to the Homeschool Convention in Cincinnati to pick out our curriculum for the 2011/2012 school year. We've had Bones academically tested now that he's out of public school. The school system refuses to test students until 3rd grade now (same in TX as OH), but his teacher said it's not law, it's just that there is no funding. Anyway, we had him tested and in Language Arts and Math, he is on an upper 3rd grade level. In Reading/Phonics he's at a mid-upper 5th grade level. So proud of that kid! He LOVES Music and Art as well, and is really enjoying History. His absolute favorite though, is Science. The Hubs likes to help with that.

Kayla had her developmental assessment at 30 months. The lady that does them was blown away by her. I won't get into all the details, but cognitively/developmentally Kayla could go into Kindergarten now and be academically equal to the 5 and 6 year olds. So we've been working on some homeschool stuff with her as well. If at 2.5 she is ready for school, I cannot put her in Kindergarten in 3 years and expect things to go well! haha She just soaks up everything I teach her, and Bones really enjoys teaching her things too.

So homeschooling is definitely not for the faint of heart. We've not established a real clear and good routine yet, which makes it even more challenging. I have 2 weeks of laundry waiting on me right now, the floors desperately need cleaning, I've not had a chance to read anything other than teacher's manuals in awhile, the dust bunnies are invading...it is definitely chaotic. I asked friends on Facebook how they do the schooling and the cleaning, and one friend who also homeschools replied "we're supposed to do BOTH?!?". I'm beginning to wonder if my house will ever be clean, or if I'll ever wear anything but yoga pants ever again. Time will tell...

I hope to establish a good, working schedule in the next few weeks. Hopefully that means my house will get clean and I'll have a little time for reading and blogging!!!

God Bless you and yours!

Monday, October 25, 2010

Monday...

We had a great weekend, for the most part anyway. It's pretty rare that The Hubs isn't off volunteering, or that one of us (usually Hubs) isn't out with friends on a Friday or Saturday night. This weekend there were no volunteer hours, and no nights out. Just family all weekend long. It was great!

Friday nights around here are ALWAYS pizza night, whether we go out for pizza or make some form of it at home. Usually I just throw a pizza together or make bubble pizza, but I decided to do something different this time-and it will definitely be our new way of spending Friday nights. I got a brand new baking stone from Pampered Chef last week and couldn't wait to try it out. I cooked up some sausage, chopped up some peppers, onions, mushrooms and olives and made some quick pizza dough and sauce. (That's another thing I do around here, almost everything gets made from scratch) Kayla and Bones helped me roll out the dough and then I let them make their own pizzas. I didn't even try to fix it when Kayla threw all the pepperoni in one spot, or when Bones clumped all the cheese in the middle. The Hubs even seemed to enjoy making his own pizza. Everyone ate it up with no complaints. :)

Saturday I woke up with a massive migraine, and it SUCKED. The Hubs and I managed to get the rest of the boxes emptied out of the shed though, and get it fairly organized. There were so many spiders in there though! I was freaking out! I finally finished a shelf I built back in Texas, I thought it looked odd at first, painted a dark green and a dark red...but with everything on it now I like it. :) Rob let me sleep the afternoon away to try and get rid of the headache, but it wasn't working. The kids came and snuggled with us for a bit and I LOVED it. I love my babies!

I watched "World Trade Center" with Nicholas Cage and bawled like a baby... I've always thought about all the people on the planes and in the buildings that were hurt, but I never really stopped to consider how many Firemen and Police Officers were lost that day as well. Did you know that only 20 people were pulled from the rubble alive? How terrible...

Church was great yesterday. I'm trying really hard to convince The Hubs to go to a Small Group, but he's just not ready. I'm trying to be patient, but I'm really not a patient person at all! I'm glad we're finally back in church at least, and I LOVE the church we found here.

Anyhoo...Time to make our menu plan for the week. :)

Anna Joy

Friday, October 22, 2010

Hello!

Hi there! I'm Anna Joy.

I'm a twenty-something mother and wife who needs a break at the end of the day. I am a stay-at-home-mom, and I love my job. :) I have a 2 year old daughter, "Kayla" and a 6 year old son, "Bones" . The Hubs is in the US Air Force, and has been for 7 years now.

The Hubs and I have been together for 8 years, and married for almost 4. I love him more than words...  We recently moved from Texas to Ohio, and will hopefully be here awhile. We're southerners by blood, so this it quite a change for us. Kayla and Bones have never seen snow as we've spent years in Florida and Texas, so I'm sure this winter will be quite interesting.

I like to sew, but cannot manage a straight line for anything. I also enjoy cooking, and am learning to try new recipes often. I like to do the dishes as long as I don't have to put them away, same for laundry. I miss my clothesline in Texas. FAVORITE chore ever was hanging the clothes on the line. Vacuuming is somehow therapeutic to me, but I despise mopping. I make my own laundry soap and baby wipes because well, I can. I like to paint, although I'm terrible at it. I also build furniture. Those tools in the shed? They're all mine! I am learning to be more frugal, which is one reason I taught myself to cook and make things myself. I am trying to lose weight. Not "those last 10 stubborn pounds" either, but pretty major weight.

I am patriotic, and a very Conservative Libertarian; I am strong in my beliefs. I have faith in God, and believe there is a reason-and season-for everything. To me, there is no such thing as a "coincidence", there is Divine Providence in all that happens.

I'm sure this blog will become a place for me to talk about everything under the sun. I need a place to get out at the end of my day...even if it's only virtual. I'm not sure I have much to say that's not already been said, but I'm going to give it a try! :)

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back soon!

Anna Joy