Impromptu Vacation

Our first stop was an overnight stay with our friends in Alabama. Tonya is so wonderful to open up her home to us. We had such a good time. Nine kids in a house and they were all so good.

We went to the park.

Lily and Lyra

Ruby's first time on the grass. Too bad it was Alabama grass.

Field Trip to the Firestation

Our homeschool group took a field trip to the Toccoa Fire Department. We learned about smoke detectors, got to see where they sleep in the fire station and, best of all, we got to get inside the fire truck!





The firefighter gave a demonstration of how he puts on his gear.

More Firestation Pictures

Such well mannered children

UT vs. UGA

I Absolutely LOVE My Husband

I have battled so much with keeping the toys in order in Nolan and Ruby's room. I bought these really cool bins at Ikea for a dollar each, but then I was tripping over them all the time. My wonderful hubby built this storage unit around the bins I already had and I am so excited that there is finally a place for everything!

He also built some for the older girls' room, but I need to go buy more bins. I'm always looking for an excuse to go to Ikea.

Nolan wanted to be pictured with his toys.

I was helping Emily with her schoolwork when I looked over and saw Princess Lily "teaching" Ruby.

Ruby thought something was so funny.

Back to School

It's back to the books after a nice weekend away. I am trying to make an effort to be very organized and prepared as I am teaching Emily and Lily simultaneously for the first time. Lily is just doing preschool work and Nolan just working with puzzles and coloring, but I need to make myself take it more seriously because next year I will be accountable for teaching Lily kindergarten.

As for our weekend away, it was wonderful! It was relaxing and nice to go into it without any plans or expectations. We went to Greenville, South Carolina which is only 75 miles away. Neither of us felt like driving far, especially since we weren't sure we were going to be able to go until a few hours before we left. Paul had also had surgery earlier in the week so we knew we just wanted to relax.

We pretty much did nothing, but had a great time. We stayed at a very nice hotel and just walked around the downtown area. The weather was great and we just talked and enjoyed each other's company. Ruby was a great baby the whole time. She loves watching people and loved getting all of the attention to herself. We took a trolley ride in the afternoon and just stayed in our hotel room Saturday night to watch a movie and ordered a whole wheat pizza.

Greenville is one of the cleanest cities I have ever been to and it might just be a little closer for us than Atlanta so I think we will be visiting there more often. We have been there several times to their zoo, but now I know that they have a Children's Museum, a Children's Theater and so many neat places to take the kids. The Children's Theater will be presenting 'Annie' next month just in time for Emily's birthday.

We really did have a wonderfully relaxing time.

Times of Refreshing

It's amazing how having something to look forward to can change your whole attitude.

Yesterday I had a nice afternoon with just the baby because the big kids spent time with Grandma Judy and Aunt Stephanie. It was very nice, but by the time I had lunch with Paul and ran three errands, the time was over and we all met up for dinner. The girls stayed at grandma's for the night and we took Nolan and Ruby home with us.

This morning I was very surprised to find myself not excited to see grandma's car pull into the driveway. I absolutely LOVE staying home with my kids and I cherish the time we spend together homeschooling, so why did I not want them back? It's because I rarely get any kind of break. I found myself putting them in front of a movie while I sliced up a ton of peaches to freeze. I usually always have them along side me while I work. When it was time for them to eat lunch I was frustrated at even having to feed them. What was my problem? I started trying to remember when was the last time Paul and I had any marriage time.

Marriage time is a term that was used by a couple leading a marriage seminar called "The Marriage Course" that we went to a few years ago. I highly recommend the Marriage Course if you find a church offering it. They said that every married couple needs to meet for lunch or coffee once a week, a real date once a month, and a weekend trip at LEAST once a year. If your kids are old enough to leave, they suggest week long alone vacations.

So I was thinking about our marriage time. We have had a few dates. We had a very nice date about 6 weeks ago (with Ruby in tow), but overnight stuff has been a long time. It has been over two years since we had a weekend away and that was taking Nolan with us because he was a baby. It's been over three years since we had a whole weekend away without any kids and that was the only time we've had a weekend alone in our entire marriage! When I realized this I felt like I was going to hyperventilate and the walls were closing in.

I immediately sent Paul a text message that said "Need a weekend vacation. Marriage Time Requested". I still felt anxiety-ridden and had not heard back from him so I didn't know if he had even read it. About an hour later I was about ready to hide from the kids when I got a text from Paul that said "Next weekend confirmed". YAY!!

Instantly I was happy with the kids and fixing their hair. I could breathe again! I still have no idea where we are going or who is watching the kids (I'm assuming grandma and grandpa), but I feel refreshed and uplifted just thinking about a whole weekend off! We will take Ruby with us since she's still so young, but she's so good that it's like she's hardly there. If I really felt like I needed to justify taking a weekend vacation, we do have our anniversary this month and Paul's birthday.

Back to slicing peaches for me. I really did get a ton. I bought a lot of the bruised ones from the farmer's market for super cheap. I will have a fully stocked freezer of peaches, blueberries, squash, whole chickens, beef and buffalo.

More Horse Camp Pictures

We're still around and everyone is doing quite well. I've just been experiencing computer difficulties so I haven't had the desire to post lately. Sometimes it takes a couple of days just to load the pictures and somedays the keyboard doesn't even work. We just bought two new computers for the shop, so I'm expecting I will get Paul's old computer (it's only 1 year old, way newer than mine).

Here are some pictures that I've been trying to upload for a week.


Grooming


Emily with her friend Emily.


She's getting quite heavy.

Science Project

Today Emily made a model of an animal cell.

Putting the cytoplasm (jello) into the cell membrane (ziploc bag).

Putting in the nucleus (grape)

and the mitochondria (raisins).

The Animal Cell Model. It is missing vacuoles. I thought that air soft pellets or beebees would be perfect, but we couldn't find any laying around today. I'm always griping about them being in the floor all over the house. Now when I needed them, I couldn't find any. Oh well. We'll find something tiny and round around here somewhere. We will probably use beads and pretend that they don't have the hole in them.

Nolan squishing the cell almost to the point of bursting. We're hiding it in the fridge to show Daddy when he gets home.

Today was our 180th day of school so we are ready to take a break. I'm planning on doing a 6-week-on and 2-week-off schedule once we start up again in August. We both need a break to look forward to after a few weeks.

It's Horse Camp Time Again

Emily is so excited to be working with the same horse as last year.

Check out the red boots!

The girls think it is so funny to give toy food to Ruby since she puts everything in her mouth.


Nolan got some new cars shoes today and he just HAD to keep them on while he took a nap. He just got new shoes in May, but has already outgrown them.