A Wonderful Week!

We had a wonderful week with a wonderful little girl! 

This little girl really did take up all our time and had us all wrapped around her little four year old fingers!  We took her hiking and to a bouncy house and rollerskating.  

 She was a little nervous about skating for the first time and stayed on the rug.  

We switched her to regular children's plastic skates and she did much better. 

 I am going to enjoy skating with her in Florida if they make the trip this year.

 Nana got to some see everyone skate one of the days. 
 I was actually on roller skates taking this photo and the floor is slightly tilted 
down and it took me several shots to get this while I was rolling forward. 
 The boys have done very well in their skating and we purchased them 
both skates of their own.  Q's skates will fit me eventually if he ever
 grows out of them.  Zachary is trying so hard to get good enough 
to bounce skate with some of the better skaters on the floor.

And Now it begins......

Dragon Con is now over and things will now start....  Not that they ever stopped but I now have a 9th grader and thanks to T4L now having High School classes, my life is going to be easier! 

We have several projects going on and have to fit in time to go to Six Flags as well as everything else we have to do.  I am in the middle of a complete make over of my parents bedroom from the floor to the ceiling.  The boys are going to help me put the floor down so I am excited about that.  Meanwhile...  The boys and my dad are building a pizza oven.  I am thrilled that the boys are learning how to mix cement and lay brick.

We also enrolled the boys in a science center and they go first Wednesday every month.  Last week they were invited on to the floating classroom at lake Lanier and they are also going to be on Fox tv Show for kids some Saturday morning.

So many things left to post but all in good time.....    For now, I hope everyone is nice to each other and hug your friends and loved ones!!!

Six Flags and the Lupus Walk!!

I love busy.  I love fun busy!  We were sad because the little S's game got rained out so we continued on our way to ATL to go to Six Flags and managed to get in one ride.  I just wanted to go to get our season pass holders coupon books and get down town for the Lupus Walk.

We were all sad that the new swing ride was not open yet but there will be time this summer to ride it!  Once we had a bite to eat and got our coupon books and the boys rode one thing, we headed back down 85 to get to the Marta station that would take us to the Park where "Team Mandy" was set up and enjoying the wonderful weather and great time!  

I was so glad that we went and next year hopefully we can get there a little earlier, plan a little better and raise a little money.......  The water station the DC worked was great fun and I enjoyed seeing every single person that came across the finish line where we gave them water and stickers that said "I walked!"

NOW on to bigger things....  our group is 10 and there is oil changes happening, hair cuts going on, tires being purchased (yea, blew out a tire on 85 way to late but the boys and I worked together and changed it... I was very proud~!)  There is travel shampoo being purchased and packing going on.....  There are lists that are being made and piles of stuff that needs to be packed......  This is May and we are FLORIDA BOUND!!! 
 

Birds, Birds everywhere...... And a hurt wing!

My dad sent me this photo, teasing me because I kept looking for birds!

Look at all the birds on his feeder!!!!

Here is mine!  We finally got some birds yesterday!!!

We are all very excited about the birds finding our feeding system!! 

Q's play got postponed to next week right before we leave for vacation, we are on countdown now!  Thankfully Zman did not break his wing but just has a bad sprain!  

Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day.....  there will be a soccer game, six flags and a charity walk in Atlanta! 

Bugs, Birds and School work!

Today the boys are heading down to MiMi's for a sleep over and to hang out with her.  Nana, Katie and I are heading out of town to go scrapping and Scott has to work both days.  I like when the boys can go over there, it breaks up their school work day. 

I guess I will have to send the camera with them so that they can take shots of some of MiMi's birds...  I might even turn it into some kind of school project.  They both want to take some photography classes and if they are careful I guess I can give it up for a day!!

I am going to miss my mom, we will be gone for a couple weeks and then she will be gone for a couple weeks so it will over a month before I see her again......  I am looking forward to scrapping with Katie and Mom.....  

 

Today is April 21st! Happy Birthday MiMi!!

Happy Birthday MiMi!

Today is MiMi's birthday so we had her over for a lunch prepared by 
Zach and Nana and ate on the back deck of Nana and Grandpa's house!  

After a awesome meal, we all went inside for some cake and to watch a little of the race!

It is so nice getting together with the grandparents!  

We will have to have a couple cookouts this summer so we can hang out and enjoy each other!

Firsts......

     This was a big weekend.  In the eyes of a teenager's mom, this was a VERY BIG weekend.... Q's  first formal was this weekend. As I choke back a mixture of different emotions, I look at my tall son and wonder where on earth did 15 years go?  Because this first formal comes at the cusp of driving, there were drop-offs and pick-ups and carpooling to arrange.  There was dress clothes to pick out and nerves to settle.  The pre-dance dinner at the olive garden gave a big part of the kids a chance to relax and giggle.....

Quentin got to meet a new friend who he had been talking to thru another friend....

Once he got to the dance he met up with his beautiful date and gave her a wrist corsage.

Lastly, just before Katie and I left, I took a group shot:

Overall the kids had a great time!  This is the first that is going to lead to so many other firsts.....  I still see my first born baby in his eyes but behind those eyes is a kid that can't wait to break free...... 

Build it and they will come.....

Today we went on a adventure that I have been wanting to go on for a very long time.  I am so excited that I am already planning the next one! It took about 4 hours from start to finish and I am THRILLED by the way it came out!  Qdog was instrumental in helping us with the task.  I was sorry that the Zman was not here but he is off on his own adventure!  

I found the "Bird feeding Station" online and jumped at the chance to have one now that my "wall of windows" is done!  I'm thinking of maybe a planter around the bottom in the future and putting something on the top but here it is! 

While we were building our new feeding station I was doing some yard work (we have so much more to do but we at least started!)  This was a wicked cool photo from the smoke!!.....

Now on to shower and get my eldest to his Formal....  I can't wait to see the Zman!  It seems like he has been gone for a week!!!  I think it will be a fun night all around!! 

Tax Season??

I have to say as much as I enjoy Tax Season being over, I HATE  that is is already the end of April (well, in my brain it is the end of April!) I am thrilled that there is no testing this year!  Last year I had the pleasure of taking BOTH my Tax Preparers test and my Insurance test.  I have to say that I used my insurance studying as an example for my boys....  I carried my books all over 24 hours a day and always had notes open.  They got a good look at how book studying goes.  This year I only have to do my continuing education which is not nearly as hard!

Because of the way their Curriculum is set up, they don't actually have to "study" a lot before taking a quiz or test. Time4learning is what they use and because each course and lesson are broken down so wonderfully, they just slide into a test or quiz without really much hesitation.  Because I can watch what they are doing each day, it makes it very easy to keep a close eye even when I am not at home...   Last year during my really busy time at the tax office my youngest son decided to "save up" his end of chapter tests for a couple weeks.  I signed on to the Parent login one afternoon to see how they had been doing and spotted what he had been doing! 

Tomorrow we will be building our "bird feeding station".  We are very excited about this because we got our new camera and we want to attract some birds to take photos of.  Since we have put in our new "window wall" we can see the area that I have been dying to put my bird bath and some bird feeders!  My boys get so much with their T4L courses but "hands on" building of everything from fence posts to full-on beams is so nice to have!  Tomorrow we will be building This:

It won't have the bottom part because I actually want to help the grass grow under the feeder and this might help!  Qman is going to help us since the Zach is hanging with friends this weekend!  Will post when we get done!  It will be a work in progress but I'm thrilled to be able to see what birds we attract!!

Spring has Sprung!!!

     Spring is such a great time of year!  So many wonderful happenings in the Spring!  I love the breath of fresh air coming thru the windows,  the cool nights, and the yellow everywhere that means things are blooming!!  I can look forward to fresh veggies and ripe fruit.  My family can grill out and spend time late at night BBQ'ing down at the pond!

     Spring also means almost done with school.  We take a major after-Tax season break the beginning of May to go on vacation with another family and we have done it for years now!  Of course you know that two Home School families traveling together can not leave school behind and we are always in search of new things to learn, new activities to do and something that will inspire conversations, inquiries, and research material!

     Time4Learning has been such a blessing for us!  During our traveling times we have been able to "take it on the road" with a simple laptop and very little interruption in the boys normal school day!  T4L has enabled my boys to see snippets of books on their reading list and has gotten them excited about some books that they would have never picked up before.  The Black Stallion and The Giver where both books that neither boy would have picked up to read if they had not had pieces of them in their everyday school work and asked me to buy them the whole book!!! 

     Our BIG spring vacation will be filled with exciting trips to the beach and lots of pool time!  Zman got a new metal detector for his birthday and he is sooooo excited about bringing it to the beach and finding "treasures"!! 

     Qman is planning on taking his learners when we get back.  That is both exciting and frightening for me.  As excited for him as I am because I know how I was to get my learners, I am so scared because I look at my young sweet face of my eldest child and see him at 5!  Thankfully the curriculum we use has taught him some responsibility and independent study and he is able to delegate his time accordingly to pass his learners test!

     Qman needs to get thru his formal, Z is going to his best friends house for a couple days, Scott has a Kevin Smith thing in Atlanta to go to and I hope to go Scrapping with Mom and Katie before we all leave and don't see mom again for a month!  Busy busy busy......    In between we have school work to do and cars to clean and get ready, the house to get into shape and clothes to pack!!!  Not to mention I have to get my 3rd toon to 90!!! 

Took a Break... Life got the best of me!

Hello all!  I took a break for a while (yea, yea... a long while)...  Things just got busy, crazy.. boring, normal..  Although not much has changed and we are still boring and busy..  

We have survived another year of Masters.  Zman is done but Q still has a few more weeks and then we get to go to Florida!!  I'm so excited about going down there this year!

Zman had an awesome end of year performance and I am excited to see Q's...  We have a formal coming up for Q and he is starting to work on his learners permit!

Look for more updates!  I will try to catch up some of the last year or so....  On a really happy note, I got a new camera and I am LOVING what I can do with it!!

Watch for more photos of birds, bugs and kids......  :)

Kids are doing school and then they will go to the office with me and do their reading....  For the most part it will be my last official afternoon.....I can't believe that Tax season is over already and I can't believe it is April!