Happy St. Patty's Day!

Gosh. Middle of March already. This year seems to be going by faster and faster.

The past week went well for us.  I had jury duty on Monday. No, I didn't get picked. This was the second time in a row that they had the jury picked before they even polled me. The case was an aggravated assault against a police officer that I really wanted to be on. Oh well. Maybe next time...

Even though I didn't get picked, the whole jury duty process made for some interesting school time throughout the week. We looked up how the whole jury thing works, the boys learned why it was so important for citizens to have a jury of their peers and we even plugged some jury and court related words into a spelling list for each of them.

Tomorrow evening starts our spring soccer schedule. It feels like the fall season just ended, lol. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays will see us at the fields. This is Bailey's last spring season with the recreation department. Because of his age, he will be able to play one last time this fall but then he will age out. The local school will not let him try out and play (grrrrr), but we have already found another youth league near us. It will cost more, and involve more traveling, but at least it's a way for him to still play, which is what he really wants.

As far as school goes this week, the boys are doing a little bit of learning about St. Patrick's Day. I know...shoulda let them do this last week, but I forgot and let it slip up on me. They are also working on some Easter activities. They are plugging along with their core Time4Learning stuff and they have a few holiday themed vocabulary words to work with in SpellingCity. I will assign them some math games too. Those go over much better than assigning math worksheets. :D

Wednesday is free parking day at GA state parks, so I think Tracy and I are planning a picnic with the boys. The weather here has been absolutely beautiful the last couple of days. Hopefully that will continue!

I am working only Monday and Friday this week, and that's very nice. Next weekend, Tracy and her mom and I, are having a scrap weekend. We are soooooo looking forward to that! A weekend at Archiver's, with a Dragon*Con staff meeting thrown in. Woot!

For now, I'm going to get comfortable on my couch and pretend to be a sloth. Have a great week!

Field Trips...

We love field trips! :) This weekend has felt like one big field trip for the boys and I, lol. This past Friday, we headed down to the Atl for a performance by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and a nice stroll through the High Museum of Art. By we, I mean the boys and I and Tracy and her boys.

This is the second time that we have done this particular trip. This time, the symphony performance was "American Journey through Music" and the exhibit at the High was Freida and Diego. We had a great day, and enjoyed lunch together at IHOP!

Yesterday we took the boys to see Jack the Giant Slayer, and we all really liked it. I wanted to see the new Oz movie, but got out voted. Having said that, I have no regrets about the movie we did see...great "popcorn flick" (not really an Oscar type movie, but fun for the fam).

Today, we met some friends for lunch on their way back home to NC. Loved seeing them and chatting for a bit.

This week should be good for us. I have Jury Duty tomorrow, and I'm only working on a couple of days this week. I will get to spend Thursday dropping a ton of stuff off at Goodwill (yay for spring cleaning!) and running errands. But other than that, hopefully all will go smoothly.

The boys have some art projects and some science experiments they have been wanting to do, so I think I will let them focus on that. We'll let T4L and VSC be their supplementary enrichment this week. ;)

I, as always, have some laundry to do. At some point this evening, I think the boys and I are going to continue our Merlin (I heart Netflix!) marathon. For now, I'm going to grab a cup of coffee, go sit on my porch to enjoy this beautiful day, and I'm going to dream about buying a Winnebago and taking our family on a roadschooling across America journey. One day, that dream will come true...I just know it. :D

Have a great Sunday afternoon!

The First 4-H DPA Weekend...

Bailey had his first 4-H DPA (District Project Achievement) this past weekend. He's in the Jr. division (for lack of a better word?) because he's in 8th grade. He has been really working on hard his project, which was Better Breakfast. He had to prep, cook and present a healthy breakfast. He chose breakfast burritos, which had to be made with egg substitute and turkey ham, as well as lowfat cheese, bell peppers and green onions. He also had a zesty sauce for the burrito, which was made of salsa and nonfat plain yogurt. He chose to make his burritos with whole wheat tortillas, and serve them with a side of sliced apples and some orange juice. He had to take allllll of his ingredients with him, as well as allllll of his kitchen utensils/pans/tools/tableware. He couldn't pre-chop or pre-prep anything. He had to do it all on site, and he had exactly 1 hour, from the time he opened the fridge to when he had to have it plated for the judges.

He has been working really hard on this since October or so. Practicing and making this for us (lemme me tell ya...at one point the hubs and I thought there was NO way we would ever eat another breakfast burrito, lol) over and over. 

Friday, when it was time to drop him off to ride with the other 4-H'ers (btw, there were 8 total from our county, but Bailey was the only one from the homeschool 4-H club), he had a bad case of nerves/cold feet and did not want to get in that van. I pushed, and felt guilty as hell for doing so, but he went. And overall ended up having a blast this weekend. Met some new friends, had a lot of laughs and really had a fabulous time.

Oh...and how did he do for the competition/demonstration?

FIRST PLACE!!!!!

I went up to watch the demonstration, but they didn't announce how everyone did until later that night in an assembly. The hubs and I were grocery shopping when Bailey called to tell us how he did. You would have loved watching me walk all over Ingles with the proud-mommy sobs. :D

What's even better than all of us being proud of Bailey? Bailey is so proud of himself! He's known since he was five years old that he wanted to be a chef. We've even already priced tuition at Le Cordon Bleu (Gasp! Ack!). Seeing him excel and be recognized for doing something that he wants so badly to do with his life...it's such a wonderful thing!

Last week involved so much prep and practice for 4-H, that it feels like there wasn't a lot of anything else going on, lol. This week will be better. I'm still down to two days a week at the office. That's nice!

I'm going to try and squeeze in some worksheets for Braeden. We're finally seeing improvement in his handwriting, and I don't want to backslide by forcing him to do handwriting worksheets. When I force him to do handwriting worksheets, he rebels and I yell and we both end up crying in a corner. He enjoys the free online puzzles (like the word search) at SpellingCity. Fortunately, there are printable versions of those too. Hopefully those will be well received...

Bailey and I are going to try and start (yes, start - UGH!) looking for a high school homeschool curriculum that we both want to try. We have used T4L for so long, it sucks even thinking about transitioning away from it. :( At least we are in a better place now, than we first started homeschooling. We know that we can piece together several programs/curricula/methods, and while it's stressful to think about high school, it's not as stressful as trying to find that very first homeschool program. 

Other than that, I don't know what the week holds for us. The boys and I have Friday off so we can go see a performance by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and take a stroll through the High Museum of Art. Woot! We did this last year, with Master's, and we're very excited that it worked out so we could do it again this year. :D

Okey Dokey. Getting off here now...going to go cuddle with the kiddos a bit, and maybe fit in an episode of The Following. Have a great week, errbody! 

I love new gadgets!

I do. Really. Almost as much as I love my kiddos. ;)

I am a gadget freak. I love little things that beep at me. I love little things that keep me connected to the world (without actually having to leave my house or talk to people. Ha!). I love exploring new bits of technology. Techy websites (yay for Engadget and Gizmodo!) have their own little buttons on my browser bar. Some say it's an illness, but I say it's keeping up with the times. :D

Right now, I feel like I have the best of all of the operating systems. I upgraded my PC to Windows 8 (yes, on the day it was released, lol). I have a new iPad and love iOS on it. And I just got myself a shiny new Android phone, running the latest Android OS. What'd I get? A Samsung Galaxy Note II. Not familiar with it?

Samsung Galaxy Note II

I change phones at least once a year. Sometimes more than once. I have had my little sausage fingers on tons of phones over the years, and every time I snag a new one, I say it's my most favorite phone ever. Again, this one is my most favorite phone ever. EVAH. What are my favorite features? It's 5.5" screen (nope, not a type. It's the King Kong of phones, I know.) and it's S-Pen. I was concerned about the size, but quickly adjusted. Now, everything else seems tiiiiiiiiiny. Lol.

There are so many things that I like about this gadget. I'm not going to go into any more spec detail than I already have, but I do want to share one of the neatest features...

There are an enormous amount of photo editing options. Yesterday, I took Braeden to a friend's birthday party. The hubs didn't go with, but I wanted to send him a quick shot of the fun. I was able to take several of the pics I took, and create a little grid. Here, it's easier to see than to explain, lol:

See? Braeden waiting on his turn, Braeden doing his best Fred Flinstone impression, and Braeden's final score. After I made the little collage, I was even able to write on it. So much fun, in one frame to text to the fam. Neat, huh?

The boys are enjoying too. Bailey plays the art and music games, like Draw Something (which is totally cool with the pen!) and SongPop. Braeden is getting some handwriting practice in...because the whole pen/phone combo is novel, he will write anything I ask him too, as long as it's on the phone. HA! :D

Wanna know what's really crazy? This blog post wasn't sponsored, compensated or solicited by Samsung. I just did it because I'm in love.  Heh. I guess it is an illness, yeah?

Hope everyone has had a great week. And did you notice, not one tax time complaint? Aren't you proud of my growth? ;)

Monday, Monday, Monday...

Mondays seem to come around too quickly, don't they?

Ah well. At least my Monday consisted of three of the bestest people in the whole world: 

I love my silly guys. ;)

Tax time is starting to wind down. Thank goodness. Don't get me wrong...I know I commit to this, and yes, the extra money is nice. But sheeeeesh will I be glad to get back home and get back in whatever chaos we call a routine. 

After I finish this week up, I should be able to go to a Monday and Friday only week for a while. I hope that works out. That way, I can be at home more, but still keep a teeny bit of that extra money coming in, lol. 

The boys are doing well with school. They are plugging along with the online stuff and working more on offline stuff. :) Bailey spent a lot of time on a wood burning project for his Art Guild at Master's, and Braeden has had a Master's project of his own to work on. They are doing more research on different science experiments they want to try with me when I have time and they have really started to enjoy their "Today in History" moments each morning. Thank you, History.com. :D

In our spare time this week, we are going to finally take down the Christmas decorations (Ugh. I know. And yes, I'm ashamed). How do I know we will finally get it done? We have company coming down for the weekend and while it's easy enough for me to talk about here, I don't actually want anyone to see our poor little Christmas tree still up at the end of February. Heh. 

I think the boys have their week pretty planned out. Bailey will be spending the majority of his time working on his 4H DPA. He leaves for Rock Eagle on March 1! Outside of practicing the cooking he has to do, he needs to work on his presentation and written information about his project and why he chose it. This is two fold...while working on his project, he also has to work on the writing process. Thinking about what he wants to say and how he wants to say it. We all know how much I like multi-subject work.

Braeden will finish up his Master's project. It's a "Flags of the World" type thing. It's mostly just researching different flags and coloring in this book he has, but he's liking it. I will probably have him do some puzzle games too, to kill time while Bailey is cooking so much. 

I hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day. I woke up to some lovely cards, and this sweet guy, courtesy of my guys:

Then, when I got home from work, I was able to enjoy a nice cup of Hello Kitty Hot Cocoa in my new Hello Kitty coffee bowl (Gilmore girl reference, yay!). Why was it important to point out that it was Hello Kitty Hot Cocoa?

I don't think you can really see it in the photo, but the hot cocoa is PINK! So me! :)

Alrighty. Time to get off here and spend a few minutes with my boys. Have a great week!

Rewarding myself...

That's what I always feel like I need to do after tax time, lol. Reward the fam too, for putting up with me during tax time. :)

This is how I feel like my week went:

And like this:

It's not over yet...this year I'm working a little longer than normal at the office. But, it is slowing down. A little.

Even though tax time money is really for paying off debt, or trying to save some money (the word "trying" is very loosely used here, lol), there is usually something we do as a reward for the family. One year we bought iPads, last year we bought a honking big TV for the family room.

This year, there really isn't a major purchase we have been looking forward to buying with my added paycheck. So, I think we have decided to buy each of a us an annual pass to the Georgia Aquarium! Even though we live less than an hour a half from it, we've never been. I know, I know...lame. But we never really have a day where we can spend ALL day down there. Which is what we would want to do, to feel like we are getting the most of our money, if we just bought a one day ticket.

With an annual pass, we can go for a few hours and head home and not feel like it was a wasted trip or anything. We are pretty excited about it, and very much looking forward to our first visit!

The week went well. The hubs was really, really, really glad he didn't have to take the boys anywhere other than Master's on Thursday. I think the boys were actually pretty happy about not having anywhere to go too. They did well with schooling themselves, lol. It's nice when the whole eclectic homeschooling thing comes into play...a little online stuff, a little book stuff, a little "life" stuff.

This week should be good. Hopefully my nights won't be as late, and we'll actually have time to have dinner together. :D

As far as school work goes, both of the boys have Master's projects that they have to work on. I think it's also time to bring out the handwriting worksheets again. Other than school, they are going to work on their room some more. They made very good progress on "thinning" out their toys and their clothes during December when I could work with them on it. Kinda slacked off since I started working, but I would like to get that done.

Today is laundry day, as usual. We're going to wrap up Sherlock. We've really enjoyed that series. It's on Netflix if you find yourself wanting to watch something. I think we're also going to try to watch ParaNorman.  :)

Hope everyone has a great Sunday, and you all have a sweet Valentine's Day later in the week!

Dude. It's February.

That's what we've all been saying to one another, lol. Dude! It's February! I lost January. :/

This week was good. The first almost 60 hour week at the tax office. Gak. I'm exhausted, but I know I will love that paycheck. And honestly, I will probably only have one more week like that, so I guess it's not too bad.

The boys are still missing me, and the hubs is struggling with playing Mr. Mom, but they are managing well. The boys really didn't do much in the way of formal school last week (they had something to do outside of the house every single day last week!). Thank goodness we aren't a part of any umbrella schools or virtual schools, where we have to follow someone else's schedule, lol.

Bailey had his last cake decorating class with his best friend this past Tuesday. This was the big finale. The two-layer cake! They both turned out AWESOME!

Bailey's, from the side.

From the top.

Z's!

We couldn't be prouder of those two guys, and we know they had a blast! It was a fantastic Christmas gift from Z's Nana! :)

This week will see me gone more often than I'm home, but for the boys and the hubs...it will hopefully be a nice week at home. Only Master's on Thursday. I don't have anything planned, but they will work on T4L and VSC as usual. Braeden really wants to try T4L's art curriculum, so I may try and see if they will give him access to the upper level so he can give that a try. Bailey plans on making a cake and some cupcakes to keep working on his decorating skills. I love that cooking is "school" around here. ;)

I need to attempt the laundry today. Blah. We also want to watch some Sherlock (I tell ya...I have yet to find a bad British TV show!). Oh, and remember those Christmas decorations I've been trying to get taken down since the first of the year? Yep, still up. Sheesh. Maybe we will work on those today. Maybe. I suck at proper, responsible time management. :D

Hope you all enjoy your week!