Food Lately

I made our first batch of pumpkin muffins in September and they were delicious.  Sterling also made pumpkin bars last week.  It's been so nice having her in the kitchen with me.  Her confidence has grown and she's loving the ownership of the meals or treats she's making.  I love that she's taken the torch!

Life Lately

A little bit of life lately...

At the end of August, Nick and I celebrated our 23rd anniversary.  

What's for Dinner

I thought it would be fun to share our weeks menu this week.

I'm still undecided for Sunday's dinner.  What's for dinner in your home?

Backyard Makeover

Back at the end of July while the kids and I were in Kansas, our backyard makeover began.  We added a gunite pool!  Nick was working from home during the time so he was able to snap a bunch of pictures for me.  The projected started on July 26th and water was in on August 6th!  Holy fast!

The process was quick because of the large team that was working it.

Dig day

Rebar and plumbing added

Shot the gunite and laid gravel for the patio

Added the pool tile

Pool plaster and water fill day

We opted for a water truck to bring two truck loads of water then we'd top it off with the hose.  Pool boy added the shock

The next day we had a blue pool!

Grass seed and hay were laid down on August 22nd...grow grass grow!!

Of course, no project goes perfectly....but they fixed it

The kids swam the day we got home from camp and have swam nearly everyday since

Night swims are fun!

We're working on getting our grass back because what a messy project this was!  But, next summer, this will be all worth the hassle of the mess.

This is everything that we wanted and it was a fun process designing it.  I can't wait until next year where we can use it the whole season!

Homeschool Curriculum Picks 2024-25

 Every year deciding which curriculum is going to work best for each child is the most difficult decision I have to make.  Then I think of what worked and didn't work from the previous year.  If something worked, will it work for the new year?  What are the new interests in each child?  How can I make that fit into our learning?  What are their future goals?  Let's learn about that!  Each homeschool year is a new year, with new goals, and new interests.  It's fun to educate them around their interests, it makes learning so much more fun!

First Day of 7th & 8th grade

 We've always started back to school in July, but this year I was planning late August.  We have 3 weeks of day camps, and a trip to Kansas, Texas, and Louisiana to visit grandparents.  In that trip, I'll be dropping the kids off at sleepaway camp for a week.  As we were prepping to start school two months earlier than I originally planned, Sterling was busy.  I found this adorable tea towel hanging over my chair the morning we started.  She's so cute and creative. 

Alaska

 We are back from our first trip of the summer.  We went to Alaska and had an amazing time.  It was the perfect introduction to summer because it was still freezing cold up there and non of us are ready for the scorching summers we get here in VA.

We left early to Vancouver, BC so we could explore before we got onboard the Disney Cruise Line.  The kids loved the outdoor heated pool.  I loved the view.  Vancouver was so pretty and the people were very friendly.

Summer Homeschool Plans

 Hey hey!  We basically homeschool year round, but our summers are much shorter with being in maintenance mode.  It's work that they can do in 30 minutes or less, but it keeps their brains fresh and not forgetting those pesky algebraic equations.  We'll start this routine in June, so we have a few weeks off.  We have a fun trip planned to kick off summer that has us all really excited.  It was a big motivating factor in finishing the school year early.