“Insta”-replay: We survived Christmas

So Christmas came and went. Along with it came outings and activities galore!

We were a bit late putting up our tree. Jon had wanted to get a real one but time somehow got away from us so we made do.  This year I let the girls put ALL the ornaments on, even the homemade ones.


Girls had their Christmas dance recital. Charry is still excited to be on pointe. 

Merry loved the wings on her bat costume. They may not be s traditional Christmas symbol but when I see a bat I will think of Christmas from now on.

Girls have been practicing Christmas music on the piano for the last couple of months, they plan to put on a small performance next week.

Charry gave s preview on Christmas Eve, playing what she could remember from memory.

Star Wars is becoming a holiday tradition for us! I’m glad we a raising little nerds who love sharing our fandoms.

Speaking of raising little nerds, the girls picked out the “Bob Ross board game” as a Christmas present for us. They were almost as excited to buy it as Jon and I were to receive it.

The holidays wouldn’t be complete without hearing carols at the Elsinore, it helps that Grandma Kelly and Grandpa Bill are the ones singing!  We managed to hear them sing at a few other locations too.

This year was different.  We stayed home for Christmas.  So instead of seeing them in person my siblings got on their Wii’s so we could at least race together.  I love family togetherness (even if it’s a long distance togetherness).

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a happy New Year!

Bringing back traditions

A few years ago I needed some holiday cheer, so I invented “Christmas Barbie”. Not the doll of course, but the tradition.  Christmas Barbie’s job is simple, I place her next to something to remind me to slow down and focus on Christmas.  An advent reminder.

She was the sign for craft projects, games, events, even sing alongs.  I even used her to show the girls it was time to clean!  But when it went from being a surprise (the first few years) to being a demand (when are you going to do Christmas Barbie) I decide she (and I) needed a break.

But this year she’s back.  With the new house, new neighborhood, and busy schedules a small, fun tradition is just what we need!  

“Insta” replay-a thankful heart is a happy heart

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year we started what I hope will be a new tradition, and did a 5k walk first thing Thanksgiving morning!  Merry joined her Aunt and I in the “fun”.

Also fun was discovering Merry’s picture is the local Holiday’s event guide.  Her class was shown practicing for their Christmas program.

Animal Crossing for my phone makes me ridiculously happy.  Mostly because my sisters are also playing so it’s a fun family thing!

Another thing that made me ridiculously happy was Jon reading “Grumpy Cat” out loud to his family.  He really connected with the main character!

So that’s how we are wrapping up November, with thanksgiving and laughter! (And way too much time spent playing games on my phone, sigh.)

Insta-replay, focusing on family fun!

Between moving and school, life is pretty crazy right now.  So I’ve been making an extra effort to slow down and make some happy family memories. So while most of our time is spent digging through boxes and typing out math assignments, here are the highlight.

We went to my old highschool’s student play, the Wizard of Oz.  The girls had friends guest staring as munchkins.  It was fun seeing faces we knew on stage.

It was dress rehearsal week for our dance studio.  Charry is at that fun, easy to embarrass age, but I gave her some space and didn’t go in to watch the rehearsal as long as she took a picture with her sister while in their costumes.

We’ve started a weekly game night.  The agreement is at least one game as a family.  Last week we opened up Angry Birds Star Wars Jenga, which had been bought on sale years ago but never played.  

Sunday we tried something new.  Instead of going over to my inlaws, we all stopped at a food truck rally down the street from us, then they brought the food to our place. A highlight for Merry was playing potato head with her aunt. 

Now we are getting ready for the holidays! The plan is to continue to make memories, so this year Christmas Barbie is making her comeback. So much to look forward to!

We moved! (In real life not to another website)

So I have been crazy busy and not at all focused for the last few months! But now things are settling down just in time for the holidays when life gets crazy again, sigh.

After spending a month living in a camper in my inlaws backyard, we moved to our very own house! Now we get to experience the joys of home ownership!

Through it all we have been trying to keep up on school which has been a struggle.  Even now getting into a routine is tough.

But girls are working hard, even in the evenings and on the weekends. 

And I had a moment free to update my blog (although I should get back to my school).

Instagram-replay: more summer fun

This last month has been crazy! But next month will be even crazier! We are moving in a few weeks, but not sure where to and then into a house we are buying after a month more of paperwork. In the meantime here is a look back at what our summer has been like.

Barbie fashion shows have been all the rage at Grandma Jackie's house. Aunt Katie and Aunt Abbie dug out their dolls and 90s clothes. Big hair and bright colors!

It was warm outside so we found things to do inside, like going to air conditioned movie theaters. Both girls enjoyed the new Spider-Man movie. 

We finally got end of the year dance photos done, only a few months late, oops.  The piggyback photo was their request and it turned out so cute!

The library continues to be one of our favorite places.  In fact one of my biggest concerns about the upcoming move is "will we like the new library?" And it's going to be a library, what could we possibly not like!

15 years! Not sure what else needs to be said.  We went camping with the family for our actual anniversary but have a movie night planned, so it's all good.

While camping we went to the Sea Lion Cave. It was fun looking at the wild Sea Lion and exploring the dark area of the cave set up for visitors.  

Biggest event of the summer was the eclipse! We had so much fun making pinhole projectors and glimpsing the sun through our protective eyewear. Totally Amazing!

Living just outside of one of the major viewing areas, after the eclipse we had an equally unusual event, traffic backed up in front of our house.  Since I had leftover water bottles from camping, I put some out for the weary travelers. I heard it was taking over 2 hours to get 30 miles! 

So that was summer, even though it's not quite over yet between my classes starting again and the moves coming up my mind is moving on to Fall.

Sixth grade lesson plans

It is almost August, we are a month from the the next school year, yet I felt like I was trying to beat the clock finishing up my lesson plans!

The house we are living in is being sold so we thought it might be a good time to look at moving.  We'd been talking about buying a house for the past year and now it is time. So between shopping and cleaning, packing and touring next month promises to be a busy one. I didn't want to wake up on the first day of school and not be prepared so I preemptively got it all (mostly) ready now!

With the exception of a few workbooks I still need to purchase, all of the sixth grade curriculum is in this file box.

And I've made a checklist and lessons plans for each week!  While my plans are not yet final, at least one subject will be reevaluated after the first week, it's nice to have them done.

That's one less thing to worry about during our big move.  Now I just need to make sure I don't lose the crate!

Insta-replay: family time!

What another update? But it's only been a week? I can hear you all wondering at my new found reliability.  Truth be told, I sat doe to work on homework and my computer decided to update, so instead of homework I thought I would blog!

We have had some delightful time with family! Our small family made it to 7/11 on 7/11 for the free slurpee!

Our Walters family had a camping trip together.  It involved relaxing round the fire and the girls played paper-dolls. I'm so glad those dolls are getting some use!


The trip also involved icecream! They were some of the biggest cones.

Next we had Ward family time at the Enchanted Forest, our local theme park. It was so much fun, and is a great place to spend with little kids and big families!

Merry had some one-on-one time with a cousin, they are definitely kindred spirits!  Yet both so unique.

And then we were back to our little family, Charry and I clogged at our local art fair. And we as a family wandered for a bit before going home to nap.

So that's what we've been up to.

"Insta"-replay, keeping track of time

Dear Diary,

I should be cleaning and getting ready for camp but... oh wait this isn't my diary, it's a public blog. Whoops.

So what have I been up to? Spoiler alert, it's not cleaning!

We celebrated with Grandma Jackie!  She finished treatments for breast cancer.  And we went all pink to show our support and love 💕.

Celebrated Fourth of July with small town style! Dressing up and watching the parade.  We skipped the late night fireworks but saw quite a few on our car ride home.

Biggest excitement came in the form of a branch landing on our car.  Now we are dealing with insurance, which is no fun.  

Spending time with my family is always important!  Right now I just have the one little sister living close by, so we were excited when she had a day free to spend with us.

And we had our first clogging demonstration at the county fair.  Speaking of fair, I don't think it is fair my daughter is as tall as I am!

So that was my busy week, full of celebrations and family! And I'm excited for more family and celebrating with camping and visitors planned in the next weeks!

Planning highschool

I'll be honest, the closer my kids get to highschool the more I think, "I should blog about their preschool days."  After all write what you know.  And I know they can both read and write now, so I must have done ok.

But highschool, I don't know how that will go yet.  I've started making plans, buying curriculum, and scheduling next year.  But will things go as planned?  Am I scheduling enough time?  Will this curriculum work for the year?  So many questions!

So I'm going to give myself a little advice, the same advice I would give someone starting homeschooling their kindergartener.

First: This isn't a one day process, just like you don't learn to read in a day, there is very little that is learned in just one day!  Highschool lasts 4 years, so don't cram everything into the first year! It's better to ease into somethings.

Second: You aren't starting from scratch. When I started homeschooling, I had already spent 5 years watching my daughter grow and play.  I already knew her personality.  So I was able to choose learning options that I knew she would enjoy, like worksheets with princesses and mermaids.  Now I've had 8 years lesson planning and used a variety of curriculums.  I know what has worked and what has not.  Just because now it's highschool level doesn't mean previous experience won't help.

Third: Breath!  As much as I would love for everything to go smoothly next year, it won't ruin my child if a subject doesn't work out.  After all I thought I had ruined her love of reading when she spent an afternoon crying under the kitchen table, cause "sounding out words was too hard." (After that we took some time off schooling, more coloring and watching PBS) But she reads for fun every chance she gets now!  So maybe being relaxed will help her, as well as me, next year!

So that's my advice, fingers crossed I'll follow it!

"Insta"-replay: summertime

Hello Summer!  June is gone but the heat remains!

 

Merry bridged to Girl Scout Cadet, the junior high level.  She's still excited about the club and this year will be the only one where she and her sister are at the same level.

 

End of year recital is always an exciting, busy time.  They did beautifully! Every year I am amazed at how much they grow, as dancers and as people!

 

This was Merry's first spring recital without Toby dancing too.  I think I missed Kim the most! Not having my sister backstage with me meant I had to talk to other dance moms, which wasn't too bad I suppose.

 

Random find in the checkout line.  Jon likes to bemoan the fact that "kinder eggs" are illegal in America, so when I saw chocolate eggs with toys inside, I had to buy them.

  

June ended with temperatures in the upper 90s.  So thank you inlaws for sharing your pool!

Hope your summer is going well and that you are staying cool!

"Insta"-replay: are we there yet?

The end of the school year is drawing near, so near, yet it keeps just out of reach, sigh.

 

 

With summer here we are doing summer things, like toasting marshmallows.

 

And taking trips to visit family.

 

Idaho is much better to visit in the warm early summer than the snowy winter.  And we made the trip in just one day.

 

Seeing family was worth it, but it did add two more days to our already running late school year.  But then again that is one reason we homeschool, I get to make our schedule and decide on days off.

Just like using a rest stop on a long car ride, taking a break makes the journey longer but more enjoyable.