Mommabelle

Christmas 2011

2012-01-18T15:28:00.000-05:00

We set a pretty table for Christmas breakfast.

Our tree. (we were still working on those bookshelves)

Isabelle Christmas Eve

Christmas Morn!

Stocking contents!

Joseph's stocking!

A Gift!

A Gift for the boy!

Over at Mimi and Papa's!

Shepherds Pie for Christmas

2011-12-15T19:19:00.003-05:00

5lbs potatoes
2lb ground beef
1 onion diced
2 cloves garlic chopped or pressed
8oz cheese shredded
2 cups mixed frozen vegetables
salt (or season salt)
pepper
other herbs as you like (I use herb de provence alot)
make a little brown gravy either packet or bouillon with some flour (1/2 to 1 cup)

Preheat oven to 350 to 400
Boil potatoes and make cream/mashed potatoes however it suits you.

Brown meat in skillet and cook through and then drain. While meat drains cook onions and garlic in pan for a few minutes then add vegetables and continue to cook for a few minutes. Add the meat and cook for a few minutes.
Pour meat into a casserole (like 9X14 or equivalent), then make gravy in the pan. Pour gravy over meat and veg mix. Spread potatoes on top. Sprinkle cheese on top of that. (you might not use all the cheese it just needs light sprinkle so you can still see plenty of potato)

Bake 20-30 min until cheese bubbles.

Technically shepherds pie is made with lamb and this is actually cottage pie, but that's all a bit technical and we call it shepherds pie anyway.

Thanksgiving

2011-12-12T08:57:00.000-05:00

I made this chocolate cake. I love to make cakes and I had never made this one before.

It's a keeper! YUM!

My cousin Shelley brought these pretty table centerpieces. She cut down a birch tree and had

holes drilled for tea lights!

Oh, the delicious food!

More awesome desserts!

More delicious food!

My girl!

Good old friends!

Kelle, Lora, Sebastian and Mom!

The football crowd.

Our house lit up for Christmas!!!

Fall 2011

2011-11-10T11:50:00.000-05:00

We have a big old tree with oodles and oodles of leaves. So nice

and shady in the summer. So many to rake in the fall!

Isabelle and Joseph helped clean up the front yard.

The yard is now covered in leaves again!

Someone sent us Flat Stanley. He helped with the leaves.

We need to mail him back!

This house will continue to be a work in progress, but here

it is so far.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-10T11:44:00.000-05:00

Isabelle and Joseph had a blast on Halloween!

Our Fairy Girl and Captain America

trick or treated with a pile of cousins and collected

a ridiculous amount of candy!

They must give Mommy

Mounds and Almond Joy!

Beach Week Setember 2011

2011-10-14T12:25:00.000-05:00

This year we decided to plan our vacation towards the end of September. We wanted to go to the Florida Gulf coast. The weather is so much more enjoyable in the fall or early spring, because it's not so scorching hot and humid. We ended up in Destin this year and a very nice house where we could also have our dogs.

The weather was glorious!

One day we were able to meet up with a family from our homeschool group and the kids had fun together.

Our main activity was sitting on the gorgeous beach! Relaxing! Soaking up sun!

Brendon's 40th

2011-10-11T15:00:00.000-05:00

August 13, 2011

Garden Sample 2011

2011-10-10T20:07:00.000-05:00

A sample of our garden blessings this summer!

Bella Reese Bowtique and 3 Peanuts

2011-09-07T19:02:00.000-05:00

Kim at 3 Peanuts is having a giveaway for the beautiful hair accessories from Bella Reese Bowtique! I entered to win one! Go take a look!!!

Look at the fall 2011 line. They even have one called Tamara! They are all stunning! Totally love the fall line!

Homeschool 2011-2012

2011-08-02T10:54:00.000-05:00

Ready or NOT we begin our academic year very soon. I attended the Southeast Homeschool Expo this past Friday. It was quite a good day! It's a huge convention in Atlanta at the Cobb Galleria. There is a gigantic vendors hall with hundreds of curriculum, extra-carricular and and pretty much anything you can think of to help with homeschool on site with ailes of booths. One of my favorite vendors, Memoria Press, was not present this year. However, other discount vendors were carrying some of their products and I picked up most of the items I needed. I saved quite a bit of money and more than made up for the cost of admission which was $20. I attended a couple of workshops as well and next year I might go to more.
I went with lists in hand of exactly what I needed and how much it costs on-line + shipping. Even with this it was tempting to buy more because you will just flip out with 1000's of beautiful books at your fingertips. (I told Brendon I was scared to take him because he loves books so much!) Several times I picked up an armful of books and then went through them and set down seventy-five percent of them. That was great because I did not come home with anything I didn't need. I went by the Real Science 4 Kids booth and looked through their curriculum. I have been curious about this science curriculum provider and I did like what I saw. I brought home a brochure and I will proably get their Chemistry I in the new year when we start studying that.

Our curriculum this year so far includes:

Isabelle: Horizons Math 6, Map Skills for 6th grade, Think a Minute Critical Thinking, Prima Latina Copy book for handwriting,

Joseph: Horizons Math 4, Map Skills for 4th grade, Handwriting Without Tears (2nd year of cursive), Critical Thinking

Both: Rod and Staff Grammar and Writing Grade 5, First Form Latin, Rosetta Stone German, Lyrical Language Anatomy used together with books from Sonlight's Anatomy, US History using books from Memoria Press and US Geography (memorizing states and capitals + some geographic features), numerous biography and historical fiction readers about various Americans, daily bible reading as a family..we are reading through Ergemeirer's Bible Story book. It is thourough and has all the major bible plots, but not the x-rated bits. We once started reading through the bible and wow..yeah I forgot about all the "stuff" and the kids would ask us why we were having these long pauses. LOL So I found this Bible and it works very well!

We attend a couple of co-op classes each week and they will do soccer on Tuesdays. We would love to add back in piano lessons.

God is Watching

2011-07-28T13:20:00.001-05:00

This advertisement was posted in Politico by Soujourners:

http://www.sojo.net/Images/Special/110726_Sojourners_PoliticoAd.pdf

Health Care you say?

2011-07-26T15:29:00.004-05:00

I saw this quote on facebook today:

"ok..a vent moment..Why is the Government for the people who have no insurance and no job enjoying the obama care..I need a shot for my child for school....Because I have insurance it's $183.00 now if I don't have insurance, no job and on obama care I would only have to pay $14.00..something is wrong with this picture because I work to support my family...I am punished."

Well, I certainly feel empathy on the part of being punished by the government! In this case however I think I might feel punished not only by the government (and I'll get to why in a minute), but also by the insurance companies and the pharmaceutical companies both of whom have greed that is furiously raging out of control... completly unchecked by our government. The lobbyist are all powerful with all that money they are making off of lil ole vaccines and other drugs. Did you know vaccines are really cheap, they can probably make 1000 of them for $14! I would say $14 for one is an absolute outrage, much less the evil piracy of $183!!!!

You can call it Obama care or Bush care or whatever side butters your bread. The fact remains that people in this country are suffering from lack of healthcare. There may be a few lazy cads lying around, but let me assure you the job market in America today is very bleak at best. Families are suffering from lack of work, loss of esteem from not being able to provide for their families and constant worry about what is before them just in the day ahead. Health insurance is not going to happen when you need to put food on the table. Those of us fortunate enough to have jobs right now should never forget to begin and end our day in thanks to the Lord for his mercy and provision that we are employed.

However, for many many people even being employeed is no guarantee of health care. For our own family we would have to pay $20k+ a year for health care because of pre-existing conditions that are of absolutly no fault of our own. Right now we have a job and healthcare is partly covered and we "only" pay $6000 per year, + $25 co-pays + our medication. What a priviledge! I will just say this is a large percent of our yearly income!

You know I'm pretty mad at the government too! When are we going to come down with sledgehammers on these beastly insurance and pharmaceutical companies????!!! We are going to have to reign these greedy jerks in and make health care affordable and AVAILAVBLE to all (not just the healthy folks..don't get me started on death panels!) or we are going to have to apply universal health care to our way of life. There are several ways to do this and folks it works! Quit being so selfish and greedy. It's actaully for all our own good! The government is supposed to be for everybody because we are the government. I want to see something happen to make this better for all of us.

I'm SICK and TIRED of the polarization. I would love universal health care, but if we can't have that can we please cut our health care cost at least in half and offer something to the working poor? I know we can and if our politicians would quit being such self centered selfish dumb butt jerks and really cared about their constituants it would happen. We don't have any real leaders in the government and I'm talking to all sides here! When is it going to change?????

Casey Anthony

2011-07-19T19:16:00.000-05:00

everyone is so shocked at the verdict!!!! are you shocked???!!!

i want to tell you what is truly shocking! the 'justice' system. this system is corrupt from top to bottom. let me tell you Casey Anthony could very well be innocent or she could very well be guilty. there's absolutly no way to tell with the level of corruption and deceit in our injustice system.

let's list a few things:

trial by a jury of "peer"! OH PLEASE people do not get me started on the peers..who don't know squat about the law and are probably not your peers. we need professional juries in this country and we need them NOW!

lawyers! need I say more?! i will since it's my blog and I can! they all want to win. it's all about winning and it has absolutly nothing to do with the truth. do we even know what the truth is?

judges. who knows what in the world they do. i know they go to parties with lawyers and see them at lunch. hmmm..kinda makes you think doesn't it????

grand juries. this is a joke! do you remember the inquisition? yes, it's just like that!

law enforcement officers. do you know a large percentage of them have records?! arresting people and putting people behind bars is job security for them! Oh YES IT IS!!!

check: http://www.innocenceproject.org/

Easter 2011

2011-05-19T07:09:00.002-05:00

Easter goodies: We made the cupcakes and bought the special petit fours and cake eggs.

They were all really delicious.

A really bad up-close shot of the Easter Basket contents.

The Easter Bunny still comes around here just for fun!

The two baskets sitting out!

Isabelle on Easter Morning

Me on Easter Morning

Brendon and the children

The family

Mimi and the children

We enjoyed the morning. Although I believe future Easter mornings may not see "us" eating very much chocolate before church! Thankfully our church is festive on Easter Sunday, because my little man was sugared up for real!

Love my family!

Isabelle's Birthday

2011-05-18T11:33:00.001-05:00

Isabelle celebrated 11 years on April 10th! She is growing into a little lady these days!

She's a honey and a talker! Plus, look at her she even look beautiful at 6:30 in the morning!

Rising very early to open gifts is a time honored tradition in our family!

Isabelle just adored this hat and had been really wanting to have one to play around with!

We had a combined birthday party at Aunt Becky and Uncle Tony's. Here the birthday kids are looking at the cake while all those candles are being lit.

Here are the assembled cousins who were somehow herded into a photo!

It's a little difficult to get that many little one lined up!

Here's a special photo of Papaw and Granny!

On her actual birthday we made her cake of choice: Molten chocolate cakes!

Yum..she has good taste!

Blowing out the candles!

Ooops..here's one I missed from the family party!

A silly string fight!

Joseph's Birthday

2011-05-17T13:31:00.001-05:00

Joseph's and Isabelle have birthdays that are just two days apart, so we combined a few fun things. However, this is a post about Joseph's 9 year old birthday! He's grown to be quite the big boy this year! He's wonderful and we love his precious self!

Very early on April 8th, we got up and ran to find our gifts!

Special gift from the Deally's!

We combined a restaurant outing in celebration of Isabelle and Joseph's birthdays.

We headed to Ippolito's which was their choice.

Here's an aside for shorter ladies..their booths are HUGE and very uncomfortable. I could not touch the floor or the back of the bench.

However, we had a blast!

This is my honey girl! Totally enjoying the fun and food!

Brendon and Joseph

Mommy (Tamara) and Isabelle

We came home and had the cake of Joseph's choice: Blue Velvet Cake!

I explained to him that red velvet cake was chocolate cake with red dye and that is how he came up with blue velvet cake, and yes there are lots of recipe's on-line believe it or not!

Blowing out NINE candles!

I'll be honest eating blue cake was somewhat hard to do for this Mom!

Look at that!

Travel Snapshot

2011-03-14T16:25:00.000-05:00

Every now and again I am going to write about some of the traveling experiences I've had. Memories pop into my head when I'm driving places, doing a mundane chore or have the occasional spare moment (I'm a daydreamer!) and I thought it would be fun to document and share some of them. Traveling around with a backpack, I had a rather interesting time when I was young and single. Brendon and I share that experience. We traveled to a lot of the same places, as well as various different places, and it's something we have in common. We grew up in different countries and met in another country entirely, which has caused us to have a combination of ideas and experiences that are perhaps uniquely our own. We are used to the way we are, but have realized sometimes our mixture of ideas bring a different vibe to the the table so to speak. While we have become comfortable with the way we are, it may be confusing or disorienting when we don't fit the status quo, because in many ways we are the regular couple with children. I may have to scan some old photo's before I get started, but look for a post in a few weeks or so!

The Tub

2011-03-07T16:17:00.000-05:00

Brendon found a claw foot tub online that a farmer near us was selling. It also included a sink which we will use as well. The inside of the tub is in fairly good condition, however the outside is a little rough as you can see. We probably won't get it perfectly finished, but for now that will be a-okay! Don't you just love sometimes when things are ok (not perfect) and you're ok with that too? I like certain things just so alot of the time, but sometimes it's easier if you don't worry about every little thing!

My handsom husband working hard!

Track 2011

2011-03-06T09:32:00.000-05:00

Our homeschool group has a track team and it seems like it has quite an enthusiastic following! We had our first practice this past Friday. One thing I like about track is that it is very easy to practice at home. I'm really looking forward to this experience.

Isabelle

Joseph

Garden 2011

2011-03-05T15:56:00.001-05:00

Isabelle and Joseph planting seeds.

Just before track practice on Friday the kids enthusiasticly planted our vegetable seeds in starter trays. We like to have an organic garden, so we ordered our seed trays and packets from Gardens Alive all of which arrived a few days ago via the big brown UPS truck. Yours truly made an orderly little chart documenting the columns and rows of each tray and it's contents. We all really love our garden, and my mouth is watering just thinking of fresh cucumbers and tomatoes plucked from the garden in the morning and eaten for lunch!

Counter Top

2011-03-04T21:02:00.001-05:00

Two things we needed for the house were found here!

Isnt' is a treat to wander through Ikea?

And, we had some Swedish meatballs with lingonberry sauce for lunch..of course!

I will post some house photo updates soon.

Ashes and Ashes

2011-03-04T14:37:00.001-05:00

We finally had to quit avoiding the fireplaces and got down and cleaned out the chimney's otherwise we coulnd't go forward with some other work. There were six of the buckets full of ashes in this particular chimney (and a bird head! YUCK!!!). I'm so very glad Brendon was cleaning that one out! I would love to take a hose pipe and spray up into the chimney. I have to say they are pretty cool chimney's when you look up into them. There are two fireplaces per chimney and they have a convex curve of brick protuding out one side and arching up so that the smoke is drawn upwards and not drawn into the other room. (It does have a slight ledge though and that's were the ashes built up.) That might be boring for you, but I think it's pretty neat, plus the old brick is quite pretty inside.

Forever Sanding

2011-02-27T10:25:00.005-05:00

Last month it felt as if I peeled wallpaper for eons!

This month that same feeling was applied to sanding our walls.

Each and every wall downstairs has gorgeous hardwood planking and I love the way it looks!

However, all those pretty little boards needed to be sanded!

Honestly, I was a little scared climbing up so high on the ladder, but I have to say it was a great workout so I took courage and went for it.

I had no idea it was such a great core workout balancing at the top of a ladder when I first started, but I found out the next morning as I rolled out of bed!

You should see what we did in that room yesterday!

Stay tuned!

Father Daughter Dance

2011-02-26T18:18:00.006-05:00

Isabelle and Brendon had a date night!

It was a spectacular Father Daughter dance hosted by our homeschool group.

This year I decided to join the biggest homeschool group closest to our area and it has been really fabulous!

Brendon raved about the dinner they had catered!

I also hear the girls had an absolutly delightful evening full of fun and dancing! In fact I heard that it's such a hit that it's a yearly must do!

It was listed as dressy to semi-formal. We had a dressy dress in the closet and that's what we went with this year!

Isn't she such a honey!?!?

The paint and the chimney

2011-02-22T14:52:00.003-05:00

Remember the Chimney sweep dropped by the house. We are in LUCK! They Chimney's are in awesome shape! There was just a bunch of ash and coal dust piled on top of those boards. We do need to do a few small cleaning things plus add a damper to the top of the chimney. The chimney's are probably 100 years old and still in good condition. However with chimney's that old the damper has to go on top of the chimney and a chain hangs down that we can pull to open and close it.

The Paint! I did go check on some light paint colors and came away with a color called icy waterfall. It's a white with a blue tint and we are going to use it in the living room, and down the hallway and to the upstairs!

I have also picked out some outdoor paint. In time we will change the siding of the house and probably the door color, but for now we are having a red door and dark green shutters. I was going to use a black paint on the shutters called broadway. It had some brownish/greenish undertones, but then Brendon found a very dark green and I like it better. I think it's called Charleston green. The one thing that will probably change when we get better siding is perhaps the door will become a more neutral color, but for now I hope it will make the house look cute!

We found the original front door and it was red the same shade as the shutters. I have sanded it andd it's ready for paint. We also need to paint the front porch floor gray and the ceilng blue.

The Bathroom: We found a claw foot tub on Craigslist that a farmer was selling. It also came with an old sink that we will sit on top of a vanity. The tub is not in perfect condition, but it is not terrible either. We will sand it and paint the outside of it. The inside of the tub only has a few nicks, so we will figure out what to do about that.

I've been sanding away, and hope to finish up with that CHORE this week! Then we can paint and move on to getting those floors sanded.

The house is actually starting to look like a place you could live!

House Update

2011-02-12T10:38:00.009-05:00

Here are a few pictures of the living room as they currently look

Remember we have torn off fake paneling, sheetrock and wallpaper.

Now we have sanded the walls.

We also tore out fake flooring covering the hardwoods, and a dropped ceiling which hid

a 12'8" ceiling.

We have Chimney Sweep coming next week to look at the fireplaces.

I tried to clean one, and soot started pouring out of the chimney!

Back wall....what you see when you enter the house.

Front wall of living room

Side wall of living room..opposite the stairs.

The drapes I have stored to use..but now I need to add 1 foot of material to have them long enough. I will just add a contrast, because the hem is only 6 inches.

Our furniture that will go in the living room.

I'm planning to paint the walls Water Chestnut by Glidden.

I love mantles, and need at least three to go in our house. We found one in the house, and I may use it in a back room.

Here's one that I think would look awesome in our living room!

Wonder how that wall color would look????!!!

Nate Berkus Design I found on a decor blog. I think a blog called The Perfect Grey.
Edited to add: I'm going to find a swatch of that paint color!

Poem: You Tell On Yourself

2011-02-11T13:52:00.000-05:00

Poem: You Tell On Yourself: "Author: Unknown
You tell on yourself
By the friends you seek,
By the manner in which you speak;
By the way you employ your leisure time,
By the use you make of every dollar or dime.

You tell what you are
By the things you wear,
By the spirit by which your burdens you bear;
By the kind of things at which you laugh,
By the records you play on your phonograph.

You can tell what you are
By the way you talk,
By the manner in which you bear defeat;
By so simple a thing as what you eat,

By the books you choose from a well-defined shelf.
In these ways and more, you tell on yourself.
So there is really not a particle of sense
In your efforts to keep up your false pretense"

Snow Week!

2011-01-25T22:00:00.002-05:00

It snowed and snowed, and then snowed some more!

Has it ever snowed this much in Georgia?

I don't ever remember it.

It lasted a week this time, and little piles of it could be seen for

an additional week after that.

It was lots of fun ...for about two whole days!

We, who live in warm weather do not possess boots,

snow pants or other clothes.

Nor do our cities have snow plows, scrapers, sand or salt.

The snow still was beautiful and sparkled brightly every morning,

and we enjoyed it for a week..this one time!

The street

Isabelle sledding down on hill.

Our new house.

Joseph coming down the driveway.

The kids enjoying.

A fried computer

2011-01-15T20:09:00.002-05:00

Last week, before the delightful snowtorm, my computer was inadvertantly fried. The electric company trucks were on the street working on something, and there must have been a wee mistake! My computer was a very sad victim of that mishap. Brendon will probably get it up and running soon, but for now I have to check from another computer, and I can't access any photo's right now. I'm just hoping nothing is gone.

We are working hard on our house right now. We need to have the stairs redone and that is taking place on Monday. We want a claw foot bathtub, and are looking for one. Then we need to sand the walls to prepare them for paint. (Oh yes, the wallpaper has been completly removed!) After we get the walls done we can finish the floors. Once all of that is completed we will be able to move in, but we do have enough projects to keep us busy for a year or two, or as I hear from my new neighbors...a life time. They are the third generation living in that house and they have done a great job with it.

House update

2011-01-05T20:28:00.003-05:00

Here are some pictures from about the 2nd stage of rip out.

The paneling is off the walls, and we find a fireplace in the master bedroom, and plank walls.

More wallpaper too!

Master bedroom with barewalls. The wallpaper in this room, just ripped off.

The fan is gone now as well.

This fireplace, in the dining room, was the first hidden one we found.
I was ripping out the fake floors, and I saw brick underneath, and this wall backs up to the living room wall, exactly where the fireplace is. They actually covered up the fireplace with those sticks and the ashes in there!
The wallpaper in this room, was very hard to get off, but it only went up 8ft.

The living room! The wallpaper goes all 12'8".
It had a medium difficulty rating to scrap off.
My dogs are not normally inside, but while we renovate we let them in.

Can you imagine living with this? I would be so dizzy!

Inside a Renovation!

2011-01-03T20:42:00.007-05:00

Here are some of the very first photo's taken of the new house. A lot has already changed and I will post that as I get time.

Let's just get the worst out of the way first!

The very lovely bath!

The lovely bathroom! It will be completly renovated in every way. The powder blue tub is already gone and well everything else. We found out that 155,000 gallons of water leaked in the bathroom..and you could tell!

The Dining Room

The Living Room

The beautifully carpted stairs. It's your first vision when you enter the house!

Currently the carpet is gone and the stairs will get a complete overhaul, because they are so steep and narrow. Very scary to walk down.

This is a bedroom, but will end up being our closet/bath eventually.

The kitchen, with work stuff sitting out.

The Living Room
These are some of the first pictures we shot.

All the fake paneling, fake floors, and fake ceilings are gone!!!

Also that beautiful wood stove is gone, and someone paid us for it!

Under the fake wood floors, were real hardwoods. Hiding under the fake paneling was sheetrock, under which was wallpaper, and finally hardwood plank walls!!
When we took off the sheetrock we discovered two additional fireplaces for a total of four!

We discovered that there were 12'8" ceilings above the dropped ceilings, and they are hardwood planks as well!

Hmm..We also discovered that they used to burn large amounts of coal, and we are in for a major clean up.
If anyone is looking for me, I can usually be found peeling wallpaper at the new place!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-03T09:35:00.005-05:00

Christmas 2010 was very good!

Christmas Eve we went to church and then ate Mexican food!

I think we had a delicious week of eating, but now we need to get back to sensibility!

Christmas Day we cooked a great meal and had lunch with Mom and Dad, Kelley and Lora, and Sven and Majken.

It actually snowed on Christmas Day!!! Can you believe it?!!!

We also had an extended family Christmas and played with cousins!

I wish I had more pictures, but here are a few highlights.

Isabelle

Joseph

Isabelle and Joseph heading out in the snow!

I made a Yule Log
Brendon made raspberry cheesecake

Joseph as a shepherd

Isabelle narrating the Christmas story

A New Adventure!

2010-12-08T19:23:00.005-05:00

We have been a preoccupied with our new adventure! We have a new home! This home is an older one, built in 1946 or 47. Certainly, it needs some work, but it has some great bones already!

Much work is already underway and I will post picutres as we go!

Already we have made some exciting (and a few puzzling) discoveries!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-27T17:18:00.006-05:00

I have had this post saved for a few weeks, simply because my computer was acting up and it was taking about 30 min to download a few pictures at a time.

These are a few from Thanksgiving Day!

Brendon and I

Uncle Kelley and Joseph

Dad and Papaw

Lora and Kelley

Granny and Nanny

The Family!

Desserts!

Mimi and Papa

Weekend 6

2010-11-09T13:19:00.003-05:00

We had a really nice weekend, but it was cold...brrrr!
The weekend diet was good, but not as good as past weekends. Plus, the whole week was just a little hard. However, I'm back at it!!! I have backed down on the 2lbs a week. That is possible, but I am 5'1" and it is more realistic to shoot for 1.5lbs a week. I have decided that is what I will shoot for from now on. It is especially more realistic considering that these 10 weekends included Halloween and will include Thanksgiving!!! Yeah..who the heck is giving up turkey, dressing, greens, sweet potatoes, cake etc...?!!! Not this chick!

I have been reading up on HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). I think I will give that a try. Maybe 2 HIIT workouts a week and then 2 other regular jogs or walks. Anyway HIIT is supposed to be great for helping lose weight. Apparently you shouldn't do but a few times a week and then only for a month or two and then just do regualar exercise for a month or so before circling back to it.

I do have some picutres coming up of Halloween and our week of field trips. Stay tuned!

Weekend 7

2010-11-03T11:52:00.003-05:00

I just got a little swamped last week with too many homeschool field trips and then Halloween, so I didn't get a chance to post.

Weekend 7 went well. This week though it's been tough for whatever reason. I'm hungry. I will be eating more veggies, and making sure to get in some olive oil or coconut oil and some lean protein. Usually if I eat most of my calories earlier in the day it works much better for me. If I save calories towards the end of the day I end up starving.
There were NO Mounds in the Halloween stash, so I had to settle for Almond Joy. Almost the same except for the dumb nut right in the middle! I do love almonds and nuts, but not in my candy, cookies or cakes! Definetly not in brownies!!!
Do y'all like nuts in your sweets?

Piano Recital

2010-10-23T17:59:00.003-05:00

These photo's are really aweful, but I wanted to still document this fall recital.

The recital was set to start at 9:30 and we needed to be there at 9:15, which is a wee bit early to be that dressed up on a Saturday morning! However, I actually didn't mind because it did get the whole thing over with by 11:00 and we had the rest of the day to ourselves. We actually didn't get there by the prescribed time, which ended up being just fine, because the recital hall didn't open the doors until 9:25 anyway...just as we were driving up!

The fall recital went great and the kids both played very well!

Look, Joseph wiggled enough before his turn, and his shirt came untucked!!!

I can't do great picture without flash inside and that is why they don't look so wonderful.

Weekend 8...

2010-10-22T14:56:00.004-05:00

is underway!

We are serving in a church community kitchen tonight, tomorrow morning we will attend the kids fall piano recital and hmm... we shall what the rest of the weekend brings!

The leaves are starting to fall and the temperature is just marvelous! We even pulled out the feather duvet to keep us toasty while we sleep.

I would love to eat some pumpkin soup this weekend! We saw a recipe for pumpkin soup with apples in it! YUMMO!

I have to say eating to lose is tough on the weekends! The weekdays are not too bad, but I did need to shave a bit off of the weekend consumptions!

It's been a long day..

2010-10-18T15:59:00.002-05:00

relaxing in my comfy chair for a few minutes!

What shall I cook for dinner?

Weekend recap

2010-10-17T18:40:00.006-05:00

First of all Brendon did get a little sick on Friday and we were not able to make it to the square dance:(!!! I heard it was fun!

Saturday we slept in! Later we dropped by to take a peek at the latest Korean superstore to open up in the area. There are so many of them now, that I'm starting to give them ratings! This one actually has more than a grocery store and food court though, and it is the building that Macy's was located in. I did not go upstairs, but it is a department store up there. I still like one of the other stores better for food experience fun. However, this is still a cool place to go!

After that we dropped by the new Goodwill store. I did score a few fabulous finds!!! It's either hit or miss when shopping there.

Next we dropped by Whole Foods for a few things! Talk about polar opposite shopping experiences!

Finally, we came home for some chillaxin!

Brendon headed out to cook barbeque at church at 1 O'clock in the morning. I tell you what that is...freakin crazy! It tasted mighty delicious though!

And, here we are..almost time to put some children to bed!

Weekend 9!

2010-10-15T12:41:00.004-05:00

The first weekend of the weekend diet went great! It was not easy, but I did it!

Down 2lbs!!!!

I expect this one to be much the same! Heading out tonight for some family entertainment....squaredancing! Hee Haw! At least it's some exercise! Ha Ha Ha!!!

Our new awesome running spot!

2010-10-09T14:21:00.002-05:00

When cousins come to play...

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it's a blast!

Countdown Weekend 10 begins!

2010-10-08T12:11:00.004-05:00

The first of the 10 weekends begins with a challenge!

We are headed over to some friends house tonight. Thankfully they are some of my crunchy healthy friends! Plus, I already know the menu! A whole wheat pizza, salad (I'm bringing) and fruit for dessert. I'm thinking about 1 slice of pizza, lot's of salad and nibble of fruit! The host family usually doesn't drink wine/beer etc..(health reasons) so that should be easy too!

I've been friends with these ladies for five years now! I can't believe it's been that long! Our kids used to all go to the same school. Two of us have moved on, but we have all remained great friends. We usually get together once a month, but this fall has been super busy!

Side question: Do you like croutons? I don't like them messing up my salad! Yuck! I've had homemade and prepared etc.. I just prefer delectable crunchy veggies! They do taste good by themselves, but it's not a food that tempts me too much.

Ten Weekends!

2010-10-07T18:22:00.004-05:00

I'm embarking (wish that meant I was on a plane going somewhere!) on a 10 weekend eat well eating plan! I need to lose 20lbs, well really 27, but who's counting? At 5'1" 7lbs ends up being a fair amount, but for sanity's sake and ease of counting I'm going for 20lbs in 10 weeks.
If anyone wants to join me I'd love the company!!!! Alternately, you could just post encouraging words!

The reason for the 10 weekends: Weekends tend to be sneaky little diet disasters!!! You know what I mean??? You've worked hard all week, and your wonderful friends invite you over, and we are all relaxing and enjoying hanging out! The next thing you know you had a little nibble extra of this and sip or two extra of that! Umhmmm! So, I thought I would focus on getting through 10 weekends eating healthfully with modest portions. I'm a slight health nut and eat pretty well during the week, so it is only the weekends doing me in!

The weekends start on Friday and go through Sunday (duh). So, each Thursday I will try and remember to post something to get the weekend started off right! Maybe I should do a Sunday night recap of how it all went down! That should help with the motivation!

I'll be doing some fitness as well and will post more about that later.

I like to workout, and do it fairly regularly, but lately I need a little more of a plan.

This all sounds fun right now, but it's sure to be a challenge in a few weeks!

Star Wars!!!

2010-10-04T18:57:00.003-05:00

We take a homeschool class on Mondays. We have our own curriculum, but they go over alot of important things that each kid needs to know. Multiplication tables, grammar, history and a science experiment. A little art/music apprectiation etc..

Today in Joseph's class they were learning the possessive pronouns. His class is all boys that are 8/9 years old. His teacher was teaching them the nursery song The Three Little Kittens so that they could sing the pronouns to the tune. The boys were all sitting there staring at her, probably not paying too much attention at this point. (I was so tired today, and so were the other mom's that I was half asleep in the back of the room) Joseph raises his hand and half stands out of his seat saying "I have a better idea Mrs. Heath" (at which point I come out of my sleepy haze wondering what he's going to say!) She graciously says "yes, Joseph what is it?" He then sings the possesive pronouns to the Star Wars theme song! She laughed and the boys loved it! Imagine each word going with each note of the theme song: " mine, yours, his, hers ours, yours, theirs, possesiv pronouns!"

September

2010-09-28T15:15:00.004-05:00

This month we managed (perhaps!) to settle nicely into our homeschool daily and weekly routines. Although it was still as hot as hades for a good portion of the month, the last few days have been heavenly with the cooler weather! Our moods seem to lift and a feeling of carefree elation comes when we step out and smell the fresh crisp air! Isabelle even put on a long sleeved shirt this morning to honor the new season, and well and to keep her arms warm!

Mondays we rise very early. Dress, eat and head out the door for our long day of homeschool co-op classes. It's a fun day and we look forward to being with so many other families. We have close to an hour for lunch and we usually eat and play outside. It seems that I need to get an ant bite each Monday as well! Arghh! Yesterday, it rained and we could not go out for lunch. It definetly makes a difference, especially as we use a church basement to meet for our classes. No windows and no time outside for lunch is a quite long day!

Tuesdays we spend the day studying at home. I may sign up for a science class at a county science and environmental center that meets one Tuesday a month. It is an amazing local place.

Wednesday mornings we are at home studying and the afternoons the kids have an art class. They are studying art through the ages 102. Each year the class studies different periods in history and the art that was going on at the time. I guess they always start with Egypt. That is what they are doing right now, and that is what they started with last year. I know Egypt is huge historically, but it doesn't interest me all that much! The kids, however, really enjoy it!

Thursdays we study at home and have piano lessons in the afternoon.

Fridays are a mix. We always do work at home, but sometimes there is an enrichment day with our co-op, we may start going to homeschool ice skating day and start planning some play dates as well.

Isabelle is running in a homeschool cross country club and they practice on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. We usually only go to one practice because of the driving. I get a little bonkers with driving so much right now.

I know I need to get my camera back into action and post more frequently! I will try!

How's everyone?

I had a birthday!

2010-08-27T12:22:00.003-05:00

Brendon had a littl party for my 40th birthday and he did a great job!

I just came across these pictures from my birthday last month.

Little Britches

2010-08-17T11:33:00.006-05:00

You may have read these books, but we only found this series a few months ago.

Each evening at bedtime we read a chapter aloud, and have just completed the very first book.

The Moody family travels from New Hampshire to Colorado in the early 1900's and sets up house on a ranch near Denver. An unknown lung affliction has plauged father and is the catalyst for the the migrating family.

Ralph, the oldest boy in the family, is the author of the series.

There are so many good moral lessons while being simultaneously funny and adventurous! Little Britches is a fantastic read for children, especially boys.

One warning: Cowboys talk the way they do and Ralph retells it exactly with 3 and 4 letter words. However, Ralph's family never spoke in that manner. We simply pointed out the difference and noted we would not be using any of those words.

If you can find a copy I highly recommend this book!

PS: I do not know why the word voting is at the top of this post. I can't see it when I try to edit. Perhaps it was part of the picture.

I need to win a scarf!

2010-06-16T07:40:00.006-05:00

Biscuits are never Boring is holding a contest to win this Lilly scarf! Go check it out! I need to win though!

It is hotter than blazes down here in Georgia, and it would be allright with me if it cooled off a little bit! In fact yesterday I changed our electronics rule. Normally we dont' watch tv or have computer time until 5pm. I reversed that yesterday! The only time it's cool enough to go out is in the evening.

First swim meet 2010!

2010-06-09T13:02:00.002-05:00

Sunday Memorial Weekend Barbeque

2010-05-31T08:17:00.001-05:00

Free scrapbook customized with Smilebox

A Good Day

2010-05-27T08:30:00.003-05:00

It started early in the morning with men cooking barbeque at church.

At 3AM Brendon got up and left. Just for fun he got pulled over, but since he was certainly

sober and not speeding they were obliged to let him go. Honestly think

they were a little bored, and it gave them something to do.

We got to church around 10, and Isabelle (in pink dress) and Joseph (in red shirt and cap)

rushed over to visit Dad and rest of the crew.

Then we headed inside for worship. Isabelle said she thinks Pentecost is

definetly one of her favorite Holidays!

It ended with a picnic and the kiddos having a suprise water balloon
attack on the crew!

Swim Team

2010-05-24T19:28:00.002-05:00

Isabelle with the green googles.

Joseph gasping for breath

It's that time of year! I love it, except for the actual swim meets! Actually, I love those too up to about 9PM, and after that we just endure. Practice has started last week, so I take my water and snacks and sit by the pool for a couple of hours. It's a hard life, but what can you do?!

13 years!

2010-05-16T15:38:00.002-05:00

We were married 13 years ago on a Friday evening! The weather was gorgeous with a nice light breeze blowing. Happy Anniversary to us!

The Easter Family Photo!

2010-04-06T08:56:00.003-05:00

Dying Easter Eggs

2010-04-04T19:46:00.003-05:00

We began with two dozen white eggs.

We had loads of fun sitting outside dying our eggs and thinking of

creative dye patterns.

A batch of eggs drying in the sun!

A finished product ready for the Easter dinner table decor!

Art Class

2010-03-31T16:39:00.004-05:00

The kids attend a really fantastic art studio each Wednesday. They have been going there for a year and a half so far and we certainly hope to continue. They have been taking a class called "Art through the Ages". It is an art history class and this year they have mostly studied ancient history and spent quite some time on Egypt. After the Christmas break they moved along to later centuries. Right now they are studying Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel. They were extra excited to attend class today because they were painting lying on the floor with their art taped to the underside of a table to pretend they were Michelangelo painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. They had to bring their favorite scene to sketch and then begin painting it.

I rarely go into their class as I would just be in the way, and as a homeschool Mom I think it's great for us to all have little corners of time that are all our own. When I sit in the lobby I can hear all the children talking and laughing! It's such a happy place!

Isabelle is laughing here and trying to hide from the camera. They are not used to seeing me at their class!

Joseph's teacher is helping him with his drawing.

Here they are lying on the floor beginning their painting!

Piano Recital

2010-03-30T15:24:00.003-05:00

Isabelle and Joseph have been taking piano lessons this year and they had a spring recital this past Saturday. Their teacher uses the Suzuki method. Isabelle does a little sight reading as well since she is older.

Joseph played before Isabelle.

He played a piece called Cuckoo.

Shortly Isabelle followed his performance.

Her piece was Honeybee.

The after recital look!

The past three days

2010-03-22T13:26:00.005-05:00

This was beautiful Saturday! We washed the cars and the kids wore their bathing suites.

Washing the cars led to:
THIS

We woke up to rain on Sunday and it rained most of the day.

Then it got even colder, and Brendon drove in snow flurries Monday on the way to work.

The wierdest winter I've ever lived in GA.

Saturday Morning

2010-03-20T08:08:00.004-05:00

We have been a little busy, and it's been hard to get on here and post.

Homeschool is chugging along. I'm still deciding what all we will do next year.

We are tired of the hybrid system. I feel like it boxes us in and limits us. There is quite a bit of work to do, so there is no time to add in and they don't like it when I substitue work. We will finish out the school year, but the next year or so we will design our own curriculum. I'm not saying we will never do it again, but not for awhile.

The sun has finally come out! I hope it sticks around and we have some nice weather.

Isabelle and Joseph just finished up their basketball season! They really improved this year.

Piano lessons are coming along. They have their first recital next week!

Easter is around the corner!!!

Joseph told me he would give up vegetables for Lent. Haha! I nixed that idea!

Enjoy this beautiful day!

Dead battery..Change of plans!

2010-02-19T10:34:00.003-05:00

The battery is dead! One of the lights was left on and no one did it!

Our morning errands have been waylaid and now we are all doing math!

Homeschool Decisions!

2010-02-18T16:04:00.005-05:00

I am slowly, very slowly, coming up with our own homeschool curriculum for next year.

We have enjoyed our one day a week hybrid, but we have learned alot and made other connections. It is possible we may do Classical Conversations one morning and loosly follow them, but I'd rather just join a regular homeschool group. Right now I'm pretty comfortable with where the kids are academically so I'm not concerned with that. We are starting to meet other homeschool families too and will either meet up with them or perhaps join a homeschool co-op for extra activities. I'm still not sure about all of that!

Here is our list so far:

Math: Horizons and Teachting Textbooks

Grammar: We have done Shurley Grammar and they learned ALOT, but are switching to???

Writing: researching I.E.W and Classical Writing or?

Spelling: perhaps Spelling Power

Penmanship: probably A Reason for Handwriting, but maybe something else

Vocabulary: probably Wordly Wise

Geography: don't know yet. We learned 50 states and capitals this year.

We could learn Australia and maybe Western Europe next year. Plus a little map reading book.

History. We like Story of the World but might have to add to it.

PE: play outside!, join a sports team for fun

Science: we read books, watch Nova and we will add Little Professor science kit and star gaze with Isabelle's telescope and learn the constellations

Foreign Language: German Rosetta Stone and Mommy talking

They started with French, but it is simply easier for me to do German.

My German needs a little practice, but it is WAY better than the 15 words I can say in French.

We can learn French together in a few years, but for now we are going with what is easier for me. I know alot of homeschooler do Latin and we may learn some basics, but I'd rather learn something more practical.

Piano will stay the same.

Art will be at the same homeschool art studio. It rocks!

Nature Study: Grow a garden with Daddy!

Reading: the kids read all the time, so we can just include some literature discussions with that.

As you can see, I still have a few decisions to make! It seems like a lot, but we don't do all those things every day. I really like to feel like I'm doing the best thing, but that seems to change up from time to time and I have to re-evaluate.

Winter

2010-02-17T10:51:00.002-05:00

I have not been able to load the Christmas photo's. I am still using another camera and am not quite sure how it works. We may have to skip posting Christmas picutres this year!

It has been cold in Georgia and frankly it's getting a bit wearing. We dont' keep that many warm clothes, because we don't need them. It has snowed alot for us, and the kids were wearing gloves that I bought about 15 years ago! I may have to buy a new pair!

However, Isabelle and Joseph really had fun playing in the snow! It's such a novelty for them!

It does make me smile too! It looks like it will be warming up this weekend!

Our backyard

The snowman

I'm Alive!

2010-01-29T17:59:00.002-05:00

Barely there, but still breathing!

I will try to put up some Christmas photo's to get started here again!

I was going to start training for the Atlanta Womens 5K this past Monday, but I woke up and could barely walk. I might have to do this one with my daughter!

See you soon!

Texting n' Driving!

2009-12-09T11:58:00.003-05:00

The Advent Storybook

2009-12-04T11:31:00.003-05:00

We purchased this book several years ago. The story begins on Dec 1st and there is a story for each day up to the 24th. The little bear hears a story from his mother each night about another little bear following the special star. He meets various people and animals on his journey to Bethlehem. This is our 4th year reading it. I opened it to check when it was written and was suprised to find that it was first published in German in 2004 and in English in 2005. It is the type of book that is timeless, so I expected it be written a long time ago. It is for children, but the book is actually quite thoughtful in it's simplicity. Isabelle and Joseph still very much look forward to reading it, and actually so do I. Reading this book seems to have made it's way into becoming a sweet family tradition!

Thankful Thursday

2009-12-03T16:07:00.003-05:00

I am thankful for our Thanskgiving Feast last week!

Now, I'm thankful to be working that food off!!

For calm daily life.

For our children!

For our dogs who are so funny!

For the richness of family life.

For all our blessings!

Thanksgiving

2009-11-29T19:30:00.003-05:00

Thanksgiving was really lovely! Lot's of family and lot's of food! It was Aunt Becky and Uncle Tony's year to host the meal and so we headed over there for the day. Everyone brought along a dish or two for the feast.

These are some random photo's. Guess what? Brendon snapped all the pictures this holiday!

Uncle Tony and Dad

Mimi and Isabelle holding Lily!

The guys playing rook!

Cousins

Papa with Isabelle and Joseph

All of us ladies looking at photo's!

Tamara, Alison, Teresa

Susan, Isabelle, Becky, Shelley

Babies and Hair!

2009-11-20T14:00:00.004-05:00

Isabelle and Mommy!

This cute picture scrolled across my screensaver, and I had to share it!

I also noticed that there was not single gray hair in my head!

(and there's still not!;)

Coffee Break

2009-11-16T15:41:00.002-05:00

We have been concentrating on homeschool this past week. Believe me, it takes all our concentration at the moment. We are craving a break in our routine and looking forward to a lighter work load. We will have a week off for the Thanksgiving Holiday!

I'm looking forward to coffee breaks (and suddently I have a craving for tea) and visiting relatives and friends. Just having fun in general!

I wish I could meet all of you for coffee/tea and chit chat!

Thankful Thursday

2009-11-05T13:24:00.002-05:00

I'm so blessed to be a wife and mother!

Thank you Brendon for fixing the mirror over the mantle!

I'm thankful for homeschool!

We are thankful for the amazing art class the kids have this year! It's a highlight every week!

We give thanks for our good friends!

Thanks to the chiro/sports rehab who is fixing me up, so I can run, bike and swim again!

There's always thanks given for that hot cup of coffee! Joy!

The Wedding Picture

2009-10-31T08:35:00.003-05:00

There were a few requests for a wedding picture! You know, back in the old days we did not have digital photography and therefor it takes a few minutes to find a photo and scan it etc..and I just got a little busy this week. In fact (speaking of computers) we never even emailed each other the entire time we dated! Isn't it crazy how much things have changed in just over a decade?!!!

How did we meet?

2009-10-25T08:14:00.014-05:00

My cousin Kristen posted a few weeks ago about how she and David became one and said she'd love to hear others story. Here it is baby!

The short story is that we met through a friend, but that is sort of boring isn't it? It seems like these days I'm so busy with raising and educating children and homemaking that I don't spend too much time in reflection unless someone ask me how we met. Brendon was born and raised in Tasmania, Australia and I was born and raised in North Georgia and grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta, which is where we have lived since we were married!

I graduated from the University of Georgia and worked for a year. I had always enjoyed travel and decided that now was the time to set off for a little adventure. I bought my Let's Go Europe book, my Eurail Pass, a plane ticket and packed my big old backpack and set off!

I thought it might be fun to learn a foreign language and so I ended up living in Germany and a working in a day care on an Army base, because you need to be able to get a visa to live in another country. I was staying in a student dorm and another American girl told me that was what she was doing in order to get a visa.

That's me at the daycare. I worked with Sue, Gretchen and Erma.
It surely was an interesting place with a few characters and one crazy boss!

Brendon had decided to travel as well. He went to Malaysia for awhile and helped at a mission (believe it or not!) and did some side trips to a few places in Asia. Then he moved on to London, where he apparently had a very good time! He ended up getting a decent job and through coincidence was transfered to Neuchatel, Switzerland. He met up with this guy who I knew as well.

One day this friend, called me up and said he was coming up for the weekend with two of his friends! What do I remember from this weekend? It was the middle of winter and absolutly freezing! Also, that Brendon was interesting, but other than that it was just a weekend with friends.

The weekend we met. Brendon is looking back.

I'm on the left. Audrey is on the right! She was also up for the weekend, but this picture is from a weekend later on. (This is in CH, but I'm not quite sure where?)

About a month later his sister flew in to see him. He immediatly took her down to Italy and then on to Germany. While he was in my area he called me and they got a hotel down the street and we all went to dinner. Narelle, his poor jet lagged sister, was so completly exhausted from travel and she said she had to go to sleep. Brendon and I ended up talking for hours.

After that we took turns visiting each other. When we were in Stuttgart we often went to O'Reilly's (Irish) pub which was two blocks from my apartment. My friend Lavonne, from NZ, went with us a lot. Of course we had lots of fun!

My apartment
The gold colored one, two blocks down hill was the pub!

Tamara and Lavonne at O'Reilly's

Susanne and Dirk
These were my flat mates. They are married with kids now.

When I went to visit Brendon we would drive around to different places and meet up with people we knew. We had great times!

That's me. We drove around alot. Here we were t Lake Geneva.

Brendon and Raph eating fondu for 4 all by themselves!

London
When we first met, Brendon had a business trip to London and my friend Lavonne and I were there on the same weekend. We met up for lunch one day.

Cilla and Martin are some of the people we did stuff with and they were married a month before we were!

Other people we saw frequently were Heide and Ralph, Kim and Aschi, Maggie and Jens. I don't have good enough pictures to post.

We were married a little over a year after meeting. Here we are!

Petite shopping!

2009-10-05T11:27:00.002-05:00

I like to shop when I have the time and resources! I'm shorter than average, so I shop at retailers who carry petite size fashions. Ann Taylor is one of my favorites! Recently I came across a few blogs and websites about petite fasion and found there are many retailers that carry petite sizes on- line, but not in their physical shop. I knew about Lands End and Eddie Bauer, but take a look at some of the other ones. I still prefer to go out shopping, but there certainly are more options on-line. (Today two of the blogs are about lingerie, but that is not the norm! Ha!)

Petite Resources...This site just list many/all places that carry petite sizes. You can look up retailers by brand, store, price, item etc..

Petite Fashionista...a blog

For Petite Sake..another blog

Alterations Needed..a blog

Paula's Petite Fashion Blog..another blog

2009-09-28T17:49:00.004-05:00

Kristen posted a blog about how she met her husband! I was around for some of this time! They are really great together, even though we don't get to see each other that often. I should haul myself out to Texas for big ole visit sometime!

I might post about how I met my husband too. I'll have to get that together and find some pictures etc.. I tell you what would be funny is a post about how you stay married..aghh you first! Kristen? Giggle giggle! Now, I know that is never going to happen in blog world! Men and women: we do make a pair don't we?! It is fun and I love Brendon! He's the best!

We are cruising along with our homeschool year. I have to say homeschool suits our family. I'm so glad we had some school experience though. Schools can be great and really suit some families. For us though, we learn so much more, and life is so much easier and simpler. We do get out a lot and and Mondays and Fridays are the only days we are truly home all day.

Last week the floods damaged the church where our homeschool class meets on Tuesdays and they can't be occupied any time soon. Churches tend to be the only places that will rent out space for one day a week, so I called eight in our area and one was very interested in an arrangement with our "school". (Alot of them run preschools so they don't have space during the week.) The most delightful thing about it is that it is virtually right across the street from my neighborhood. It will take me literally 5 minutes to get there! Tomorrow is our first day in the new facilities! Woohoo!

Did I mention that I ended up with an injury from running? It seems to be clearing up, and I might attempt a tiny little run one day this week to see what happens. I'm looking forward to running again. I know I will have to start out slowly, but I've got all winter to build up again. I really want to do another triathlon next spring..or several! It's fun for me.

My camera is still broken! ARGhhhh!

What's up with you?

Dad, Happy Birthday!

2009-09-23T19:43:00.003-05:00

Mom and Dad!

The kids wish you happy birthday too!

"School"

2009-09-14T08:20:00.003-05:00

Isabelle and Joseph go to class one day per week. A few weeks ago they had their first day of class! They began their school year at the beginning of August, and these classes began a few weeks later. They go over their liberal arts/humanties curriculum in this class. It's fun for them, and I get 5 hours in a row once a week to do what I want or need to do!

On another day they have homeschool PE at the gym ( I get my own workout in while they have PE!) and an art class in an art studio.

We also have a great piano teacher nearby and take lessons once a week as well!

It's enough to keep us quite busy!

For math Isabelle is using teaching textbooks and it really is great!

Joseph will begin to use teaching textbooks soon, but they are still working on his level.

For now we are just doing workbooks with him.

If you need some fun help with multiplication check out these resources:

Timez Attack

and Times Tales

Times Tales is so interesting and fun. It's amazing how it works!

Timez Attack just helps reinforce the facts in a very fun way.

HI!

2009-09-10T14:57:00.004-05:00

I've been a leetttle preoccupied!

Take a look at these cool headbands I saw online. Look at the video of how to tie them.

Isabelle loves headbands. I think they are messy. This might do the trick!

Happy Birthday Brendon!

2009-08-13T19:32:00.003-05:00

We celebrated Brendon's birthday today!

We made Italian Cream Cake (not Italian, no cream, but creamed cheese!)

It does taste awesome.
We sang, of course!

Blowing out the 5 candles!
(No one is only 5 in this house!)

The girl picked ripe tomatoes!

Daddy talked to his brother!

We all love you!

August

2009-08-07T07:17:00.006-05:00

SURPRISE!!!!!

Can you believe there is something new on Mommabelle????!!!

I still do not have my camera repaired, but my Mom loaned one of hers out, and so there are a few pictures to post. Not nearly as many as I would like though!

Brendon's parents were here for a 3 week visit in July! Really, Queensland is quite aways from Atlanta, so 3 weeks is not long at all when you have so much to catch up on!

We had a vacation down on the gulf for one week while they were here. The weather was so fabulous! It was nicely warm, not too hot and humid, and the wind was blowing out into the ocean so there were few to zero waves! It could not have been better!

Nanny, aka Lyn, arrived on her birthday, so a little celebration was in order to start off with!

We went putt putt golfing in FL towards the end of the week and it was truly sweltering! We only made 9 holes!

The kids taking a break from the swimming and castle making!

My girl building castles!

Lyn and Kevin relaxing!

Joseph playing in the gorgeous surf!

Lyn, Joseph and Brendon playing in the water!

Joseph snorkling!

Isabelle snorkling!

The fantastic weather and water!

It's July

2009-07-10T10:07:00.003-05:00

We have been busy and my camera is still broken! Those are a couple of excuses for not updating around here! Here are a few lines about the latest goings on:

It was so blazing hot and humid for awhile that we couldn't breath. We have had a reprieve this past week. In fact because it was so hot for awhile, I actually walk around with a sweater on these days when it's below 80*!

The kids finished up the summer league swim team season. It was a lot of fun and what's more is that most of the families that do summer swim are really nice people. We hope to have many more swim team summers.

On a sad note Brendon Grandmother passed away last week. It was a bit sudden, but she has gone to a better place.

Brendon's parents, Kevin and Lyn, were supposed to arrive here last week, but had to postpone for the above reason. They will arrive this coming Monday and be with us until the beginning of August. We will have good times!

We really enjoyed our July 4th holiday weekend with family and catching up with cousins! We look forward to next time already!

Yesterday, I caught up with one of my best friends. Our daughters were born a week apart. We don't get to see each other often enough!

Today another one of my best friends is having lunch with some of her Aunts and I'm keeping her kids. Which is fantastic really, because it keeps my kids busy all day! In other words I will not hear a word about being bored for several hours! We are having delicious frozen pizza for lunch! Ha!

This is Nana several years ago. Isabelle is on the end and Joseph in her lap.

Pickles

2009-06-20T13:15:00.004-05:00

We had a few pickling cukes already matured.

Here's one being prepared for dill pickles.

Here they are! This is a quick ferment method.

They are made with a salt brine, mustard seeds, dill (we used regular dill becauase we could not find pickling dill. We should grow our own!) and some garlic.

Next time we will use a little less salt. They sit out for two days, and then go in the fridge and last for several months. Apparently if you add in a little whey they last for 6 months.

We are having major fun with all the veggies!

(My camera is broken:(, so I'm using the little camera, and it shows in the photo quality.)

My First Triathlon!

2009-06-19T13:50:00.002-05:00

Isabelle and Joseph with me after the finish!

I have enjoyed fitness for a long time, but had a break for awhile because of the hypothryoid.

About two years ago, I got back into fitness, but this time with running.

I started with the Couch Potato to 5K program.

I enjoyed running a few 5k's, and then a running friend suggested we sign up for a triathlon!

I had to think about it for awhile, but I'm so glad I did it!

I found a 3 month training program on line that was specifically for sprint distance triathlon.

It was fun to do the training (well, most days it was fun), and then cross of the work for that specific day, and it felt like I was accomplishing something. It was really fun to train for something specific as well.

Also, my friend found a swim club that met each Friday morning, for a one hour pool workout. It was awesome! We ended up regularly swimming about 2000 meters. Having the swim coach and people to swim with made a huge difference in my swimming ability!

Our triathlon was a 400 meter swim, then a fairly long uphill run to transition. Followed by a 12 mile (20K) bike, and a 3 mile (5K) run.

My swim was 11 min (which included the run to transition)

My bike was 53 min (on Mom's mountain bike! I need a road bike at some point.)

My run was 26:57

It was great fun!
I can't wait to do another one!

Summer Happenings

2009-06-17T20:28:00.004-05:00

I totally need to catch up around here!

Tonight I turned on my camera to take pictures of the latest garden yummies, and my camera did not work! I changed the battery, and it still did not work! I'm very concerned. I put the battery back in the charger and will try again in the morning. Oh, please please work tomorrow!
Then, I took pictures with Brendons little camera and I can't get the images to upload. Oh, well!
Phooey!

Someone in this house took this photo a few weeks ago, and it very well could have been a kid! I have my morning coffee and catch up on emails and blogs. Sort of like my version of reading the newspaper! Also that counter space right there is the designated drop zone in this house and nearly impossible to keep tidy. Nearly... Oh, and my brain definetly doesn't work before that first cup of coffee kicks in...I warn you not to talk to me before then!

We have been busy with swim team. Every morning we have practice and it takes up most of the morning. By the time we get home the kids are starving, so we do lunch and then we do a little math work. We have a couple of play dates each week, go to the library one day and have a swim meet on Thursday. It's been a very pleasant summer so far!

Hopefully my camera will start working and I can post some more pictures.

Chores..Bathtime!

2009-06-03T13:55:00.002-05:00

The dogs needed a good washing, so on Saturday Brendon tackled the job!

Sarah, is shaking it off as quick as she can.

It's hilarious, because this dog actually loves to swim!

The bath is over and now she's rolling around to get dry and dirty!

Mavis had a bath before I could take a picture, but she's on alert and ready to sprint just in case we change our mind!

Garden Herbs

2009-06-02T08:36:00.003-05:00

It was time to pick some herbs and dry them!

We have basil, shown here with Isabelle, Cilantro and mint right now.

Cilantro

Joseph with his bounty!

Today's creations

2009-05-19T19:31:00.003-05:00

Joseph plays webkinz while Isabelle bakes banana bread for her teacher!

Mom!

Ok, I'll smile, but my arms are already tired from all that swimming today!

Twelve Years

2009-05-17T13:33:00.003-05:00

We went out for dinner to celebrate twelve years together!

Tasty Pasta Dish

2009-05-12T14:38:00.002-05:00

I came across this recipe on the blog Gluten Free Gobsmacked. We try to avoid gluten as much as possible. It doesn't seem to agree with most of us. However, this recipe can be made with regular wheat pasta with no problem. If you use gluten free pasta, I think Tinkyada is the best brand, hands down!

I used just canned tomotoes, because I didn't have any fresh ones in the fridge. Substituting sausage instead of ground beef. I believe they were bratwursts actually. I cooked the sausages and then cut them in half lengthwise and then into little bite size pieces. I also did not have any mozerella, so I put in half a carton of sour cream instead. It was very delicious, and made enough for two meals.

Collard Greens are in!

2009-05-12T14:21:00.002-05:00

Our garden grew some very pretty collards.

We ar going to cook these and freeze them already cooked.

There are about twice as many as you can see in the picture.

Yummy!

Mothers Day

2009-05-11T07:03:00.002-05:00

A Pretty Dress

2009-05-06T09:58:00.002-05:00

Every month the new Anthropologie catalog arrives in the mail, and I drool over it! Why do they want to charge so much for their products? Unfair! Thankfully they do not carry this particular dress in petite sizes, so I know it is never a possibility to think of buying it! I really need to get my sewing skills up to speed! It would be so fun to make these clothes, and so much easier on the budget too! My current sewing skills are, however, rather elementary.
They also have some of the cutest household items too!

Pinto Beans

2009-05-04T17:07:00.004-05:00

I was looking for a new way to prepare pinto beans. I mentioned this to my weekend cook (Brendon) and he found this recipe! I do love the traditional bowl of beans (sometimes with the sliced up sausage thrown in) and a side of cornbread, but this recipe was super tasty and worth trying. He made more than double, so we have another couple of meals in the freezer. I love extra meals that are healthy and only require heating!

A Cartoon by Joseph

2009-05-03T17:27:00.004-05:00

Potty humor reigns right now!

Rest assured he is learning his manners!

A neat blog

2009-05-01T11:31:00.002-05:00

I found out about a blog called Simple Mom via Sorta Crunchy, which is listed in my sidebar.
It has some really neat ideas in there for your home and menus etc. I don't think she means that we are "simple" though!
http://simplemom.net/
Check it out!

My dish towels stink!

2009-04-30T10:36:00.005-05:00

Do you have any good ideas or have you seen anything on the web about how to get rid of the musty smell?
At the moment my dish towels and cloths are all sitting in a heap in the garage, because I can't get the odor out!

Peanut Butter? I prefer Somosa's!!!

2009-04-30T08:50:00.000-05:00

You Are Peanut Butter Sandwiches / Do-si-dos

You are easy going and naturally happy. You don't need a lot to make you smile.
You genuinely care about people and are a great friend. You're always doing your best to make the world a better place.

Even though there isn't an immature bone in your body, you still are like a big kid sometimes.
Why make life complicated when the best parts are actually quite simple? You enjoy the small joys of life.

What'>http://www.blogthings.com/whatgirlscoutcookieareyouquiz/">What Girl Scout Cookie Are You?

We're back!

2009-04-28T14:50:00.004-05:00

We had a few relaxing days at the beach. The weather was perfect during the day. We could have sat out all day and never gotten too hot. The water was not it's usual beautiful self, like the previous post shows. The first day some algae seaweed came in and turned the water the color of tea. The next following two days were red flag, with big waves and more rip currents than normal. There was a soccer tournament going for kids about 12-14, and when they weren't playing soccer they were in the water giving the life guards fits. I've never heard so many whistles the beach. Anyway, I did not mind the water too much as the weather was so perfect, but normally I am someone who likes to get in and swim around. I don't have too many great picutres because I was lazing around so much!

Isabelle and Joseph

The first day..see the brown water?

Doing some homeschool lessons..yes it's thrilling working at the beach!

Brendon and the rascals fly the kite.

Tomorrow!

2009-04-22T16:59:00.000-05:00