From the Heart of an 8-Year-Old

So...just picking up where I left off, but adding in the tiny detail that I've had a positive pregnancy test since then. Not covering the spiritual and emotional upheaval and ultimate peace by taking it day by day.

We're keeping our little Doodle-Bug in the dark, as she's gone down this road with us and if I can spare her a broken heart, I will. I am, however, thinking trepidatiously about names. I've talked to Lil O about names we like for general purposes.

I don't want to forget her suggestions:

Rosella - from a Barbie movie
Arianna - also from a Barbie movie
Margaret - from Little Women
Antonio - from a Barbie movie

Let's just say I am thankful she's not into watching Barney any more : )

Just Like My Eggs...

I am scrambling this week! As a homeschool mom, I don't think I really like holidays on a Monday. Usually, Monday is our stay-at-home, do laundry day. Kinda eases me into the week.

This Monday, however, we were recovering from a weekend away at a Bible conference and Mr. Wonderful was home with us all day Monday. (This is a good thing!)

So I woke up today, hit the ground running, and - insert 2 hour interruption here - haven't stopped since.

I do, however, want to document my menus because it is sooo beneficial!

Tonight we had: Mini hamburgers w/carmelized onions, corn, and potato salad. Where's the green? I know! This is ANOTHER reason why it's important for me to plan more than 30 minutes ahead of time!

Wednesday: Salad, Stuffed Green Peppers

Thursday: Spaghetti and Meatballs (I hope to make the meatballs tomorrow) and salad

Friday: Hmmmm...Chicken breasts on the grill, salad, corn, rosemary bread

Saturday: Turkey sandwiches, potato salad

Fun Fun Fun!

We are on day 3 of school and having lots of fun! A new thing I'm doing is putting schoolwork into 'workboxes' or a tower of drawers in our case ; )

The benefits are many:

O loves the excitement of seeing what is in each box
She knows how much more school is left so she doesn't dawdle as much
My planning is more focused and her activities are varied
Since we have 10 boxes to fill each day, I am putting in fun 'extra' activities like games, crafts, etc.

Here are some pictures - with much thanks to all the blogs I read on WTM forum, and especially Tink for all the helpful hints ~ she is my new friend in laminating : )


This is the chart where she places the number after she is finished with that box.

Pulling off the laminated, velcroed number. I can't begin to tell you how much fun all of these 'gadgets' are for me!!

The Workbox tower and our books for this year. I am only putting books we are using THIS YEAR on this shelf. Right now, the rest of the enormous stack is outside the school room on the floor ~ NOT to be photographed : )

Where all the 'magic' happens... ; ) This is O's chair. I scooch my chair to the other side when we are doing grammar, narration, writing or anything else we do together.

Wordless Wednesday

This Week's Meal Plan

Monday: Tuna Noodle Casserole

Tuesday: Sloppy Joes, oven baked french fries, carrot sticks

Wednesday: Southwestern Pork Chops with southwest relish

Thursday: Lemon Arugula Chicken Paillard

Friday: Dinner out

Saturday: Pulled brisket sandwiches, potato salad, carrots

Meal Plan Monday

Monday: Grilled Chicken Breasts (marinated in Italian salad dressing), black&white bean salad with yellow peppers, olives, tomatoes, fresh basil and feta. hmm...maybe some sauteed spinach also to put under the chicken and garlic bread.

Tuesday: Tortellini with Bacon, Greens and Browned Butter, sliced tomatoes

Wednesday: Barbecue Beef Sandwiches (already in the freezer - laaaaaaaa!), coleslaw, potato salad

Thursday: My Sister's Mushroom Burgers (MSMB!). Ground beef, chopped up mushrooms, garlic, worcestershire, salt, chopped bacon - all mixed together and onto the grill. Can't WAIT to try these!! Corn, either on the cob or Pioneer Woman's baked corn casserole.

Friday: Pizza

Saturday: BRISKET! We bought a grill/smoker over the weekend for Mr. Wonderful. His birthday is coming up soon!

Coffee, Laundry, Little House, Repeat...

What's the 4th of July without a red, white and blue dessert?!

Our day started out by relaxing at home. We watched movies on Turner Classic Movies about the Revolutionary War, drank our coffee, and I gave Warren a hair cut. In the afternoon, we went to an outdoor Heritage Days festival.

You know, in the past week I've thought to myself "Hey! I think I'm acclamating to this Texas summer heat - I really don't seem to mind it as much". Well, Self, it's easy to think that when you are at the pool in the morning, and in the house all afternoon, because, baby, it is HOOOOOOOT and I was feelin' it!

We stayed at the festival long enough to visit with some of Warren's co-workers, drink 3 bottles of water, eat one shaved ice and 2 ice cream cookies. On the way home, we stopped at HEB, where I was happy to see they had an ENORMOUS display of strawberries and blueberries. Finally, at home and out of the heat, we (literally) thanked God for air conditioning and started putting the dessert together.

O had sooo much fun rinsing the berries, drying them, sorting - both by size and by color, taste testing, planning exactly how she would arrange them on the fruit pizza. It was well worth the effort of squeezing that sugar cookie dough out of its plastic tube and into a 9x13 pan.

On the 3rd we went to the Wimberly VFW Rodeo. This is a CPRA sanctioned rodeo, and you don't know how proud I am that I know what that acronym means!! (Cowboy Professional Rodeo Association - I had to work pretty hard to remember it.)

These are the Flag Ladies - at least that is what I call them. I'm sure they have much niftier and appropriate names. These ladies ride out with the American and Texas flag, and then stay still in the middle while the National Anthem is sung. Then, when the soloist (who was a great singer, and cute in her shorts and cowgirl boots!) starts singing the last line "O say does that star spangled banner yet wave...o'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave" the gal with the American flag spurs her horse and she starts riding around the edge of the area as fast as she can. The flag is waving, the music is at a crescendo, and a BIG lump came up in my throat. When the last note finished, I looked at Warren through teary eyes, and said "Wow - Happy 4th". (I have the gift of words, ya know! ha ha)

Olivia with her pink cotton candy. I don't see how she could eat it when we were sitting in the setting sun which was still 102 degrees, but she managed. We brought a cooler, and I drank lots of LaCroix and bottled water, and Warren of course, showed his Texas patriotism by drinking his fair share of Dr. Pepper.

OH! And we stopped at Bush's Fried Chicken on the way down to pick up iced tea - they make the BEST sweet tea, and have Sonic-type ice. For $.99 they also have a chicken tender sandwich, which is just one of their great chicken tenders on a tastes-like-homemade white soft bun. That was a GREAT find!

It was a good, but different, 4th of July. The pangs of missing family and friends in Ohio are still so strong, especially on holidays. We are here, though, being stretched and grown in new ways, and even though the stretching parts hurt, I know it is good for me.

Today, O and I are watching Little House on the Prairie and getting the house back in order. This weekend seemed soooo relaxing when I wasn't loading the dishwasher and piling dirty clothes into the laundry room...time to pay the piper now!