my blessed life

We are having beautiful spring weather here!   And it's hard to stay inside and stay focused on schoolwork. So we're making the most of our spring fever... yesterday school was done in our not-quite-finished treehouse. How do you handle your spring fever?  

Well, apparently I DO live in the bowling ball capitol of the world!  We are home to Ebonite International which produces 1,000,000 bowling balls a year.  Yep, a million!   Our homeschool group took a tour there this past Friday and it was SO MUCH FUN!  Really one of the best field trips we've taken.  Ebonite went above and beyond in their tour--they were well-organized, interesting and it was just the right length of time: not to short and not too long:)  (Mr. B holding a cup of the *plastic cement* that forms the core of a bowling ball) We got to see the process of making a bowling ball from start to finish...and I must say it was incredibly interesting!  I had no idea the amount of engineering that goes into creating one.  It's quite a scientific process!   ( our great tour guide, Brian) For instance, did you know that a bowling ball must be designed off-balance?  This way it will be in-balance when they dr...

 Can't believe my sweet girl turned 9 today!  I am so proud of the amazing young lady she is growing into! We had a lot of fun celebrating with her today.  Here are some of the moments that I captured: She wanted breakfast in bed...even though she was already up & dressed:) She woke up to find a ceiling fan in her room--the exact one she's been wanting from Lowe's! We spent the morning on a very cool field trip to Ebonite International learning how bowling balls are made. She chose to have her special birthday lunch with Nana & Papi at Logan's (she loves those peanuts!). I love this {rare} loving moment between brother and sister (he was almost as excited about her birthday as she was!). Her birthday "loot";) She requested finger sandwiches for her birthday party with her girlfriends so we had chicken salad and cucumber. She also requested these pink meringues. This was her birthday cake request: yellow...

I have been meaning to show you this room for months now...and it just hasn't happened.  Every time I thought to take pictures some part of the room would be a mess, you know?  But this week I finally got pictures! First of all we have to start with these gorgeous old doors: When we moved at the end of last summer we had sold our four-poster bed beforehand, wanting to buy something different that wasn't so difficult to maneuver around ceiling fans.  After shopping around and not finding anything that 1.)was in our budget or 2.) wasn't backordered for months, I told Vince I wanted to do something totally different.  I wanted to upcycle something old for a headboard.  He wasn't so sure when I started rambling about things like old doors or wrought iron gates, but the next week he was driving by our favorite *junk* store and saw this pair of doors.  We snatched them right up! Look at these beautiful door knobs on them!  And the keyholes...so pret...

This is one of my all-time favorite pies!   We made it last week for Pi Day and it was SO delicious.  It has a custard-type of filling.  I've been told that it tastes almost like pecan pie without the pecans.  I'm not a big pecan pie person, so I can't confirm that.  But maybe you would like to. Butter Chess Pie 2 cups sugar 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour 5 large eggs, lightly beaten 2/3 cup buttermilk 1/2 cup butter, melted 1 tsp. vanilla extract 1 unbaked 9" pie crust ***** Combine sugar and flour in a large bowl.  Add in the eggs and the buttermilk, blending well.  Next, stir in butter and vanilla.  Pour into the unbaked pie crust.  Bake at 350F for 45 minutes or until set (center should be set with a slight jiggle).  Cool on a wire rack.  

"I'm still standing", otherwise known as I have survived yet another insane week and am beginning another.  I just tell myself  "I'll get to rest next month....". I nearly did myself in this past week though.  It all started with staying out WAY too late with several other homeschool moms when we headed to Nashville for dinner on Thursday (we had a PF Chang's craving).  We closed that place down and I didn't get into bed until the wee hours of the morning.  I've been paying for it ever since because it's been one busy weekend:)  It's been a lot of fun though!  We've had some friends in for the weekend and have really enjoyed having them here--plus our kiddos have had lots of fun together, too. Now I'm gearing up for this week.  I'm a bit behind in my planning, dinners and lesson plans, but it'll be okay.  Wait--I just remembered that last week I planned two weeks worth of school lesson plans!  Yea me!  Now I don...

This week kicked off with a bang with our new quarter of co-op classes.  The kids had a blast with their new classes!  This quarter they have Art Appreciation, Brain Teasers, Science {fun experiments} and Etymology {the study of words}.   I am actually teaching the Art Appreciation class.  This week we made color wheels.  We talked about primary and secondary colors and mixing colors.  I think everyone enjoyed it!  For the next 5 weeks we'll be learning a little about a different artist each week and doing a project in the style of that artist.  I think it's going to be a lot of fun! The only thing I regret about this week is that I didn't take enough pictures.  I was so busy at co-op that I got no photos there at all:(  This next week will be different though--I have assigned a photographer.   (Vince & The Princess going out on a daddy/daughter date) We stayed busy on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with s...