my blessed life

We had THE MOST FUN yesterday at The Wild Things Farm in Pocola , OK! And we almost didn't. Our homeschool group had this field trip planned for several weeks and then it turned out to be a Very.Rainy.Day. Very . So, being the neat-freak that I am and not enjoying being damp in my clothing, decided that maybe that meant our field trip was cancelled, or at least postponed. But when our fearless leader said *Come on anyway and enjoy the mud!*, I thought *Well, maybe...* It really wasn't cold, just wet. Because wet AND cold would've definitely been a deal breaker:) So...we went for it. And I'm so glad we did! Even though my jeans were soaked and caked with mud all the way to the knees by the time we left and the kids were soaked to the skin from jumping in puddles. It was totally worth it! A day we will always remember. On the hayride Lovely, even on a wet, gray day On a mission in the corn maze Picking some corn along the way Choosing just the right pumpkin The perfec...

Last week was not such a great week dinner-wise. My hubby went out of town on Wednesday and the kiddos and I were still sick, so dinners were less-than-spectacular. I didn't feel like cooking and they didn't like anything anyway. haha I have higher hopes for this week though. Tonight got us off to a good start~we had baked potatoes with all the toppings that I could round up from the fridge: butter, sour cream, cheese, bacon, bbq .... Luckily my kiddos love baked potatoes! It's going to be a busy week, so I've got to stay on top of things! Tomorrow is our field trip to the local pumpkin patch, Wednesday I have my lovely annual doctor's visit, Thursday I'm going with my mom and sister to NW Arkansas to the most awesome arts and crafts fair, Friday its back to co-op classes, then I think we actually have nothing planned for Saturday, although I'm sure we'll think of some thing. So here's what's cookin '... Monday: Baked potatoes with lots of...

Yea! The weekend is almost here. That means this veerrryyy looonnnggg week is almost over. I couldn't be happier! Last Sunday I woke up feeling like I had a nasty cold coming on. By naptime (every Sunday afternoon is naptime for everyone in our house:) I was really feeling it. By that night, I knew it was going to get worse. I woke up pretty sick on Monday morning. My sweet hubby let me stay in bed most of the day~there are perks to having your husband work from the home:) Monday was the worst of it though and I have been slowly, but progressively getting better all through the week. I don't know if it was the swine flu, but the symptoms were there. Actually, swine flu symptoms are the same as any other flu symptoms. By Wednesday, my kiddos were starting to show symptoms of catching it, unfortunately. They haven't been anywhere nearly as sick as I was, but a little nausea, a touch of diarrhea , some low-grade fever makes for some not-so-happy kiddos. This morning every...

Here is a fun alphabet letter project that my preschool-age son enjoyed this week. It's great for upper case/lower case letter recognition and also for fine motor skills. I got this fun idea from Playful Learning ~ the chart is here for downloading. I am loving this site, by the way! I can't wait to browse through it entirely for more great resources. After I printed off the chart for the upper case alphabet letters, I got out a stack of magazines that were headed for recycling, a pair of childrens' scissors and some stick glue. Then my son got busy searching through the magazines for the letters. He had so much fun cutting out the letters, then gluing them onto the chart. I have to say, I felt a little bad that I hadn't let him use the scissors more before now, because he was a little rusty on how to use them properly. He's just so *all boy* that I've been a little afraid of what might happen if he got a hold of scissors-ha! But he got the hang of the...

Here we go with that whole accountability thing again! The Inspired Room is hosting a *Procrastinator's Party* starting today. I thought it was the perfect time to commit to finally going through/organizing/sorting all of the millions of art projects, drawings, and coloring sheets that I am absolutely drowning in. I thought I was on the right track by fixing up these storage bins for each of them. Then my mom got them these adorable art folders for them last Christmas~that I have yet to file a single thing in. Now I have these piles everywhere that are driving me NUTS!! Something has to be done about it! So I'm commiting to getting it done. Hopefully within the time frame allotted by The Inspired Room. If you've got a project that you've been putting off, maybe you should link up there, too! Wish me luck!

I'm a little late in the day doing this post, but I'll be honest, I just rolled out of bed. I have some kind of horrible head and chest crud along with a lovely fever. My sweet hubby let me stay in bed all morning~bless him! I think the fever has finally broken so now I am actually feeling like being upright again. Moms just don't have time to be sick, right? Especially homeschooling ones. But since Vince went even further and took the kiddos with him for his lunch appointment, I thought I'd relax at the computer:) So....today's *Friend Makin' Monday* topic is: What are your hobbies? What do you wish that you knew how to do? I assume we're talkin' besides blogging, right? lol My hobbies are... Reading Stamping (as in, wooden stamps, not stamp collecting:) cooking antiquing photography I wish I knew how to... take professional-looking photos sew What about YOU? I'd love to hear your thoughts! This post is linked to Friend Makin' Monday at {aefi...

I know it seems like I'm going to a lot of *festivals* and *fairs* lately, doesn't it? Its just that time of the year and I LOVE it! I mean, what's not to love about crisp Fall weather while munching on delicacies like caramel apples, funnel cake, kettle corn, cinnamon sugar roasted almonds... You get the idea. This weekend we drove up to NW Arkansas for their apple festival. One of my favorite drives is going up through the Boston Mountains. The leaves aren't at their peak here yet, but they are just starting to turn. And I also love driving through the farmland. I think a field of fresh bales of hay is picturesque. The apple festival was in the tiny town of Lincoln. We munched on fresh apples slices and sampled apple cider...mmmm. After we got back home with our apples, it was time to make caramel apples. I've never made them before, but my husband has good memories of making them with his family when he was young. So I thought it would be a fun for us to try ou...