Coming Off of Vacation

(in Put-in-Bay, OH)

I feel as though I dropped of the face of the virtual world this past week. Well, really this whole month so far. This past week though I have not had time to blog at all, even though the thoughts are swirling around in my head. If you follow my tweets (and you should, right? just kidding;) then you may have been keeping up with our comings and goings.

We have been on family vacation! Whoo hoo!

And it's really been a lot of fun. We really haven't been on a true vacation in about three years and this was the first one we've been on that's just been the four of us (no extended family). And while we do love our extended family and enjoy traveling with them, it has been fun with *just us* this time around.

We started off last weekend by driving to Tennessee where Vince spoke in the Sunday morning service at a church there. Then after lunch with our pastor friends there, we changed into traveling clothes and took off!

Since then we've spent nights in Louisville, KY, Sandusky, OH and Chicago, IL. We've stayed in a total of 4 hotel rooms and 1 cabin. And we've eaten in all kinds of places and seen all kinds of sights.

It's been a great trip!

Tonight I am blogging from Chicago as we get ready to head home in the morning. (And I must say that after spending what felt like half of our time here sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic, I am ready to head back to my small town! I do love the big city, but the traffic is for the birds.)

I'm looking forward to getting back to our new home and preparing for our first Sunday~and life!~ as pastors, finish unpacking boxes, painting rooms, organizing my kitchen, getting my lesson plans done for homeschool...the list goes on and on.

But I just wanted to drop in and say *hi* to you all, my blogland friends. I have missed you:) We should have internet up and running when we get back home (yea!!) and I will be back in my groove!

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat ...

One Way I Refresh During the Summer as a Homeschool Mom

As our homeschool takes some time off this summer, my mind almost never stops thinking of and planning ahead for the upcoming school year. This is probably because I'm Type A and an obsessive planner...lol Whatever the reason, I do enjoy this season of planning. But I also need to be refreshed as a homeschool mom. Homeschooling can be incredibly exhausting and all-consuming. It's not easy and it's a lot of responsibility. And I take that very seriously when I am researching curriculum and planning toward the next school year. So also taking some time to rejuvenate and refocus myself is very important. How do I do this? Each summer I take some time to read something inspiring and motivating that speaks to me as a homeschool mom. Some of my fave reads from past years--that I have nearby on my shelf and refer to often--are Educating the Wholehearted Child, The Well-Trained Mind, The Charlotte Mason Companion, A T...

Arkansas' Crimson Clover

One of my favorite things about Spring is the crimson clover that grows along the highways and interstates here in Arkansas. I say Arkansas because this is where I first grew to love it. We actually saw some in Mississippi on our way here and I saw it in our town in Alabama for the first time this year. But it spreads like that, each year it grows and looks even more beautiful. I'm not sure who decided to plant it in the medians of the interstates , but it was genius! It seeds itself and just comes back more lush the next year. I always want to take pictures, but of course it's almost always in the median of a very busy interstate~which is a little dangerous for photography. However, the other day I found the perfect patch of it on the side of a not-too-busy highway, so Vince obliged me and pulled over:) Isn't it beautiful? I just had to share it with you...

my blessed life

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