my blessed life

I feel as though I'm am continually dropping all of the balls that I am juggling lately. I'm struggling to wake up in the mornings, battling some bad attitudes with my kiddos lately, falling behind on housework, not blogging as often as I would like, the list goes on.... There is just a lot on my plate right now.  And I have got to get a better grip on prioritizing and organization and time management.  Quickly. So if you're one that often reads blogs (like I used to) and thinks "that person really has it all together", don't . In blogland, we're mostly just sharing the positives in our lives (everyone already has enough negatives, right?).  But that doesn't mean that there aren't plenty of challenges to be faced as well. Each day I am asking God to give me grace and creative ideas for facing my problems and challenges.  He is so incredibly faithful to do that--if I will just ask ! If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who g...

Fall has arrived here in Kentucky!  I am so loving the cool temps, not to mention my cozy pj's and flannel sheets.  Although this morning the three aforementioned things all conspired to keep me tucked in bed longer than I planned.  I totally didn't fight it though :) But here it is--Monday--and I'm menu planning again.  It just makes my week go so much more smoothly.   Last week's plan went very well, although I still didn't get those po' boys made..ha  I'm not even going to plan on those this week.  No carry-overs this week! Monday: -Homeschool -Laundry -Run a couple of errands -Dinner: Poppy Seed Chicken with Rice, Arkansas Green Beans & Roasted Carrots Tuesday: -Homeschool -Laundry -Dinner: Moms Night Out w/my homeschool peeps (Japanese steakhouse!!) Wednesday: -Homeschool -Housework -Bible study -Dinner: Sloppy Joes with chips Thursday: -Homeschool -Wrap-up housework -Dinner: Soft Tacos, Beans & Rice Bake, C...

Another week is in the books for our homeschool for this year.  (Right now I'm doing that little brow wiping motion ...as in "whew") .  The week started off pretty rough, but ended up fairly good.  The lesson I'm taking away from this past week is that if I wake up exhausted on a rainy Monday morning again, I'm just going to roll over in bed and sleep a little longer.  Maybe all day. Since Tuesday was the first Tuesday of the month we headed over to Nashville for the evening for the free build at the Lego store.  We always enjoy those and this month even Vince got in on the action.  (Can you tell he had fun)? We finished up our week with a trip to a local farm with our homeschool group.  This farm is always so much fun and Fall is the perfect time to take it all in.  There was pumpkin "story time" with the sweet owner of the farm, rides on the lawnmower "train", plenty of climbing on hay bales, running through the corn maze, and...

Happy October!   It's time for soups and comfort foods!  I LOVE this time of the year:) We only made it through part of last week's menu plans~life happens, right?  So I'm bumping a couple of things to this week. My favorite meal from last week was Friday's homemade pizza night!  My sister came with brownies (& Cool Whip!) and we made the pizzas together (I tried it with gluten-free flour & it turned out really good!).  Then we all watched National Treasure together--it was a fun family night!  I love having my sister so nearby:) Monday: -Homeschool -Laundry -Grocery shopping -Start switching out the closets for the season -Dinner: Talapia Po' Boys with Roasted Potatoes Tuesday:  -Homeschool -Clean bathrooms -Continue switching out the closets -Lego store free build -Dinner: something cheap & fast Wednesday: -Homeschool -Dust & vacuum -Bible Study -Dinner: Tostadas Thursday: -Homeschool -Dinner: Cheese...

reading together Whew !  Another week down.  Is it still September?  This month has seemed really long to me.  It's almost over though.  I'm ready for a new month, as great as September has been.   Maybe it has just seemed long because of all of our starts and stops with school this month.  This week was really a pretty rough week.  I'm chalking it up to lots of fatigue on my behalf, a son who just. could. not. focus., and ...did I mention that I was tired?  That means my patience level was probably pretty low, too, which isn't a good addition.  I'm so glad that "tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it"!   We had a fun field trip this week to tour the LST Memorial 325 .  This ship actually landed on the beaches in Normandy on D-Day.  What a history!  We really enjoyed our tour and speaking with the veterans who were stationed throughout the ship.   with my sister before our tour Th...

This past weekend my hubby threw a party for my birthday!  He hasn't tried that in quite a few years and, frankly, it was a total blast!  Just a really good time with really good friends.  Oh--and did I mention that he cooked up quite a spread of food, too?  Well, he did!  There were three kinds of chili ( Cincinnati-style , white chili and a special new chili that I'll be sharing with you soon), and all the toppings, Cowboy Caviar (UH-mazing!!) and ranch dip with chips, pumpkin cupcakes, and the most gorgeous pumpkin birthday cake!!  Yes, we ate a lot at that party :) And now for our dinner plans for this week... Monday: Beef Vegetable Soup with Cornbread Tuesday: Vince's Chili  Wednesday: Tostadas Thursday: Pan-Fried Talapia Po' Boys  Friday: Homemade Pizza Saturday: {leftovers} This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Well, apparently I've been partying too hard to get around to posting here for a couple of days, eh?  It really has been a great birthday week for me though!  We kicked it off with dinner out with my parents who were just passing through town for a night.  It's always fun to see them, of course, we can't wait till they can move here! This week was also our first totally full week of school (after starting weekly co-op in August, having an intro week the first week of September and going on vacation last week).  It certainly had it's challenges--for me, too, not just the kiddos.   We all struggled with rising early and getting started on time.  Then there were the math issues.  Mostly the ones that involve "not liking math".  So, yes, there was some stress this week as I struggled with patience (not one of my finer points).  {sigh} We did more than just struggle with math though (thank goodness!).  We are really enjoying...