Extra in The Ordinary

I am horrible at scrap booking, but apparently I'm an ok blogger. I'm just going to go with it! Maybe one day someone will print my blog out, and the world will have a hard copy. Here's a few family memories that we can hang on to from January 2020 Punkin's birthday was the big event. She turned 12! She is finally allowed to wear powder and lip gloss. Homemade cake is pretty much all we do these days. It's fun to make and costs about $5 rather than the $30 store bought options. Home schoolers have to save $! We also have more time for fun projects like making a cake.  For her birthday Adi got a mall shopping spree with her friend from Dry Creek camp. We also got her a few small gifts. She got a bag to use as a Bible bag, gummy bears, and a smurf board game with Pez. Mall time with friends was her favorite part! That's a big gummy bear! Bella also had strep, which was terrible and she was in a lot of pain. That was all befor

A couple of weeks ago, for spring break, we went to Arkansas and wound up climbing a mountain (Pinnacle Mountain). !! This is not something I would typically think of during vacation, but my sweet sister in law was kind enough to let us know the mountain was there, and offered for us all to go together there for the day. I was wanting some sort of workout, and I figured the view would be amazing, so why not? The small kids (including our youngest) and the SIL stayed at the base of the mountain while we went up. It was not a super hard mountain to climb, but it WAS a little bit challenging if it was your first mountain to climb and you had on bluejeans, trying to keep up with a few people that are WAY younger than you. My legs burned and I was out of breath. I kept going. The view got better and better. My shoes were also not ideal for the rocky path, but I kept going. It was a really fun experience to get to the top with the husband and one daughter, and a few friends. I will s

As a home school mom, I'm in my brain a lot. I'm planning, and I'm thinking about school subjects the girls need to learn.  They say as a home school teacher you are the lead learner, so I spend time re-learning with them. Sometimes it's math or spelling or whatever. It's always interesting, and I love it (the re-earning process). My favorite is history, because I have forgotten a lot of the details. In all fairness, though, it's not exactly new information, so there are not a lot of show stoppers. However, this week, I came across some information that stopped me in my tracks. My jaw dropped. It's not about history. It's a current event.  Well, it's a current fact. According to recent information, the average attention span is down to 8 seconds. Yes, 8 seconds. Well, actually, it may be less by now. This was a couple of years ago. But let's just assume that we can still focus for 8 seconds. My question is, is 8 seconds long enough to th

 2018 Family Photo I grew up with some pretty great Christmases, but Christmas at our house is even better. My husband grew up with a Christmas queen of a mom and an Aunt that likes to spoil all of us. Before we even got married they taught me that presents aren't to be torn into all at once. You hand them out one by one, then you go around the room giving everyone the opportunity to open one at a time while everyone else watches. At first, with my impatient nature, I thought this would take way too long. About half way through the first 3-4 hour ordeal I was sure I was right. But, by the end when you've witnessed so many smiles and "ooooohs" and "aaaaahs", you just can't help but be glad you slowed down to savor the moment. We have been doing Christmas at our house this way for 15 years. Now we have a 10 year old and a 13 year old, so Christmas is even better. They are too old to believe in Santa Clause, but they are not too old to love the hol

Have you ever set a resolution, only to have it turn into a dis-illusion by March? Me, too. That's why I set goals rather than resolutions. Sure, I may jot down a word that I want to focus on for the year, something like "love" or "grace"., but I don't obsess over resolutions- type ideas. I pray about it, but I have learned not to obsess. But when it comes to productivity and actually getting things done....I LOVE goal setting. It fires me up. I'm not competitive with anyone else....mostly myself. Time runs out. I'm reminded that there are only 24 hours in a day. I become human at about 9:30 pm when it's time to wind down for bed. But it never fails. If I write goals and stay focused with daily to do lists then I get more done.  I've come to learn that, for me at least..... .....a good life is partly the result of the enthusiastic tackling of a worthwhile to-do list . I may only get 2-3 things done today, but because I have s

After working full time for 13 years, always dropping my girls off at either school or daycare, and not seeing them until abut 9 hours later, today, I'm not. Today, I realize, I'm at a coffee shop at 10am on  a Thursday. I could never do that before. Normally I'd be in a meeting, gladly brain storming the best best way for the company to make more money. Business is in my blood. I liked it. But today, I'm not. I didn't like leaving my kids all the time. So, after 13 years of waking up around 4:30am and only having 2 hours or less with my kids in the evening, today I'm in a different situation. Today,  I dropped them off for a 2 hour, once a week art class. It's the only place I have to "drop them off" to this week, because now I'm a stay at home mom. Soon I'll pick them up and we will eat lunch together. Not a rushed dinner. We don't have to skip the details of their day. I have time to talk to them. I know their hopes and dream