house vs. a home

I recently read this book & LOVED it. What instantly drew me to The Nesting Place was the topic of decorating + the beautiful pictures throughout. I believe life has suppressed a lot of my decorating creativity the last few years ... and that's okay. It's the season of life with little kids & a tight budget. I'm certainly content & happy with our home, but I've wanted it to reflect my style more [which has changed over the years] ... and suit the needs of our family better.

What's great about this book is that it not only offers great decorating tips that won't exhaust the bank account. Myquillin [the adorable author ... I wish I knew how to pronounce her name correctly!] also shares so much wisdom on making your house a home. Here are just a few of the things I learned & don't want to forget:

1. I need to stop apologizing for the state of our home whenever it's clearly cluttered with legos & pretzel crumbs... "Imperfections bear witness to the fact that we are normal, approachable, real people."
2. I need to consider the true purpose of our rooms when re-decorating... "I get to decide what would work best for our family right now."
3. I need to take more risks... "The key to creating a beautiful home isn't knowing what you are doing; it's taking a risk even if you don't know what you are doing. There is no wrong way to create beauty."

going back...

Last month we traveled to Athens, Georgia, for a fun family wedding. I LOVE that city. Athens is the place I lived for three years after I transferred to UGA in the summer of '98; the place I lived the majority of my long-distance relationship with Gus before we married; the place I saw a lot of great bands; the place I became hooked on running; the place I spent hours and hours at a drafting table [and realized I didn't love that aspect of my major]; the only place I have ever lived with no roommates; the place I never once attended a football game [I still don't know why exactly because I loved that Georgia was a big football school when I applied for admission.]; the place I discovered that I did in fact love the speech class that I put off taking until senior year because I was scarred from a speech back in high school; the place that made me realize that Fall is my very favorite time of year ... I could go on and on. The great memories & friendships that resulted from my UGA college days made it so fun going back and showing the kids around :)

I lived downtown in the building below my last 2 years @ Georgia, which is directly across the street from campus. I had forgotten how beautiful the campus is... we had the best time walking around & exploring.

[Dawson Hall - the building I basically lived in for my Furnishings & Interiors degree] 

I am such a thinker ... I'm the person who will try to imagine what it would be like to live in a certain time period or an old home, so I couldn't walk around campus without picturing myself back then having no clue what my future would really look like. I dreamed so much about marrying Gus while I was in Athens, but I never imagined we would have 3 boys and a little girl. I couldn't help but feel so incredibly blessed. Blessed to have gone to UGA in the first place, blessed to have such fond memories & blessed to have 4 little crazy kids to share them with.

classical conversations: what is it?

I receive a decent amount of questions about our homeschool group. Truthfully, it took me some time to really figure it out myself ... so I completely understand the puzzled looks :)

As the name implies, Classical Conversations [aka: CC] uses the classical model of education. There are 3 levels of learning, [Foundations, Essentials & Challenge] and they all build on one another. In Foundations, [the elementary years] students memorize a bunch of short facts from six different subjects: Latin, History/timeline, Math, Geography, Science & English Grammar. This is called their weekly memory work, and new facts in each subject are presented/learned each week... so it's a lot of memorizing in a short amount of time. However, the early years are perfect for this style of learning - it's a time in life when it's so easy to memorize! [especially when most of the memory work is in song form] Later on in Essentials, [middle years] students begin to understand all the facts they learned in Foundations... and finally, in Challenge, [upper years] students learn how to explain & apply all of their knowledge from the previous levels.

In addition to the weekly memory work, CC provides Fine Arts education. Students enjoy six weeks of learning in each of these areas: Drawing, Tin Whistle, Art/Art History and Music/Composers. CC clearly offers a lot, but it's still only part of the boys' education... at home we add in Spelling, Reading, Writing & more Math.

This is our 4th year with CC ... we started when Matthew was in Kindergarten, Hudson was 3, Eli was 1 and I was pregnant with Hollis. It was an interesting year! At that time, there was only 1 location in Tallahassee. The following year there were 2 locations, and at this point there are 4. Once locations max out, another has to open up [provided there is someone to direct it] to accommodate more families. From what I understand, the growth in this area is tremendous since Tallahassee isn't all that big.

Each CC meets one day a week - our group happens to meet on Mondays. We meet from Labor Day to Thanksgiving, have a long winter break and then meet again from January to April... 24 weeks total. That's obviously less than half of the year, but we school at home in between. In fact, we school year-round @ our house. That way when someone is sick, we go on vacation or we just want a break, we don't get behind. This also allows us to stretch out school work, so we aren't schooling for hours and hours each day... Perfect for this stage in our life with little ones :)

Here's what I love about CC: [in no particular order]
1. the classroom experience with a different teacher [other than myself!]
2. our directors [They are top-notch.]
3. our regular "mom's night out" where we can visit without interruptions :)
4. the monthly field trips [Even if we can't participate, to have that planning off my plate is huge.]
5. the nursery/pre-school workers ... Eli & Hollis are so loved & well taken care of.
6. the weekly requirements that "push" the boys ... presentations, map drawing, reciting bible verses, memory work, etc.
7. the treasured friendships I've gained [and those I'm enjoying getting to know better]
8. the accountability
9. the motto: "to know God and make Him known"
10. the curriculum

Mrs. Wilson's class posing with their vertebrae models they made.



 Gotta take a silly photo with this group of boys :)

 

Matthew and his partner interviewing each other, so they

are prepared to introduce one another to the rest of the class.

chocolate chip zucchini bread.

 

I know the title of this probably doesn't sound too appetizing, but it IS yum!

We had it for breakfast this week. Some liked it more than others,

but everyone ate it. That in itself equals success in our house :)

 

Wisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl [minus the chocolate chips].

 

1 cup almond flour

1/2 cup chocolate protein

1.5 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt  

 

Wisk together the wet ingredients in a small bowl [minus the zucchini].

 

1 egg

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

 

Combine the two bowls and stir until completely incorporated. Add in 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips  & 1 cup grated zucchini [one medium-sized]. Be sure and peel the zucchini before you grate it to avoid your secret ingredient from being exposed!     
Stir, pour in sprayed loaf pan and bake 25-30 minutes @ 350 degrees.

I can't take credit for this recipe. The original recipe can be found HERE. [good thing it's still "technically" summer for this summertime veggie recipe!] I modified it a teeny bit after I made it the first time... the boys didn't like the cinnamon "smell" & the cacao chips I used are pretty bitter, so I added an extra tablespoon of brown sugar to compensate. Enjoy! Next week I'm going to try this in muffin form and see how that goes...

no mistake.

The other night we had an @ home date night with a movie & my favorite super healthy dinner... chips, velveeta & rotel :) I kept hearing how funny this movie was, so I had been looking forward to renting it. It was really funny, but it caught me by surprise big time. I was not expecting it to hit home as much as it did. But then again, it was perfect timing with how I had been feeling the week before.

I'll rewind a bit ... that week was a great week in a lot of ways. Our first days of school went really well. The kids worked hard and we enjoyed some new ways of learning that I had fun planning out. Regardless, my week had some major challenges as well ... when the boys would not listen to me no matter how loudly I yelled to override their unbelievable focus on making each other laugh instead of paying attention to my instruction; when I felt like every 60 seconds someone needed something... and I was not in the mood to be interrupted; when it seemed like someone was either whining, crying, yelling or all three every 5 minutes ... it was pretty rough at times.

What I just described can be the norm on any given day in any household with children. I get that. But the hardest part for me was how defeated I felt & all the thoughts that were going through my head... how incapable I felt to be the mother of these little people... what was God thinking putting me in charge of these 4 when I am clearly not being the mother they need me to be, much less the mother I really desire to be? I've certainly had bad days just like any other mom, but this took the cake.

So fast forward a few days to our date night... I was really looking forward to a simple night - a comedy & some good dip. I had no idea I was in for something "deep" instead. I related to the main character, Ally, pretty much immediately. She struggled so much because she knew she was living out her dream [when I was a little girl, all I ever dreamed about was being a wife & mom too], yet couldn't understand why she felt the way she did. By the end of the movie I was in tears because of this quote said to her from a tough guy with a huge heart played by Trace Adkins: "I doubt the good Lord made a mistake giving your kiddos the mom he did." I'm sure this sounds pretty crazy to some, but I know God used that movie to encourage me - I needed to hear those words.

The truth is I do not have what it takes to be the mom I desire to be. I'm way too selfish, impatient & unkind @ times ... and I lack self-control much more then I would love to admit. Just like with most good movies though, thankfully there is a happy ending here. When [keyword] I focus my eyes on the only One who can supply my needs, my days look much different. There may still be rowdy, whiny & disobedient children all around me, but I'm not consumed by it. The change isn't them... it's ME.
"Seek the Lord and his strength. Seek his presence continually." [Psalm 105:4]
"Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." [Psalm 37:4]

thirteen years ago...

I was 23 years old... driving on I-10 on my way back home to Quincy from seeing Gus in Jacksonville. I heard the news on the radio long before I was able to see any footage on TV. I remember once I finally got back home all I did was either watch the news or talk on the phone about what had happened until I fell asleep that night. What a day.

The personal element of 9/11 for me was that my parents were in Washington D.C. when everything happened. I remember telling Mom & Dad I wanted them to come home now... check out of their hotel and figure out a way to drive home NOW. Like that was possible. The one thing Dad told me that day to encourage me was that they were in the safest city in the United States at that point. He was right. Protection over our great country's capital had come in at full force.

One of my favorite images from that day [doesn't seem right to call it "favorite"] is the footage of President George W. Bush finding out the unbelievably tragic news as he was reading to some school children in Florida. I can't imagine what that was like for him to have to keep his composure for the sake of those children. He handled it beautifully.

Back to yesterday... We told the boys a little bit about the significance of the day & had some craft time in honor of September 11th, 2001.

Even though 9/11 is such a tragic day for our country and

there is so much evil in the world, this verse encourages me...

"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." John 16:33

 

first day of school!

It's official ... we have a 3rd grader, a 1st grader and two pre-schoolers in the house!!

and now for the out-take... Hollis was not feeling too secure on that chair :(

The kids look like the stereotypical homeschoolers in pajamas & a diaper [and we definitely do uphold that stereotype some days!], but I must say these were taken after our first day of CC on Wednesday... it was a hot & sweaty day on the playground, so these photos were taken right after baths as soon as we got home :)

 

Here was our actual "first" day of school on Tuesday. Hollis got to check out her school things first while the boys were anxiously waiting on me to set up their surprise school supplies!

 The big boys randomly decided to be George Washington with their pajama bottom wigs :)

Tuesday was also Matthew's first day of art class! Last year he took Mixed Media - this year he's taking Drawing, and he loves it.