Tonight my little man and I made a batch of brownies. 

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First, he read the recipe.  He helped measure and add each ingredient.  Then he counted to 50 as he stirred the batter.  He was understandably let down when I told him they would take 30 minutes to bake.  But, he waited patiently... watching the timer very closely. 

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I just wish I had taken a photo of him enjoying them!

We've had a bit of a delay in starting school this fall.  We had planned to start two weeks ago, but due to a few things beyond my control, we had to put it off until this week.  What was such a big deal that it was out of my control?  This right here:

We made the decision in mid-June to put our house on the market.  With all the renovations that needed to be done before we could even put a sign in the yard, we were pretty much busy non-stop through July and the first weeks of August.  The original "to-do" list was about 5 pages long, including things such as:

• paint (every... single... room...)
• paint all doors and trim.
• refinish kitchen and bathroom cabinets.
• regrout and caulk around tub/shower.
• install tile backsplash in kitchen.
• weather proof back porch.
• put fence back up (that we took down 5 years ago when we added on).
• replace bathroom vanity lights.
• install under cabinet lighting in kitchen.
• scrub gutters and downspouts.
• refresh landscaping.

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What it turned in to was much more.  Little projects turned into big projects, like when paint didn't match the original wall color, so instead of touch-up painting... we had to paint the entire wall.  While painting the entire wall, we found a moldy spot under the air conditioning unit.  So, we had to cut the drywall out, repair the leak in the a/c unit, then replace the drywall... patch, and repaint.  It seemed that so many of our "little jobs" turned out that way!  So, a two week project turned into an almost two month project. 

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Last weekend, we made it official and put the sign in the yard.  So did we start school right away?  Nope.  We went to basketball camp.  Our homeschool group hosted a basketball camp and my two younger ones wanted to go.  So, we postponed school for a few more days and went to play some ball!  (And of course, they loved it!) 

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Now, the house is finished; basketball camp is over; and tomorrow - we start school!  Can't wait!

'Cause I can't remember - it's been too long since I've seen it around here.  Seriously.  Tomorrow will be the first day in a very long time that we haven't had something out of the ordinary to do.  Well, unless you count going to the dentist, 'cause I think we'll have to do that tomorrow.  My youngest has some sort of something funky going on with one of his teeth, and I will probably end up in the dentist's office just to have it looked at and make sure it's nothing serious.  You really don't want to know more than that.  Trust me - it's gross. 

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Anyway... moving on.  "Normal" seems so abnormal to me that I'm not even sure where to start.  There's laundry to catch up on... mega cleaning to do... and let's not even talk about the schoolwork needing done.  Why?  Well, let's rewind a bit and I'll explain.  I've posted in the past about my family's interest in community theater.  A few months ago, we became aware of a local community production of The Miracle Worker.  Immediately, my daughter began plotting her audition.  She has been fascinated with the story of Helen Keller (as portrayed in The Miracle Worker) since we first studied about her almost 3 years ago.  My husband and I were hesitant to let her audition, partly because we didn't think that she would get the part, but also because we weren't sure we were up to the commitment of time it would take if she did get cast. 

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Well, the auditions were held, and my little girl got up there and gave it her best shot.  And we waited.  She told herself over and over again that she would not get the part, just so she didn't get her hopes up.  Monday rolled around and we went to our homeschool co-op classes, which is where we were when the cast list was put up.  My husband was keeping an eye on the website where the cast list was to be posted, and he let me know as soon as it was up.  Much to our surprise,

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SHE GOT THE PART! 

Our little girl was cast as Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker! 

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To say we were "proud" would be an understatement.  We were overwhelmingly proud and excited for her to have such an opportunity.  And, we were not quite ready for the whirlwind of activity that was about to take over our lives, either!  To make a long story short - many rehearsals, costume work, and lots of late nights later... and we had ourselves a wonderful production. 

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The last of 8 shows was last Monday night.  Then, Wednesday we took off for a quick vacation.  So now... it's all come to a sudden halt.  So what will we do with ourselves now?  Hmmmm....

Yesterday was a gorgeous day here in Arkansas and my 3 children spent the afternoon playing outside with their cousins who are out on spring break this week.  The two little boys were adequately dirty, which is always a good indication that lots of fun was had. 

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Last night, I allowed the kids to eat their dinner in the living room while watching a movie.  I was in the kitchen cleaning up when my youngest came in with a rather disgusted look on his face.  He said, "How do worms eat that stuff?"  I had no idea what he was talking about, until he showed me his hands.  I had neglected to tell him to "wash up" before dinner, and he still had dirt caked on his hands from playing outside.  Evidently, he managed to get some of it in his mouth for a little taste!  Ick! 

I have been informed numerous times that I need to update my blog.  And, seeing as how I haven't written anything since CHRISTMAS... I suppose I probably should update before the people at HSB go in and delete it altogether. 

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So, what can I say, after 3 long months of silence?  I mean, I've been kinda busy, it's true... but still, that's no excuse for not saying a single word.  And I apologize for that.  So, let me just share what's been going on here lately.  And, if you see any typos, chalk them up to the fact that I have a very sore finger that is not wanting to cooperate with me.

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Let's see - Christmas was great...had family in from Ohio and the kids all had a ball with their cousins.  All of the children got money from their grandparents.  My kids chose to buy new pets with their money - specifically: hamsters.  That was a first for us, and it has been an adventure, let me tell ya!  Those little things might be small and have brains the size of a pea, but they are smart!  They have managed to escape so many times... it is unreal. 

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January was uneventful, for the most part, at least until the very last week when we were hit with a major ice storm.  It pretty much turned our town on its ear for a few weeks.  And, since my husband works for the city utility company, he was working about 100 hours a week during that time.  It was difficult having him gone.  A positive note, however, was that some friends of ours came to stay with us for a week because they had no power at their house.  I enjoyed spending time with my best friend and her sweet babies!  If you have to endure the aftermath of an ice storm, it's much more tolerable with good friends and cute kids.

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In February, we celebrated our daughter's 10th birthday.  Nothing major, since there was still so much going on with the ice storm aftermath.  We basically went to dinner at Chili's with some of our family.  Later in the month, she did have a friend over for a sleepover as sort of a late birthday party, which was a celebration enough for her.  We were supposed to start back up with our homeschool co-op in February, but again, the ice storm caused some delays.  The church that allows our group to use its facilities ended up being used as housing for out-of-state utility workers until nearly the end of the month.  So, co-op classes were postponed until March.

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March has brought some new endeavors my way.  For one, I am teaching a class at our co-op's "Monday School".  I have about 12 students that I teach for about an hour every Monday afternoon.  My class is based on the Konos "Attentiveness" unit, with a focus on the 5 senses.  It's not a difficult class, but for me to volunteer to teach is really a step out of my comfort zone!  And so far, I'm really enjoying it.  It's not as hard to get up and teach as I thought it would be! 

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Another thing I'm starting this month is writing for The Homeschool Post, which I think is pretty cool.  (Pop over and check it out!)   I've also got a few other writing projects in the works.  I've always wanted to actually write for a reason, and I'm excited to be getting a chance to do just that.  I'll share more information on that when the time comes. 

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So... there's a little recap of the last few months.  I'm sure I've forgotten a few things (at least!), but that's okay.  This isn't supposed to be heavy reading, right?  Right.  Okay then, until next time (and I promise not to take 3 months to get back), ta-ta! 

Okay, I got tired of messing with PhotoBucket,

so I'm just posting these pics the way they are.

Sorry if it shows up all wonky for ya. 

We really love Christmas at our house.

We always get a real tree; usually from a tree farm,

but this year we went the old-fashioned route.

Last weekend was really mild, weather-wise,

so we bundled up and went out to my

brother-in-law's farm.  We spent some time walking through

the woods, and finally found the "perfect" tree.

Okay, so it's not really quite "perfect",

but it is pretty.  And, well, the fact that it was FREE

certainly made it even more beautiful.

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Hoping to have time to blog this week.  In the meantime, here is a pic from yesterday. 

Guess what we were doing? 

I have pics of the boys, too, but Photobucket is being contrary at the moment and will not let me resize them.  Stay tuned, and I'll post them as I have time this week.

I've just finished rearranging our school room for the bajillionth time, it seems.  I'm constantly trying to figure a way to make things work more efficiently and maximize the small space that we have for our schooling.  Plus, I got some new educational posters a few weeks ago and needed to make room to display them.  This is how it ended up, and so far - it's working out great for us! 

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As you can see, the big desk in the middle of the room is mine.  There are two smaller wooden desks beside and right behind my desk for the two younger children to work at.  My 11yo usually pulls the small folding table over to the couch to do his work.  And, we have our big dining table there if we need a big area to spread out and work. 

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It's funny that we added this room on about 4 years ago, just because we needed more space and an extra bedroom when we had our 3rd child.  Little did we know then that we would be using this room for doing school at HOME just a few years later!  (Our two older kids were at a traditional school at that time.)  I guess that you could say that God knew we would really be needing this space more than we could have imagined at that point.  It has served us well! 

Never underestimate the power of Play-Doh, especially for little boys who learn best by using their hands.  Let's face it, Play-Doh is a lot of fun!  It's squishy and soft and able to be maneuvered into any shape imaginable.   So, why not use it as a learning tool? 

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My 5 year old will resist doing school work because he sees a lot of it as pretty boring stuff.  But put a ball of Play-Doh in his hands, and school work is the furthest thing from his mind.  Then, challenge him to make the letters of the alphabet with his Play-Doh, and you've got a fun game on your hands!  Better yet, ask him to add different beginning letters to endings such as "at" or "ag" ... and make a game out of seeing how many different words he can create! 

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When it's all said and done, he has had a whole lesson in Phonics while PLAYING.  And ya know what the best part is?  Spending time together, and having a lot of fun doing so.