2011:The Year of Purging

This year was the year I really felt solidified in our family's choice to homeschool. I decided that I really did want to shelter my kids as long as possible. It was also the year that I realized that I simply can't be everything and do everything. It was the year that I realized that my convictions sometimes cause tension and that my real friends love me for who I am and not for who they want me to be. We are so thankful to be able to call our school, home.

This year was a year of purging. Purging draining relationships, purging commitments that took me away from my family both physically and mentally, purging unhealthy habits and purging things from the house. I took a day to purge curriculum, and we purged unhealthy foods from our diet (well it's a process but we are getting there!).

 Purge, that was definitely my theme for this year, but with each item purged it left more room for other things and this year, after a few tough years, has been one of the best that I have had! In January we planned our huge trip to Disney World in September. In June I was excited to announce that I had been accepted as part of the TOS Review Crew! And I even got to be on the news! And who can forget my ode to aluminum foil which incidentally brought me to the front page of google (just google aluminum foil). How can I forget my adventures with Luke which resulted in him flirting with an older lady at the hospital!

So I hope you had an amazing Christmas and that your year was as blessed as mine and I am looking forward to starting 2012 with you!

Clean House

Just feeling the need to point out that my house is getting a good cleaning for the first time in months. I am happy. That is all.


What about you? Is your house "company ready"?

There are Elephants Upstairs

I can always tell when daddy gets the kinect out. The sound of my roof about to cave in used to scare me. Now, I just trust( and by trust I mean that I close my eyes and cringe every time I hear a bang) that my house can withstand not only the movement for the games, but also the mad attempts by my 3 year old to fly off the furniture. I am waiting for the day he decides to try to fly over the open banister. The noises are usually followed my my husband's half-hearted attempt to convince our son that pretending to be superman and actually BEING superman are two different things. Whose idea was it to get a two story house?

Disney World Paint Chip Countdown Calendar

I have been having a blast finding fun and frugal ways to get us all excited about our September 2011 Disney World Trip. Browsing the internet gave me quite a few ideas and one of my favorites was the Paint Chip Countdown Calendar. This one is mine:




For those that don't know, paint chips are the sample cards you find at your local hardware store that have the different paint colors on them. HomeDepot carries the Behr brand of Disney paints and the paint chip cards are cute Mickey heads. My dad picked mine up for me, but if you decide to do this, I think the best way to go about it would be to either get them while you are actually purchasing paint, or to ask if you can have them. After all, the store does have to pay for them. Anyways, there are numerous cute ways to do this, but since I don't have a fancy die cut machine and didn't feel like taking the time to cut out numbers I just took a black marker and put down the days. As we hit each day we will take one down! The cards are great because they gradually change tones and colors and it gives a really neat effect.

Here are a few other ideas that I will be adding to as I find more!

Follow Me Friday Link Up

Picture credit

I couldn't find an updated one to follow so I am going to try hosting my own. This is just a fun way to meet new bloggers and to get your blog out there a bit more. So if you are a FAMILY FRIENDLY blogger and want to participate here are the directions:

1. Add your blog using the Mr Linky at the bottom of the post.

2. Post a small blurb linking back to this blog post.

3. Follow at least 3 of the blogs already linked (the first few will have to come back later in the day to get 3).

4. Comment on their blog letting them know that you are following from Follow Me Friday at Molding Minds.

5. Follow anyone that comments on your blog.

The last is very important as that is what makes this work! Any type of blog is welcome to participate as long as it is FAMILY FRIENDLY. Have fun and I look forward to meeting some new friends! Be sure to give the linky a few minutes to refresh before putting your info in a second time. It can take up to 5 minutes sometimes.

Versitile Blogger Award

I don't usually participate in these but thought that it would be a fun way to get to know some new bloggers. Thank you Jenny!

The rules of the award are:
Thank the giver.
Tell seven things about yourself.
Award fifteen bloggers with the award.


Seven things about myself (in no particular order):

1. I am chronically unorganized. I want to be organized, but just can't seem to get there.
2. I'm not good with activities that require long term commitments. Something always seems to get in the way. We do our activities in short bursts. It just works better for us.
3. I absolutely can not stand the look and feel of wet bread to the point where I won't even run the disposal with bread in it.
4. My mom met my husband on the internet and then introduced us.
5. I love watching Discovery Channel type documentaries.
6. I don't like cake. I never have. My mom tells me I licked all the icing off my cupcakes from as young as 2 and wouldn't eat the cake.
7. My brother and I have "song offs" where we start with one song and then take turns doing others using words or themes from the previous ones. These can sometimes last for hours.

And now for the awards...

1 Sunflower Faith
2 Under the Golden Apple Tree
3 Treasures from a Shoe Box
4 Chris Growing Together
5 Gabes Babes
6 Teaching Tikes
7 Roscommon Acres
8 Homemade School
9 The Attached Mama
10 Education Jump Off
11 The Writing Garden
12 Ben and Me
13 Walnut Acres
14 Cows Don't Moo
15 Somewhat Muddled Musings