Planning our Trip to Georgia

I shared before how I plan our family roadtrips in order to get the most out of them for the least amount of money.

I wanted to share with you now how I am planning our next trip to Georgia.

I chart our route and looked for larger cities that we will be passing through.

I see that we are going through Lexington, Kentucky and Knoxville, Tennessee. I have nothing relatable in my head about either one of those places (do you guys? Do I just live too sheltered of a life?) so I Pinterest them to see what there is to do.

It looks like in Lexington there are some horse race type parks to check out but nothing that is screaming “us” so I’m moving on. I will also point out Lexington is about 4 hours from our house. I want to make sure we cover some distance in the first day of our trip so Lexington is about the closest place I would be willing to go to. Otherwise we’ll have too much traveling to do the next day as we make our way to Georgia.

So the next place I’m going to look up is Knoxville.

There look to be some things but I am not sure if that is where I want to be for very long. We are after all driving through so we don’t have a lot of time to spend.

I now check out our memberships’ reciprocal programs. We have memberships through the ASTC and the AZA. I see that there is a zoo in Knoxville that looks promising but we still have to pay 50%. That’s a great deal, don’t get me wrong, but I just want to make sure that that is something we commit to do with our time. After all, a zoo takes a large chunk of time to go through.

I check out the National Parks website and, duh! I see that Knoxville is just a hop, skip and a jump a way from the Smoky Mountains National Park. BINGO!

I think we might go that way. We love hiking and exploring so going that route ensures lots of fresh air, exercise, and it’s darn near free.

In case you’ve never been to the Smoky Mountains, it is near Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. This is a really neat area but a huge tourist area that makes it really hard to stay on budget. I am sure we will do some things there but we try to steer clear of this area. An example of the area is when we went mini golfing. We went to a scabby kind of place with flaking paint and it was $60 for the four of us. Seriously. That is why we try to plan carefully what we do in the area and we look for budet friendly items.

The Smoky Mountains park spans over 800 square acres over North Carolina and Tennessee. While it is technically one park there are several sections and areas of the park including Cades Cove, Cataloochee, Clingmans Dome, and more. While there are lots of things to do I think we are going to be focusing on the Cades Cove area.

Cades Cove offers some of the best opportunities to spot wildlife. When we’ve been through the Smokies before we have spotted deer, bears, elk, and coyotes. We like Cades Cove because of the settlement you can explore as well as the nature. We’ve never had a lot of time to explore the area though, so I think that will be a perfect option for us.

We are so excited for our trip and can’t wait to get to the mountains!!!

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I hope this kind of “me talking outloud to you helps you to see the madness behind my method for planning our trips. I can try to do this with another trip if it helps you! Let me know, friends!

New Duds for Mom

How are y’all doing in your year so far? I know I’ve reached the point where the newness of the homeschool year has worn off and I am starting to wonder if we can make it until Fall Break.

You guys, I've reached my upper-mid thirties. 

Gulp.

Don't tell anyone, okay? 

I feel as if age doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things but in life I can certainly tell that I am starting to act my age. 

Like in matters of apparel.  I get why my grandma, who is 92 now, insists on wearing the same  style of slippers that she's worn since before I can remember...comfort. 

Comfort, people, comfort. 

Which often times makes it hard to be cute and stylish when you just want to crawl into some kind of ball made out of terry cloth and stay there forever. 

But I can't...you know, because, kids. 

Outside of being a mom I am also a director of some camps, a teacher, and a wife, so you know, there are those things. 

And can we just add to it I'm also a lady on a budget?...that's right everyone, I said it.  Money doesn't grow on trees over here.  There's no dollar fairy in these woods.  Despite my many hats we're basically a one income family and that means there are sacrifices people, Sacrifices!

What does sacrificing mean, you may ask?  Well, it means I hone in on one thing to get rather than the 20 on my list of wants.  It's hard.  Cough, cough.  Some day my old self will thank me when there's something in that retirement fund so I can buy fancy slippers like Grandma Jean. 

In the meantime here are some things that I buy when I want to spruce up the old wardrobe.  These are items I have purchased in the last year, here and there.  But they've been total game changers for my wardrobe. Also, I may add that all of these things can really spruce up any denim jumper and they are all me-approved for doing all of the weird things that us homeschooling moms find ourselves do…from mixing chemistry projects to running kids to sports to teaching math to rolling around on the floor playing to vacuuming to…well, the list goes on and on.

Adidas leather sneakers

You guys listen, they didn’t fail us in middle school and they won’t fail us now. There are also canvas options but I went for leather because I am not Martha Stewart with an entourage of people to assist in making my sneaks look great. I know I will walk through anything and everything and the leather makes it easy to wipe clean and press on.

I have a pair of these and I’ve found that I can wear them with so many things. Tee shirts of course but sweaters, skirts, dresses, you name it. They really add a sense of fun to my outfit I wouldn’t normally have had with the clothes I wear them with and they are seriously comfortable.

Anything from Evy's Tree...seriously, anything 

I have been such a fan of their clothing for years. It was only within the past two years or so that I got wise to their sales. They have these amazing garments, primarily really comfortable sweatshirt creations, that I salivate over and try to justify in my mind but most (no, all) of the time we just can’t spend over $100 for a sweatshirt.

However, their sales are amazing! If you wait and watch you can score some awesome sauce deals! For example my latest order was last month…I ordered a tee of theirs, a sweater, and an amazing sweatshirt top for under $50.

A cute bag 

I love bags. I have a problem but yes, I love bags. TJ Maxx is a great place to get a great deal. Or Amazon for the beauty above which won’t break your bank and comes in a bunch of colors. Wherever you get a bag, the things to remember is to get a bag that works for you and you don’t have to break the bank to get a cute new purse.

If you need some recommendations of my faves you can read my blog all about them if you missed it.

Earrings

This is something that is so simple and yet such a game changer.

Truly, you guys!

Find some earrings and pair them with an unexpected outfit. Or buy some new ones and try those out with an outfit you are really tired of. They help to change things up and to frame your beautiful face.

Starfish Pants from Lands End 

There are not many things in this life that I have one, brand specific piece I would recommend. But leggings are when I am different.

These pants are life.

One of the amazing things about these pants is the thickness of the fabric, the breathability, and the fact that they can be worn for anything…from working out to working in the office, they are just that amazing!

I wear the Starfish slim leg pants but they also have the original cut, leggings, jeans, and even crops. So comfortable!

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Ladies, listen to me, I know money is tight when you’re homeschooling but it is so important to treat yourself, even if it’s something small. It helps with your sanity, it helps you to feel like the special woman you are, not just a wife and mother, with constant demands on you day in and day out.

Find a way to treat yourself!

The Secret Place to go if you're a stressed out Mom...

Are you a stressed Momma on the verge of a break down?  You know what I mean. We all reach that place at some point where we just don't know if we can do it (by it meaning, anything!) anymore.   

There's a place that I promise will help you.  You need to run there, now! 

It's the gym. 

Wahhh???? 

I was reminiscing the other day while on the tread mill.  There was a time that I would go to the gym with tears streaming down my face, not knowing if I could make it another day.  Literally. 

Autism is hard y'all.  You can understand that somewhat, but unless you go through it, you don't really know what I am talking about.  

The screaming.  The tantrums.  The round and round arguments that convince you you are going insane.  Watching your child suffer, knowing you can't undo anything.  It's a hard and brutal momma life.   

Too often than not I found myself with my husband out of town, juggling homeschooling two kids, and not being able to look down the barrel of autism.  

Can I share something with you here? I remember a day when I was at my breaking point and I found myself going to the treadmill.  I had so much emotion being held inside that I couldn't really remember how I had gotten on the treadmill or to the treadmill, I just knew I was there. I wanted to run away truthfully but that treadmill and that place kept me there. I just didn't want to do it anymore.  I hope that doesn't sound lame or contrite but in that moment, I had had enough.  I wasn't cut out for this mom business, I thought.  But then my head started to clear.   I ran and ran, harder than I ever had and came to the realization: 

The gym will be my place. 

Of course, every gym has their own set of amenities and rules but here's the deal with ours: 

I can put the kids in child care there for up to two hours at a time.  I am sure this is with the idea you are going to go workout but no one asks.  

There's a cafe area, a pool, a gym, and free wifi.  

What I thought was that the gym was the place I needed to be at when I was on my last nerve but I eventually found myself dragging all of us there for some peace so I wouldn't have to enter "on my last nerve" territory.  

I would take the kids to the child care and sometimes I would go and work out. There is nothing like working out to help clear your head.  I remember once when I was dealing with some pretty tough post-partum stuff I called my dad (who's a pastor).  He listened to me rant for I don't know how long and then quietly he said "Linds, you need to go work out." And ladies, he was right!  The hormones and chemicals are so much reset by working out! 

Sometimes though (gasp), I wouldn't.  I would go sit in the hot tub or take a long shower, or read the bible in the cafe, or work on my blog in peace.  You guys, the gym over the years has been my saving grace.  

Whether you have a child with special needs or not, all of us mommas reach a point where we are broken and weary and need a break.  We need grace and understanding and Jesus.  We also sometimes just need someone else to watch our kids so we can have some us time.  It's okay. It's acceptable.  It's required.  

So go to the gym.  Find a gym that has useful things for your kids and for yourself.  Find something that works for your family.  I know our gym membership is cheaper than me paying a babysitter for four hours.  Taking my kids to child care one day a week for two hours each month is more than worth the membership...not to mention all of the other times we use the facility. 

When you are a momma at home struggling and alone, the world can be a scary place.  I get it!  Please, don't ever hesitate to reach out (to me, I'm here!) if you need someone to talk to, to pray with you, to love on you, or just to be there.  

You're worth it, you deserve it, now go to the gym. 

Review: Conner Prairie

Each school year we enter into the sacred time with new hopes and expectations for the future.  It's always a feeling of excitement and with fervor we rush into the newness of our schedules: armed with the unspoken promise that our efforts will indeed bring forth a new era of accomplishment into our lives.  

Each year as a homeschooling family we try to carve time out of our schedules for two field trips each month for the duration of our school year.  Sometimes we fail, other times we flourish.  No matter what the future within our new year may bring, for the past several years our inaugural field trip has been to a place that has never failed to invoke a feeling of wonder and to evade our schooling with excitement. 

What is this place?  

It's Conner Prairie.  

Located in the heart of Indiana (which is the heart of the Midwest, keenly inside the heart of the heart) is a place that has evolved over the years into something nothing short of magical.  

We had the joy of being hosted this year by Conner Prairie in exchange for this, my own words about the place called Conner Prairie.  

First let me tell you about our trip this year: 

The Prairie opens each day at 10 am so we planned to be there right at the beginning.  Arriving in the morning is always so fun because the animals haven't met the full heat of the day yet.  We found frolicking lambs, squealing piglets, and playful kids (in the goat variety) wherever we turned.  While we are not strangers to the barnyard scene, we certainly are not accustomed to it on a daily basis.  Conner Prairie's farm life comes in just the perfect way...lots of experts to explain things and buckets of hand sanitizer.  

After saying hello to the animals we scoped out our map and decided that Treetop Outpost was the next place for us.  

The thing I love the most about the Treetop Outpost (or the treehouse as my kiddos call it) are the amount of activities there are to do within the area.  Kids with varying interests can enjoy different activities at the same time while mom is nearby.  Our kids are 10 and 12 and I love letting them wonder through the Outpost without me, giving them a sense of adventure and independence while mom is waiting at the bottom for their return.  

After lots of fun running, making music, digging, and exploring we decided to partake in a Make and Take craft.  For only $5 per child they were each able to construct a wooden treasure box.  We adore Conner Prairie's crafts because they are solid objects that the kids can take home and treasure.  I always walk away amazed by what they were able to construct and at how much of a value each craft is. 

If you decide to do a make and take craft, be sure to make it a point to talk to the workers who oversee the crafts; they truly are a plethora of knowledge from the history of Conner Prairie to the best places to eat once you leave, I've had some very interesting and insightful conversations with these wonderful people.  You can tell that they are deeply invested in Conner Prairie and not just an employee.  

Our day progressed and as the heat intensified I felt we were slowing down, like a little family moving through glue.  

We stopped to play in a tug of war game in the Prairietown area outside of the general store we explored.  

After that I was losing Cal.  Most of you know he has High Functioning Autism.  We reach a point where enough is enough and he just needs some quiet and alone time.  

Last year was when I discovered Conner Prairie has these Quiet Spots.  I adore that they don't have just one but several throughout the prairie.  Because let's be real, can be worse than trying to move a child in a full panic all the way across the complex to a quiet area. I've done that at other places and let me tell you, it's not fun.  I counted no less than 5 Quiet Spots on the Conner Prairie map but there could be more.  I can't say enough about these areas you guys...they are a godsend! 

We found one right on the edge of the town by the restrooms and for a momma in crisis mode it is a dream come true...quiet, well lit, cold, with a box of sensory resources to use.  I am highly impressed by Conner Prairie's attention to detail in this department.  Weighted blankets and fidget toys are calming for us and they had both.  Amazing, you guys! 

After our break we refueled (Conner Prairie allows outside food to be brought in) and then we headed out to the Civil War Journey area.  

If you have older kids learning about the Civil War, this is such an ideal destination.  First of all, let's be real, there just aren't many field trips you can find within Indiana, or the Midwest for that matter, about the Civil War.  And while it was very neat for us in the past to travel to places like Gettysburg or Savannah to learn about the civil war history there, in reality it's just not practical in most time frames of life.  

The Conner Prairie Civil War area does an amazing job of transporting you back in time by having you walk across a real covered bridge to enter.  There are a couple fairly intense representations of Civil War action, a house to explore, and more!  

With the heat in the mid-nineties when we visited we also enjoyed their new splash pad, and their new water play feature (again, we stayed here forever because this is always super calming for Cal).  

Conner Prairie is located in Fishers, Indiana, which sits as a cute little hat on top of Indianapolis.  It is very close to the interstates and very convenient to get to.  I think it would be impossible to make it through everything in one day (we only covered two and a half areas this trip!).  Below is a carousel of photos from a previous trip we had to Conner Prairie, just to give you a look at other things they offer: Tomahawk throwing, Fun Science activities (indoors and out!), the William Conner house (that started the entire place!), there is so much to do.  

If you are a homeschooler and would love to visit, I have good news!  

They offer various homeschool activities throughout the year that are focused on an indepth look at various sciences or historical eras.  Water filtration, civil rights, and lunar landers are some of the topics on their calendar. 

And every August and September they offer special homeschool days so homeschool families can come at the field trip price without the amount of students a field trip normally consists of!

You can read all about their homeschool programs and their upcoming homeschool day here.  

I hope you enjoyed our little tour and review!  We love Conner Prairie and we know you will too!

The Bag All Mommas Need Now!

You're a mom so you're always are bringing tons of bags with you.  Am I right?  You've got a bag for snacks, a bag with some school work in it, a bag with some games in it. Does this sound like you?  Plus let's not forget your purse because, of course you need that! 

Girl, have I got the solution for you and since I've found this out it has been a game changer for me.  

The answer?  

A Diaper Bag! 

it's true!  Even if you don't have a kiddo in diapers anymore, you need to get yourself one of these bags.  

If you're like me, when your kiddos were done with diapers you wanted to throw your bag in some firepit and walk away, all gangster style like on Office Space.  

But now you can go back to the bag...it will be okay.  I promise.

Our kids are 10 and 12 and I carry a diaper bag. Every.Single.Day.  

Now before you think I've gone off and lost my cotton picking mind...let me explain myself.  

Tons of pockets and zippers and compartments.  

Most diaper bags these days have a waterproof pouch. Maybe these were made for wet clothes but you can now use them for snacks.  Something spills or sweats or leaks?  No biggie.  A contained mess in a wipeable area is aces.  

There is a place for a changing pad.  Take that out. You don't need that anymore.  You're above that.  You owned that.  See?  You're left with a pretty ample sized pocket.  I use this to store a binder or my planner.  And suddenly it's like I'm some kind of organizational wizard.  

Bottle holders on the sides?  Hello water bottles!  Or sunglasses!  Or your cell phone! 

I'm telling you all, diaper bags are not just for diapers.  They should just be called mom bags from the beginning because they can hold so many things.  And you don't need to have a diaper bag with monkeys on the print or whatever you may have had before.  You can have a cute bag that will hold everything you need it to...I kid you not!  

Once I let go of the idea that I needed my own bag and then a bag for school work and a container for snacks, and a container for this and a container for that...once I could let that go I was able to accept the idea of a bag for me, as a mom.  I am my own person but I am also ultimately a mother who carries the weight (literally!) of bringing things with us so instead of 27 different bags I've been diligent in finding a cute bag that suits my personality and the stage of life I'm in.  

I have a stylish Coach diaper bag in a pretty blue color.  This color is not the norm for Coach bags and I get so, so many compliments about it.  The great part?  We went to a baseball game recently and I was able to comfortably store food for my kids in it...I had 4 sodas, 2 bags of chips, 7 cookies, and two baseball hats.  I'm for real here...this is why you need a diaper bag! 

Here are some of my favorite bags...some of these I have and others are on my shopping want list! Like I said, I love these bags.  Almost all of the "purses" I carry around these days are actually diaper bags. 

Maybe one day I'll have a smallish purse again but for our life right now these work great! 

This sweet bag is on my Amazon wish list. I have friends who have this bag and I've heard rave reviews from other CC tutors who use it to bring their books to community day. I love that it can be carried as a tote or a backpack! And the color is on point. So adorable.

I have this bag and really love it for vacations! It can become a cross body or a hobo style bag with adjusting the straps. It holds tons of snacks and provides a really soft cushiony case for my DSLR. So versatile!

I don't have this striped bag but I have this in a black version and it is easily my favorite bag of all time! It has been so many places with me and I have been able to take so much with me because of this bag! The top zippered compartment is perfect for cell phone storage...it's great for people like me who lose everything and need a place for everything! Also, when my sister dumped an entire cup of coffee on my purse it cleaned up beautifully!

This bag is similar to my coach baby bag although the pattern of mine has been discontinued. I love the removable strap...I use it a lot when we are out of town or have a lot to lug around and then usually take it off for every day use.

So those are my favorite mom bags (aka diaper bags I guess). If you have a favorite way of carrying all of the mom stuff around be sure to comment below and keep all of us friends in the know, too!

ALSO! Make sure to hunt at any children’s resale events you go to for diaper bags. It’s one of my favorite places to find bags. I’ve snagged some before for just a few bucks and they were brand new!

Happy shopping and toting all of your stuff around, friends! XO 

2018s First Day of School

And just like that we are out of the gate with this years new school year.  

Emma is in Challenge A within the Classical Conversations program.  It is basically their version of 7th grade.  While we are so excited for her and for the chance to watch her grow and mature within the program, it has been a difficult transition into conforming to someone else's schedule.  We have always been a family who started school after Labor Day so we could soak up every drop of summer.  But being part of this community means things aren't always just about our schedule and so we've had to start school earlier than we usually do.  I keep giving myself a pep talk about it...starting sooner will allow for more breaks and for us to end the school year earlier than normal! 

We usually take photos of the kids each year.  Last year we did this too...you can read about it here. This year, though, was a bit weird in how we started.  Usually Nick tries to be home and we all kind of do it together.  But he and I were gearing up to leave and the air conditioning in the Flex had taken a nose dive so he was out getting refrigerant to recharge the system.  We started without him but had a great time taking pictures together.  In a weird turn of events, Emma's back to school outfit from last year still fit and she wanted to wear it.  I think anytime you're 12 year old daughter is still willing to wear an Eleanor Rose outfit with Joyfolie Mary Janes, you should take that opportunity and run with it.  Emma is the sweetest thing in mostly letting me dress her still but I know any day now she will be declaring her independence.  Calvin can sometimes have strong opinions about his clothing but thankfully he was easy peasy.  "here're some shorts, here's a shirt" and he's just "okay".  I'm so blessed you guys! 

We had a good breakfast together and had our morning time while we sat around the table.  Morning time is simply a time that we are together and doing things together as a family.  We sang a hymn, read some poetry, and read a portion of a book together. We also did a devotion and then I introduced them to their new devotional books that they will be working on individually.  It's a great way to begin our day together.  

Even though we homeschool, we give our kids lists that we take to go do back to school shopping.  The kids love doing this and then when we get home I arrange their school supplies for them.  Some things like paper and glue sticks just go into communal receptacles for everyone to use and some things get placed into their desk so just they can use those.  This always seems to work great for us and it's always fun to see them excited about getting to use their school supplies! Who doesn't love new pencils?!?

After morning time the kids worked on their work...Calvin only had math, spelling, and handwriting to do. His Classical Conversation community days don't start for a couple more weeks, so until then, he will be doing light classwork.  This gives him an opportunity to ease back into the school schedule. Emma had some "about me" papers to fill out for her first day with her CC class and then had latin to do.  She was very diligent about her work and very thorough with her tasks.  I am hoping she will continue those traits throughout the school year.  Sometimes raising a tween is tough! 

After school work came chores and piano practice.  All in all it was a great first day of school. 

That night we dropped the kids off at my mom and dads and took off for our anniversary trip.  It's weird to not be with them for their first week of school but they were given all of their work to do with grandparents and they know what is expected of them.  And like I said, they have a really light school load this first week so it will be okay. It was hard for my Momma-heart to accept not being with them but in the end this was the way our schedules converged so we made it work.  

And that's our day! I can't believe the kids are in seventh and fifth grade!  How did this happen?  When did they get so old?  When did I get so old?  Yeesh! 

Happy back to schooling y'all! xo 

Changing Classrooms is Hard!

Y'all change is hard!  

It's hard on me mentally, physically, emotionally, gah, it's just hard.  

These past few weeks we have been working on the transition of flip-flopping our playroom (affectionately known as the blue room) and our classroom (formerly located on the third floor of our home).  

These changes have been really hard on basically no one...except me.  I am such a weirdo.  

You can see some of my favorite photos of our classroom in this blog post.  

Our classroom has always been on the third floor.  Nick had to custom make our shelves and book cases to get them to fit to the pitch of the roof.  It was a really, really special place to me...in my mind.  

The reality of the situation was that we found ourselves in a predicament that we were hardly ever able to get everything accomplished when we had school up there.  We were lucky to start our day on time and if we didn't finish by lunch I could pretty much kiss any chance of finishing our work goodbye.  

In addition to that, the homeschool room very often during seasons of the year looked like a clumsy SWAT team had been searching for something amidst holiday decorations.  Things were strewn all over, nothing could be organized amidst the chaos.  It was bad.  Bad, folks, bad.  If you need to see something to understand you can read this old post but I'm warning you...it's bad.  

Why was schooling so hard up there you ask?  Well, it was really hard to pinpoint the reasoning...I always blamed it on a multitude of things which included it being so far removed from the rest of the house, it being too sunny and warm in the afternoon, it being really dark in the morning hours, it being too cluttered, and on and on and on.  

A couple of years ago God started working on my heart.  I still wanted to homeschool but I wanted it to be an ever-present pulse in our family.  For us it had always been something we do only up in the classroom and then we come downstairs, shut the door, and put it out of our minds.  I didn't want that anymore.  I tried incorporating school more into our every day life.  We did more school in the dining room over tea and after lunch, outside.  While we found ourselves enjoying school more we found our house starting to look like a used curriculum sale was taking place...random papers, books, and projects started to stray to every nook and bump out of our victorian.  And this Momma was getting mad.  

We tried for seven years to make it work.  But there came a breaking point when we decided it was time to change.  For the reasons mentioned above but also with the pitch of the roof it was starting to become difficult for the three of us (including two growing like weeds children) to maneuver around the desks like we had when they were so little. 

So one day on a whim, we changed.  I declared that we were moving the classroom downstairs.  

So we did.  

The toys and craft supplies went upstairs.  We are still muddling through where everything should go on the third floor.  And downstairs we are struggling with where to put everything.  We no longer have an entire floor of the house for our supplies but rather a single room.  Downsizing is now our middle name.  In the process I have found that it was a long over due process.  Projects, books, manipulatives, and supplies for children with much shorter limbs and much chubbier fingers are still hanging around.  Once we've gone through everything I'm hoping it will be a manageable amount for our classroom.  But it will have to be so we will make it work.  

There are parts of the classroom I will really miss but there are parts of the new classroom that I am really starting to find such assets to our family.  For example, our new classroom (the blue room if you'll remember) has three rose of sharon bushes outside of our massive picture window.  Four birdfeeders later and we have officially become "bird people".  Also, the classroom is right off the downstairs laundry room and powder room.  We have a large utility sink for washing brushes, taking our science experiments, and more.  I can also now fold laundry while watching them do their math.  Very convenient.  

Before the move, our families biggest arguements were about legos.  Dumb I know.  But the kids legos were in the blue room, which we have to go through to get to the laundry room and we have to pass through to get to the dining room from the kitchen.  It was always a fight to get them to pick up their legos in the middle of creating something or to at least scootch them over so I didn't have to plow through them with laundry in tow.  Now the legos are upstairs and, while we still insist on them picking up, they can at least display their finished projects without fear of someone stepping on them.  Where the legos once were downstairs is now a monstrous desk we found at Restore.  

With the children getting older, needing more head room, using less supplies, and wanting to create, this is a better solution for our family.  We also have school books on hand in the room off our dining room now for more dialectic discussion around the dinner table.  Words are starting to be debated and chewed upon.  

All that to say, the whole "still in transition" business is so hard for me.  At least once a day I find myself having to re-convince myself that this is a change for the best for the whole family and one day, eventually, I will love both spaces as much as I loved our little classroom in the sky.  

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I struggle so much with change.  Do you?  How do you talk yourself down from despair when things are not perfect?  

October Recap!

October came and went like a blur!  It was crazy!  

As a gentle recap, over the past 365 days I have taken on three new positions, I am now sitting on 2 boards of directors, and still homeschooling away.  It's crazy busy and most days I feel like I have lost my darn mind, but in a good fulfilling way.  And when I remember to lean into God's power and might (which I need to remember to do constantly...) I am reminded how much I can do when I do not rely on my strength but His.  

Anyway, October is my favorite month for the crispness of everything.  Do you know what I mean?  It's so great!  I was thinking of this the other day...it's crazy, weird that NOVEMBER isn't my favorite month since that one holds gratitude, my birthday, Christmas decorating, and shopping, but no, October still holds to be my favorite month.  

It started with this crazy brood!  We went to the pumpkin farm, picked the perfect guy, and came home to carve away!  It was so much fun.  I love our little family so much!  

And then blur, blur, blur, blur, blur and before I could fully blink we were to Halloween!  

This year Calvin was ninja (in New Balance Tennis shoes because that's how I roll) and Emma was Nancy Drew.  

Seriously how stinking cute are these two kids of ours?  Oh, and since we fast forwarded to Halloween from the Pumpkin Farm you can see that the majority of my pumpkins are now rotten.  Gross!  Guys, I need legit ways to keep these suckers alive.  Help!  Every year pumpkins fall victim to my pumpkin killing and the massacre just has to end.  Do I need to bleach them?  Talk to them?  Stop singing to them?  (Just asking that last one for a friend...promise!)

Anyway, now's where we talk about the no spend challenge and you wonder what happened to the girl who started out so gung-ho at the beginning of the year and now you haven't heard from about it in a million years.  So, we are still TRYING to do the no spend challenge.  Y'all it is so hard!  So, so hard.  So we'll use the kids' costumes as an example.  Emma totally went with the no spend idea and came up with something brilliant.  We didn't spend a dime on her costume and she kept getting so many compliments.  Calvin on the other hand had one specific thing in his mind...the kid wanted to be a ninja...again.  We tried making one at home for him, talking him through it, but alas, he was insisting on the costume.  So we compromised and we purchased him a less expensive costume than what he wanted.  No kid wants to have a costume that they hate and we didn't know what to do other than compromise.  We spend $20ish dollars on this versus the $75 costumes in previous years.  See?  We're making some progress!  

The pumpkins were another issue with our no-spend year.  I had to decorate my porch. Sorry, not sorry, that's just the case.  So I took a fence panel from my neighbors free pile at their garage sale, dragged out other things I already had but had to have some pumpkins.  Last year I spent over $60 on pumpkins.  You all!  That is crazy!  So this year we found a new place to get pumpkins and for all of them they were $20.  So I spent some but not nearly as much as I was in previous years!  

But back to Halloween...

We don't really "celebrate" Halloween but we trick or treat.  

For those of you just joining us, we live in a National Historic District and we just love it!  

From the street lights to the brick paved streets, we love our neighborhood.  Trick or Treating always helps me to take time to pause and reflect on how beautiful our neighborhood is.  The kids trick or treating is like going through a 1950's neighborhood.  All of the historic homes and picket fences make it so cheerful and nice.  

And I have to show you this because it was hilarious...

When there's a construction project why not be silly? 

So there's our recap of October!  I hope you all are enjoying your November! I've missed having time to write...gah!  Hopefully I'll be writing more! 

First Day!

Hello sweet friends! 

Today was our first day of school.  It has been a whirlwind of a summer with lots of surprises and fun time.  We spend a large portion of the summer traveling with Nick's job and seeing the world from inflatables in a lake.  It was a wonderful time filled with many memories and plenty of rest and rejuvenation.  I am so thankful for the rest because my new position started a few months earlier than initially expected! Everything has gone wonderfully and everyone has been so kind in helping me out to make sure I know what I am doing. 

Today was our first day of school and in traditional manner we took photos to commemorate the day!  It was a wonderful day.  We all started by eating zucchini cake from the Trim Healthy Mama cookbook.  Our whole family loves the recipes in this book and I highly recommend it! 

This year we have started Classical Conversations.  I am so excited to be doing CC with an actual community rather than at home like we had been doing in previous years.  I think it will bring a level of accountability to the children and me to finish the work and keep up with what is going on.  Now, that doesn't mean we can't go off on a tangent like before but it will keep us focused and on task to finish out the school year.  Anyway, our Classical Conversations community has not started yet so we will be doing school lite until it gets into our full swing.  I think this is a great way for us to ease into school. 

This morning we did math, history, life skills, and computer programming.  And that was it! I think this was a perfect morning of school! 

We have used this first day of school to be the beginning for lots of good things: we've started new chore charts, we are eating exclusively Trim Healthy Mama, and we are trying really hard to get back to the no-spend plan that so many of you have been following us in! 

We have been pretty good with our not spending in most areas but some have been really difficult to maintain. 

I hope you all are enjoying summer days whether you are back to school or not!  Here are our photos from this morning.  We were blessed to have Nick with us as he has taken the week off to reno our cottage.  He came home for photos after taking my car for an oil change (I am such a lucky girl!) before he headed down to the lake cottage.  We loved having Prinicipal Witwer in our photos!

Time 4 Learning Review

Last month I posted that we were starting to use the Time4Learning online program.  '

I had a lot of people ask me what I have thought about the program so I am writing a review to let you know what we are thinking of the program! 

First of all I would like to say that I have nothing bad to say about the program.  Both of our kiddos used it and enjoyed it. 

As you know, Calvin has high functioning autism.  For some reason it seems that every year after Christmas we are on a slippery slope of decline in his functioning in our classroom.  I am not sure if it is the season with no sun, or being off schedule for Christmas, or what.  So when I was banging my head against a wall trying to find a solution, Time4Learning was a godsend!

I was looking for something that I could give to Calvin to do on those days when all else has failed and I cannot get him to cooperate with schoolwork.  Or the days when you wake up and you know you just aren't feeling it enough to make a day successful in the homeschool realm...you know those days: when you grab the Pamprin and let Miss Frizzle sub for your class.  Those days. 

When I found Time4Learning it seemed amazing.  And I'm going to tell you it is!  Calvin LOVES Time4Learning.  The games on the level he is at (3rd grade) are really engaging and fun.  The only problem I have is that he likes to get every possible score on a test to see what the computer says, so I have to watch him to make sure he doesn't do that.  On the other hand if he does it I figure it is just reinforcing what he is learning so that's not bad, right? 

Calvin and Emma can do Time4Learning on our laptop, my ipad, phone, or on their tablets.  Each of our kids have their own tablets that we have them use for school.  So when we are going grocery shopping or somewhere they are bored out of their mind we can hop on wifi and they can get some learning done!  Content kiddos who are learning makes for one happy Momma for sure!  Win-win!

Another thing I have enjoyed (especially because Calvin is sneaky) is the ability to get on the teacher dashboard and see what he did and how he did at it.  That way when he tells me he did math I can know that he did his math. 

Time4Learning can be a whole curriculum, back up learning, homeschooling, after school learning, whatever you need.  It's not just for homeschooling.  And while we don't use it as a full curriculum there is Social Studies, Language Art, Reading, a place to just write for fun, art, science, and math!  There's so much that it is hard for the kids to get bored.  I love on days that the kids do school on there I don't hear "I'm bored!" 

Emma has been using Time4Learning too but has not been enjoying it as much.  Emma is very much our pencil and paper kind of gal.  She also has noticed that the older grades (she's using 6th grade) don't have as many fun games as her brother gets to do in the younger grade when he's playing next to her.  A lot of her work seems to be an explanation of what she is learning and then questions in a quiz, flash card kind of format on the computer.  She doesn't like this, I still like it because it is still a break from the same ol' same ol' of our every day so it can get her out of a rut when learning.  I would like to add though that a lot of what seems *boring* to her, I don't really know how you would make it gamey and fun.  It required a more lengthy explanation and I think they do a good job at explaining and engaging the student.

All in all, I would say that we love TIme4Learning and are excited to continue on with the program.  This summer we are traveling extensively and I am planning on taking their Nooks and having the program be the majority of school that we will do!  So super excited and so blessed to have found Time4Learning! 

*This review was entirely written by me, not the good folks at Time4Learning. I was compensated for my review, thoughts, and opinions*

An Invitation to Intentional Living

Last year as I rounded the bases towards my 35th Birthday I realized how quickly I had become unhappy with my life.  Being able to stay home for 8 years now, oh sure, I was glad for my husband, children, and stay at home status, but I found that any sense of joy or purpose was missing from my life. 

After praying I realized that I was living my life without a sense of intention.  I was missing the purpose, the reasoning, the feelings, the savoriness of life.

Often times I was too busy rushing through the day to day to realize the beauty of the gift of a single day here on earth.  I was hustling to get dinner on the table without enjoying the food, eating without enjoying a meal. 

So at 35 I decided not to waste another day.  I would enjoy every day.  Even the bad ones.  Even the horrible ones.  I would find something to enjoy.

In this journey I have discovered more joy than I ever thought possible.  God has opened my eyes to what a gift life truly is.  How a pretty set table really does make the food taste better.  How amazing it is that leaves turn up in a storm to collect rain.  How incredible it all is, working together.

See, I have spent my life thinking there was something wrong with me.  I've always been the girl (now the 35 year old girl) who could do all things okay-ish, but not one thing particularly, whoopee-well. 

I always assumed God had made a mistake with me.  Well, that or that there must be something out there I would be great at if only I could discover what that is (coal mining, perhaps?). 

I felt incomplete.  I felt lost, until one week I got away to examine my life.  It's amazing when you sit in a place and talk with God and just listen.  He sure laid a lot on my heart.  I finally felt that I understood what He was trying to do with my life, how He was using me with all of my okay-ish gifts. 

See, I'm good at all of these things in order to love and serve my family simply through living intentionally.

I may never be able to bake well enough to own my own bakery but I do an alright job of it to surprise our children with cookies, cupcakes, and doughnuts I baked for them for Valentine's Day. 

I may never be a professional party planner but I can plan a pretty great all out American Girl themed birthday party for our little girl to make her feel valued and treasured. 

And that's why I'm here. 

On this earth, I'm here to love my family through serving them.  To live intentionally to provide them memories, love, affection, and protection that will smother them with God's love so they'll be equipped to go out in this world and know how loved they are. 

And I'm at this computer to help you do the same for your family.  To help you learn how to bake a cake, wrap a gift, teach latin, whatever.  But to walk with you down a path leading to intention and joy through serving and loving our families. 

I invite you to start living intentionally for the Lord.  To look for his goodness in this world.  To love through serving your family.

And if you want to follow along with my journey, I'd love to have you for a friend and we can make mistakes together. 

After all,

The joy is in our journey!

Week 7 Recap of our No-Spend Challenge

Well this was the first week that I heard serious complaining about the no spend challenge. 

Emma was hilarious when she said "we had a good two months of this no spend challenge.  Now I think it's time to be done.  Let's order Chinese food." 

And believe me I was feeling the same way!  I was ready for Chinese food and not cooking too, but we didn't cave and had frozen pizzas instead. 

Can you picture me with my head hung low and pouting?  Because that's what I was looking like. 

Thankfully I am realizing that when one of us is weak and ready to give up (usually me) then there is the other person to stay strong and diligent (usually Nick). 

Valentine's Day was a bit hard with the no spend challenge. 

We are not huge spenders for Valentine's Day.  I've never gotten Diamond anything.  I do usually get roses.  But this year I knew I wouldn't be getting anything.  Still there was this TINY part of my brain that was just wishing and hoping that he would come home with something that I would act upset he spent money for but secretly was delighted he brought home. 

You know what I am talking about! 

But he didn't buy anything.  Well I take that back he did go to the store and bought crab and oysters to go with our beef tenderloin stay-in date meal. 

However I had had the same thought of a little surf with our turf and bought lobster tails. 

So it was a huge seafood feast. 

Nick also came home with an old fashioned love letter. 

It was my first one ever and it made me sob.  Big, ugly tears, sob.

It was perfect.  It helped me to realize that some of the most beautiful things in this world are free.  They don't cost money, they aren't big and flashy, but instead are simple and true words that mean the most. 

The days before Valentine's Day I was prepared that we wouldn't be buying the kids a ton of fun Valentine's stuff like we normally do. 

I had purchased Emma's Valentine's Day gift last year before we started the no-spend challenge.  So I purchased a small lego set for Calvin so he would have something soon. 

To make their special day a bit more special we made some sweet treats with things that we already had at home so they didn't cost a lot of money. 

We made cookies which was lots of fun! The kids took a cookie decorating class last year so I whipped up a batch of royal icing and we had fun decorating cookies for our friends and family (and for us, of course!)

We had fun breakfasts!  For this I made toast and used a cookie cutter to carve out a heart from the center.  I then put Peanut butter on the heart and strawberry jam around the outskirt of the toast.  We had strawberry milk because strawberry milk makes everything better.  And I love these napkins that I bought last year from Marshalls. 

And of course we had fun lunches!  The kids' favorite lunch is a muffin tin lunch.  I bought these sweet 6 cup muffin tins from the Dollar Store, and then I put fun things in them!  For this lunch I gave them strawberry flavored string cheese, vanilla yogurt with sprinkles, strawberrys, grape tomatoes, more strawberry milk, and some heart shaped sweet tarts. 

I love giving them fun lunches, it really helps to break up the homeschool day and make things more exciting. 

A special part of Valentine's Day was someone sending me a gift!  I love colored pens and someone sent these to me with a sweet Homeschooling Momma card.  I have no idea who sent these to me but it was just the sweetest thing! So if you are reading this and it was you, thank you!

All in all it was a great Valentine's Day and week. 

It was really nice when it was all said and done to not have the guilt that I spent too much on the kids or spoiled them more than I should have.  It was a great day and we loved spending time with one another which is the best part of Valentine's Day! 

I hope you all had a great Valentine's week.  Please let me know how you are doing on your own no-spend challenges. 

Love to you all! 

The Hard Autism Days

I wrote this last week, enjoy:

Today was a bad day. 

Don't get me wrong, we've had worse.  But this was definitely one of our dark days. 

For those of you who may be new here, our son Calvin has Autism.  At times it is high functioning, "I never would have known he was autistic!" Autism, but nevertheless, Autism.  If you're interested in reading more about our story, you can read an article in the Family Magazine about us here.

For the past few months I've been in more or less a fairyland.  We've been doing great as a family in terms of dealing with one another.  I was feeling like we had accomplished some major social feats and we were making great strides in the world of autism. 

In fact at our last appointment with Cal's "special doctor"  I had explained it somehow like this: "He's been doing so great...do you think he even has autism?"

I'm pretty sure if she had been drinking soda it would have come out of her nose, "yeah, he still has autism" our doctor reported. 

And today, our carriage turned back into a pumpkin and I was transformed out of fairy tale land. 

The reality is this: I can plan a day of fun like we did today and then I can watch it fall apart when Cal can't handle whatever it is he can't handle.  Our reality is that frequently autistic kids have very concrete things that push them over the edge but Cal many times has lots that are inconsistent.  And when these days happen he goes non-verbal, so there's not a lot of communication that occurs to help us help him. 

Today, MLK Jr. Day we went to Indianapolis on a road trip to go to a ton of activities that were free today.  Chaching!  You know this Momma likes to save some money!  I even had contacted a friend from youth group and was so excited at the idea of being able to meet up for a quick chat and hug! But after the first stop (to the Children's Museum which I thought he would LOVE!) I could tell that this was going to be a no good, very bad day. 

To some it would seem like we should just pack up and go home.  I mean, if we know that the kid is having a bad day why stay there and continue to make a mess of the day?  Well friends, there is this one little girl who is our daughter and she was very excited to be going to these things. 

It's always a catch 22 with being a parent of an autistic child.  I've come to see that through Emma's eyes, she gets the short end of the stick so many times.  I'll say that again, so.many.times. 

So we stayed and tried to make the best of the day. 

The more momming I do I find that I struggle with writing these posts.  As Cal gets older I don't want to embarrass him or make him feel awkward.  But I write these to show you: 1) it's not all fun and games over here like so many people think it is (how you would ever think that is beyond me!) and 2) I want to encourage other Momma's that are in the midst of this.  I think we need all of the encouragement we can get!

There was once a season of my motherhood that regrettably, I made autism all about me...how I was not cut out to be the mom of a special needs son, how hard my life was, how unfair all of this is.  How life sucks sometimes. Pity party, pity party.

This starts to put me back in the same feeling.  I feel like I want to just pout about how this ruined our day and how we're going to backslide.

But I'm not going to. 

Because ever so slowly I'm learning to recognize a bad day for just that and not a bad life. 

And if Cal makes me have a hard day then that means he's having an even harder day than I am. 

We have great days too and I need to remember those.  Cling to those.  Hope for those. Expect those.  I was blessed to have a photo shoot with the renown photographer, Katie Whitcomb.  She captured some really beautiful moments of our life together as a family.  When things seem bleak these photos help me to remember that a bad day is just a bad 24 hours.

God has put me on this path to be this sweet boy's Momma.  I say "sweet boy" now and repeat it because those are the words that are hard to come to me as he's smashing his skull against my face while I try to comfort him...

The Lord has put me in this path to comfort you that, if you are in the season I've passed through, where it seems like life is against you, the cards are stacked in someone else's favor, it's never going to get better, I can tell you, it's just a bad day, week, season, month, year, whatever. 

It's going to be get better. 

It doesn't have to be forever. 

So I am sure if I wake up tomorrow thinking it's going to be another bad day then it is in fact going to be another bad day.  But I know that the Bible tells us His Mercies are New Every Morning.  Meaning, I get a fresh start! 

So I am choosing to chalk this off as one of those bad days, I probably had WAY too high of expectations for today anyway. So I will choose to wake up expecting nothing but the best from myself, my son, and from our God. 

Because Hard Autism Days are just that...hard. Autism.days.

And even though that's my reality, I wouldn't trade that for anyone else's fairy tale for anything.

Anything.

No-Spend Challenge, Week 2 with a Lesson in Using What You Have

Last week went by in a whirl. 

Our church is looking for a new pastor and it was a crazy week of preparing for a new one to come for a visit.  I apologize this is coming to you so late in the game but as I've always said, better late than never! 

This past week as I mentioned was crazy and so I don't remember what days I did what.  I do remember though that there seemed to be a presounding theme throughout our week and that was to use what we have. 

The one thing I've been so amazed with by staying home is how much time I have to get things done. 

Before I was doing mindless errands to get things I thought I needed which in fact, upon a long, hard look turned out to simply be wants.  Oh, maybe not wants in the way of saying I really want that carton of yogurt tubes but more of an issue of mindlessly keeping up with the Joneses. 

I didn't even realize I was doing it but it was in my head that the kids wanted go-gurt tubes because all of their friends had them at snack time and by golly, they had wanted them too!  But when I realized it I put a stop to it.  If we have yogurt in cups at home then by-golly they can grab themselves a spoon and take a good old-fashioned cup of yogurt.  Ta-da!  Mindless shopping and spending minimized. 

This week by being home I've also noticed two things happening:

1) I am going to the gym a lot more! 

Weird that I said by being home I am going somewhere but shut up, it's my blog and I can write weird things.  ha! 

It's true though.  As I mentioned before we did not cancel our gym membership but instead challenged ourselves to make the most of it's value.  As a result I've gone every single day.  I am sore in parts of me that I didn't know existed but it is also a rewarding feeling to know that I am doing something good for myself, burning stress off, and using that gym membership to it's fullest.  Our gym also has daycare, swimming, a waterpark area, a big gym for the kids, a video game room, an art center, and a rock climbing wall.  So our gym is something we go to a lot and do a lot of different things at. 

2) I am cleaning this house up! 

This past week was the first time in I don't know how long that I actually got caught up on the laundry.  It was a great feeling!  Being caught up on the laundry also brought out some feelings of overindulgence when I discovered that both of our kids have so many clothes that I can't put all of them away when they are all clean. 

So for each drawer we stood in front of it and weeded and sorted, and hemmed and hawed over everything until we had gotten rid of enough that everything fit.  It is definitely a weird feeling to get rid of things that still fit and are still perfectly good but I will be donating them so I feel good about that at least. 

So both of those things (massive time at the gym and laundry) I had not had time for before when I was running everywhere and getting things we simply didn't need. 

Can I get an amen about no more trips to Hobby Lobby?

The other thing we've been doing is actually USING what we have!  I've pulled out blocks and cards and books that had been buried because we have too much.  I've noticed the quiet as they rediscover simple things that we already have. 

I've also done my nails with nail polish I already own.  I mean, I already have it, why not use it up?  Anyone else guilty of buying things and then never even getting around to using them?  What is up with that?

When Emma and I would have girl time together previously we would go buy something or go out to eat.  Now we are doing our nails together and it is so much fun!

I could go on forever with examples, yo, but in short, we're using what we have, cleaning what we have, and moving what we have (at the gym!) 

I hope you all are having a great week! 

Comment below with what you want me to talk about relating to our no-spend challenge!  Next week I'm talking about how I pack food for road trips.