Doesn't everyone mark the milestone of 16 1/2 months?   I have obviously failed at monthly updates, but I felt it was time to record how little Lucy is doing.   We are constantly asked - is she walking?  And our answer is always "No, not yet."  For months - the same answer.  The kid started crawling at a year though, give her time.   In the past few weeks she has made some real progress!  She has started standing up on her own, cruising around more than crawling and has actually taken 4-5 steps at a time.  Now it is just a matter of time before she takes off! Weight: About 17lbs.   - She cut her top two teeth about a month ago and just this week her bottom 2 molars cut through.  - Eats everything we eat.  With her teeth she is able to start biting things on her own, like bananas and toast. Favorites - oatmeal, quinoa, bananas, cheese, soup, applesauce, raw broccoli and eggs - really most things.  She has...

3rd kid - I got it.  Her birthday was almost 2 months ago.  Moving on... For Lucy's first birthday we happened to be at the beach with my family.  Not a bad place to spend your birthday!   The party was not a Pinterest spectacular.  It was a run to Publix, open a few present, then head out for your cousins to ride go-carts.   Here are some things she has accomplished in her first year: - has been to 16 states - has been on 11 airplanes  - Six Flags twice - Disney World once - been to The Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic  - visited The Mall of America - has been to New York City multiple times, Boston,  and Washington D.C. -5 college football games -The Statue of Liberty - Been on the Today Show - 5 road trips -Concerts at Trophy Point, parades, Top of the Rock, Dinner with Cinederella, ski trip and pool time Whew!  Poor kid won't remember any of it! Weight: I think 15lbs. I r...

I am in complete denial that we start school next week.  Yikes!  More summer please!  While I will miss summer days and the ability to plow through my to do list, getting back to a routine and schedule will be nice.  We are going to keep things pretty easy for the first couple of weeks...like wading into the pool instead of jumping in. I am becoming more and more committed to homeschooling the more research I do.  Forget the moral or spiritual reasons - the educational benefits of one on one education are pretty significant.  Not to say that it is for everyone, but I am excited about our journey. So as we prepare for next week, here are our curriculum choices for this year Addison Bible  -  Grapevine Studies and ABCs for Godly Children.  We will also be reading missionary biographies from YWAM publishing .  We will start with Gladys Aylward.  We will also work on memorizing a chapter of scripture this semester.  ...

On May 14th, we wrapped up our 3rd year of homeschooling.  I feel like such a newbie to the homeschooling world, but I guess 3 years counts as experience!  This year was our first official year of reporting though.  Overall, this year was great.  While everyday wasn't a load of fun, Addison did a great job of getting her work done and rarely ever complained about school.   About half-way through the year I had one of those, "I'm going to put her on the bus tomorrow" kind of days.  Looking back I'm not even sure why I was struggling.  I called a trusted friend and mentor and the Lord used that conversation to completely change my outlook on what I was doing.  I've always felt the Lord's call to homeschool.  I am a teacher and nerd at heart, so most of the planning and scheduling comes naturally to me.  However, if you homeschool because you like being a teacher, you will burn out very quickly.  My roots needed to go deep...

Sunday was an amazingly relaxing day.  We had thought about going to a Braves Spring Training game.  It was probably a good decision to just hang out at the resort.  The girls just love the pool and having another entire day to swim was great for them.  Lucy loving the pool! This is why you need to plan an extra day at the end of your Disney Trip...  Worth the money to have a day to just play and relax before going home.  Our flight wasn't until 2:30, so we had plenty of time to get packed and ready to get on the bus.   Heading home is always bittersweet! Mya loves the safety cards...  I hope this helps someone on their next Disney Trip!  We had an amazing time and love traveling with Disney! 

On Saturday, it was time to go to Epcot.  Our last day at the parks.   In an effort to get Mya to 40 inches, we tried putting Mya's hair as high as possible.  LOL.   Again, the fastpass system messed up our normal routine.  Our first fast pass wasn't until 9:15, so we thought we had a few minutes to take our time... When I originally scheduled our fast passes, I wasn't thinking about the rider swaps.  I set us all to have fast passes at Soarin'.  I realized that morning that I should change it - 2 fast passes for Soarin and 2 for Test Track.  The soonest available fast pass for Test Track wasn't until 6:15.  We should have gone to Test Track first thing, had Chad ride in the single rider line and then get a rider swap for us instead of waiting around all day for the fast pass.   Goofy! I knew Ana and Elsa were in Norway, however, the app on my phone said that their line didn't start until 11, when it actually...