Up and Down day

Today was a pretty good day. It had it's ups and downs. I started out with an early run of 2 miles at 6:45 am. Derek was supposed to run with me, since he has had a renewed sense of physical training challenge for football next year. However, it was too early for him and he chickened out. (I have also chickened out on my early runs at 5:30 am partners, so I guess I deserved it) Don't worry, I have made it up in the evening. I gotta keep going.

Then we had a church work day at 8:00. To my suprise Georgia worked really hard. JD did more playing and complaining. It is usually the opposite at home. I was pleasantly suprised by a quick visit with my mom. I love chatting with her. It was hard work but fun so it went by fast.

After that, we planned on heading out to spend the day in Poteet. However, those plans fell through. I had to make it up to the kids so I took them to a dollar movie. We finally saw Toy Story 3! It was great! Although it was tugging on my heart, I remained calm. Derek on the other hand cried. Georgia felt bad and reached over and rubbed his shoulder. Awe!! I expected more of a reaction from JD. When he was younger he was so animated with those characters. Buzz Light Year was his favorite. In his Buzz underoos he would jump of the edge of the couch and exclaim, "to infinity and beyond!!" with determination to save the world. Ahh! The memories...

Once that was over, Derek went with his friends bowling and we stayed home. I guess I was still in movie mode. I looked over the on demand list and came across Beezus and Ramona. We loved the books and decided to finish up our night curled up on the couch glued to the TV. It was also touching. Both JD and Georgia laughed and cried. At the end Georgia said,"I love happy endings, they make me smile." Awe! Me too!

Today was a good day.

Art Works

Today we had a really cool field trip! The kids got to get messy and do lots of art! Art works is a place for the kids to all kinds of art. The cool thing for me was that it is only $5.00 per child! I could totally handle that. They got to make all sorts of things. JD's favorite was using crayon on a sheet of white paper then painting over it with black paint. Then scraping over it with a scrapey thing and making cool designs. Georgia made people with toilet paper rolls, construction paper, and fabric. Of course being a girl.. she had to change her apron twice! They had a great time and we look forward to going back!

High School Bowling

I've never seen high school bowling (with the exception of the movie Grease 2). I didn't know they had that untill Derek came home and said he wanted to try out. For try outs he had to bowl 10 games within a week. We were suprised to see how many people were there. He is super excited about it! He is learning all kinds of stuff that we didn't know. We still aren't sure how the scoring works but that will come along. A cool perk is that he can bowl anytime he wants for $1.00 a game. No discount for family but that would be nice...It's a lot of fun to watch. Go Derek!! Go Marshall!!

Fun and Games!

JD is doing pretty good in writing and learning different styles. Right now, he is learning to write persuasive paragraphs. He comes up with topics and chooses one, then pre-writes (rough draft), proof-reads, then publish. So, he chose to persuade me to play Monopoly with him. I usually say no. Mostly because it is so time consuming and I just don't make the time. Anyway, he did well and persuaded me. So, we played Monopoly. I really thought I would win because, well...I'm playing a nine year old! Hmmm....ya, he beat me. Oh, well...it was really fun and I really enjoyed taking the extra time to play with him!

(Warning! No make up in the pics.:/)

Lost Maples

This is the perfect time of year to see the season's change in Texas. For us the closest most beautiful place is Lost Maples. We try to go every year but it didn't work out this year. SO..I thought I would show off our pictures from last year. It just makes me happy to see these pictures.

Derek wasn't with us because he had to be in school. The wonderful part of homeschooling is the flexibility to take the day off and enjoy day trips like this. So we packed our lunch and headed out there. When we pulled into the entrance to the park we saw a people who looked VERY familiar. The Davidsons! They are good friends of ours that we have known for years. It was an awesome day and even better spent with friends! We went hiking in this breath taking park and enjoyed hanging out with friends. We talked with JD and Georgia about all kinds of things to take note of, trees, little animals, leaves and so on. It was a super long hike but we made it. Then JD and Georgia slept all the way home. Looking back, I wish I would have just taken Derek out of school for the day.

God is so good and blesses us with his creations! Thank you Lord!

The Count Down Is On!

Well, Derek is counting the days... Of what? He has been in orthodontic work since
7th grade! It has been a long journey. He started with a lip bumper, that he wore for 18 months. Basically it was an appliance that was placed on the lower teeth that pushed his lip out to allow room for his tongue to naturally push his lower teeth out more, to create space. He did have to have a couple of teeth removed and then braces were put on. He went to the orthodontist and he is now looking at a huge Christmas present early!! November 30th is the BIG day!! He has the count down marked on our big family calender. Then my handsome ladies man will be handsomer....hehe. Watch out! We just might take new Christmas pictures....