. . . . And she's back.

I am back. Back from a wonderful two week vacation in Florida and then a week and a half of organizing and rescheduling our life to fit in the blessing of home school. I am officially a home schooling mommy! We have a week under our belt. It went so well. There were a few bumps with scheduling, and I am still not enjoying having to do my cleaning in the afternoon now, but over all it has been wonderful. Cadi is eager to learn, and she loves the special attention from Mommy.

I am using a wonderful curriculum called hands on home schooling. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to incorporate a lot of activity into their preschoolers education. There is not a whole lot of sitting or pencil work. It was exactly what I was looking for in a curriculum. We have a cooking class every week, a dramatic play class, PE, music, and the normal preschool classes such as phonics, math, basic science, etc.

My Cadi turned four last week, while I was away from blogging. I really cannot believe how quickly these past four years have flown by. It has been a blink. I hope to be able to sit down and do a nice birthday post and video for her. Scotty is changing and growing so much since returning home for the summer. He is finally crawling and pulling himself up. He is all over the downstairs of our house. He has really begun to take on quite the personality as well. Two of my favorites right now is his fake laugh that eventually completely overcomes him and becomes real laughter, and the way he has started wrinkling his nose when he smiles. He is a darling boy.

I am also excited this fall to continue pursuing my hobby of photography. However, I really need to figure out what to do with all of our photos. I am so behind in scrapping. Yet, I do love it. I am just not sure if I have the time. So I have been debating whether or not to print some photo books. Also this fall, I am determined to sew my window treatments for the kitchen and finish up the little house projects that remain. I would really like to make the small room that attaches to our bedroom a nice little nook for my quiet time. I have a few other sewing projects in mind as well. I want to try my hand at making Cadi a cute pair of bell bottomed pants with ruffles on the hem. I am no good at following patterns, though. I usually sew free hand. I am thinking the pants might be a bit too adventurous! I also am trying to figure out a way to craft the verse Matthew 22:37 for my childrens' rooms. Any ideas?

A big blessing in my life is my dear friend Bethany. She is the best girl friend I have ever had, and I thank God so much for her. The wonderful thing is the same is true for Jim and her husband. God has truly blessed us with their family. It is so nice to be moved back home and be able to spend more time with her and her family. We have even started a mini book club/ study and are reading through and discussing Crazy Love
The discussion part is a stretch for both of us being introverts, but we had our first discussion last week. It was such an encouragement to me, and I really enjoyed our time together. I am excited to see what blossoms from it.

Oh boy - two minutes until school starts. It felt good to write again.