Thanksgiving 2009

We are so blessed! My family drove 12 hours from TN to TX to spend Thanksgiving with us! I was so excited. My mom, dad, sister, 3 nieces, and 2 cousins made the trip south. My mom and dad stayed with my “other” sister – who lives just down the road. My sister (from TN) and all the kids stayed with me. I had two 6yos, two 10yos, two 11yos, and two 16yos (well almost – Logan will be 16 in two weeks, but we aren’t talking thinking about that right now).

I prepared a HUGE Thanksgiving dinner for our family. I loved it! I had coloring pages for the kids on the kid table. The kids played “pin the tail on the turkey” before dessert. (I found this lovely game in the dollar bins at Target.) We did LOTS of hanging out and catching up this weekend.

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Friday, we decided to not go shopping. We went to the movies instead. The kids saw Astroboy while the big girls saw New Moon! (And, what a fabulous movie it was! I’ll take sparkly vampires any day!) Hubby and Logan stayed home (actually, their movie – Blind Side – was sold out). I’m sure there was some sport-watching going on.

Saturday evening, we went downtown in our town to “A Dickens of a Christmas” – carolers, shopping, crafts, carriage rides, and FAMILY! This was a neat experience. Maybe next year, we will stay to experience it after dark (when the street lamps are lit and the carolers are caroling). This weekend, however, I was too tired to stay late.

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Everyone left Sunday morning, and they all made it home safely. My house is finally back in order, and I’ve found my energy!

The Ultimate Field Trip

The countdown is on! To where? Disney of course!! This is the countdown to 3D Travel's "Ultimate Field Trip". Click on *UFT* for more information. You won't want to miss this incredible opportunity to join hundreds of other homeschool families for a magical week at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL.

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TX State Fair 2009

I took my monkeys to the fair! Twice!! Friday, Emma and the dance team from our studio performed at the State Fair. They helped producers unveil a new superhero character, ZR. (You can check out zrtexas.com for more info about him.) I was so excited to see Em on the stage. She didn't dance in the "main" performance, but the production crew wanted some kids to act as "extras" to fill the stage. So, Emma was an extra. She had a really good time.

I'm not usually a "fair" person. I think the prices are outrageous, the crowds too big, and so on. We ended up having a wonderful time. We met up with some friends and rode the DART rail to the fair. The kids thought that was a blast, and I didn't have to drive downtown! We were able to take advantage of the many free exhibits they had - the butterfly gardens, Little Hands on the Farm, and a "Pirates" dive show. Emma even lost a tooth there.

Isaac was supposed to be an extra that Friday, but he stayed home sick. He was so bummed! So, on Monday before my mother-in-law went back to MO, she took us back to the fair. We picked Logan up from school and headed back downtown. We rode the DART again, saw a dog stunt show, and rode the bumper cars. Isaac was bummed when we had to leave in time to get him to football practice. But, all in all, everyone had a good time.

Fall Into Reading 2009

Yep, it's another reading challenge. I love to read! These challenges tend to keep me motivated. Sometimes, life gets busy, and I slow down on my reading. Can I read 10 books this fall? We'll see.

Here's what's on my bedside table:

Take Two by Karen Kingsbury
Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian
Along Came a Cowboy by Christine Lynxwiler
A Biblical Home Education by Ruth Beechick
Praying God's Word by Beth Moore
Fearless by Max Lucado

If I can make it through this list, I will add more. I am also setting a goal to read through and file/toss/give away my stack of magazines. They are accumulating on my countertop, and I need to move them along...

One more goal - I want to read through the Little House series with Emma at bedtime.

Serve It Up Sunday

Sunday: Matt is grilling tonight!! WooHoo!! I love when it's his night to cook. We are having Cuban Mojo Grilled Porkchops. He'll also make asparagus and couscous or mashed potatoes for sides. I've got an apple chip cake in the oven for dessert.

Monday: Asian Chicken Sesame Salad with homemade breadsticks

Tuesday: whole wheat pancakes with fresh fruit

Wednesday: Meatball stew with homemade yeast rolls

Thursday: Country lemon chicken, roasted potatoes, salad

Friday: bean burritos, mexican rice, and black bean and corn salad

Saturday - We will eat left overs tonight.

Disney 2009 Day 2

Today we went to the Animal Kingdom. Mom really liked this park. She loves animals and taking pics of them. We ate lunch at Flame Tree BBQ - yummy!! It was a fun atmosphere with ducks and hornbills roaming the area. We got TONS of autographs (as shown in the pics below). We loved looking at the animals on the safari, and really enjoyed the Jammin' Jungle Parade. We tried to do the It's Tough to Be a Bug 3-D show, but both the kids were scared! So, we left midway through. Maybe next year....

Dinner at O'Hana was fabulous, as was my birthday cupcake. We ate at O'Hana last time we went to Disney, and I knew we would have to take my mom there this time. It's so good, we will probably eat there every time we go to Disney!

After dinner, we headed to Downtown Disney. I'll post those pics later.

Disney 2009 Day 1

This year, I took part in UFT (The Ultimate Field Trip)at Disney World. My good friend, Carol Beth, runs 3D Travel Company and coordinates this "homeschool" field trip every year. This year, we joined 483 other homeschool families for the best field trip ever! I took Emma and Isaac. We met Mom there, as well.

The day we arrived, I took the kids to The Magic Kingdom while we waited for Mom to arrive. It was a VERY LONG day. It started at 4:30 AM when I got up to get myself ready. I got the kids up at 5:00. We left the house at 5:30 and headed to the airport. There, we met up with our friends, the Scott's, who were on our flight. Our flight took off at 7:30 AM. By the time we got to the airport, shuttled to the hotel - Pop Century, and got to our room it was early afternoon. The kids and I headed to MK to wait for Mom (her flight didn't land until almost 4).

This year is the Year of Celebrations at Disney World. Since I celebrated my birthday that week, I received a "birthday" button. That was so much fun! Yes, I wore it every day!! I bet I heard "Happy Birthday, Tara" at least 30 times a day! It was very nice!

We watched a show at the castle. I think it was called "Wishes". Then we headed for some rides. We didn't ride many that day since we were pretty tired. We did, however, ride Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, and Small World (Emma's favorite).

That evening, we met with CB and her travel agents at the Grand Floridian. This was where we picked up our group itineraries (for the UFT meet-ups through out the week). Emma got a lesson in "proper Pixie-dusting", and both kids learned about pin-trading ettiquite. After the meet-up, we headed into the Grand Floridian for a pizza dinner.

Were we done yet? Not quite yet! I think by this point the kids and I were on auto-pilot!! But, Mom was finally here, and the kids wanted to take her to the park. So, off we went - very slowly!! Emma and I rode Small World again while Isaac and my mom rode The Haunted Mansion. Then, Mom and I swapped and rode the other ride. After that, we all rode Dumbo and Cinderella's Carousel. At that point, I could take no more (and the kids had become quite grouchy as well). So, we headed back to the room to hit the hay!

Here are our pics from that day...