Tiques and Treasures

Good morning!  I can surely tell there is a little tiny nip in the air and fall is on its way.  I am so ready.  I will be pulling down my fall decorations from the attic this weekend and hoping for cooler temps. I am running late.  I usually have everything done by now!  

I have a sick little one this morning.  She complained of a sore throat yesterday morning but acted fine. She got a little worse in the afternoon and then the fever and vomiting hit.  We ended up at urgent care with a diagnosis of strep throat.  Poor thing.  She is NEVER sick and when she is she always seems super sick.  Hoping once we get more antibiotics in her today she will feel much better soon.

After our girls day last Friday, we continued the fun into the evening and headed to our local high school football game.  We love going to games and cheering on our Cougars. It was the first home game and Darbee was so excited to go.

Although they lost we had a great time together.

On Saturday, an antique store in a nearby town was hosting a 'Tiques and Treasures day.  Vintage trailers from all around gathered for a show.  There were a good many booths too!

We went and really enjoyed looking at the "glampers."  What fun these folks have fixing up these vintage trailers and showing them off.

Just look at the inside of quite a few of them.

It was really neat to see the different themes each one took on. 

They were all completely different.

Darbee liked the sparkly seats inside this one.

Look at the walls of this one.  The lady that owned this one said she kept it set up in her back yard and would go out there for naps some days.  How neat!

This one had a shabby chic theme.  

The last one we looked at was set up inside like a log cabin.

It had a more primitive decor also.  I loved it.  So cozy!

We enjoyed scouring the booths and finding a few treasures also!

What a fun day! 

It made me want a trailer like those!

Until next time....

The Big Cut

Good afternoon!  I am so glad the weekend is finally here.  Are you?  Do you have any big plans?  We are going to our local high school's football game tonight and the Darbee has two birthday parties to attend tomorrow.  We will be busy.  

This has been a good school week and we have got a lot done.  We are working on common and proper nouns as well as rhyming words and sequencing in Language Arts.  We are working on greater than and less than in math and ordering and comparing numbers.  In science, we are studying the solar system.  In history, we continued our study of the middle ages with learning about the rise of Islam and learning about the journey from Mecca.  Quite interesting.  

Last weekend, hubby and some friends from work went out of town to an antique car show.  Darbee and I planned a fun girls weekend. We had an extra visitor that we were excited to entertain.

Each week, a child from Darbee's class gets to bring home Sam.  Sam is a stuffed animal that you keep over the weekend.  Sam goes on adventures with you and once the weekend is over, you complete a journal entry on your adventures.  How fun!  Darbee was so excited to bring Sam home.  

  After finishing school work on Friday, the first thing on our agenda was a little pampering.  Darbee has wanted her hair cut for quite a while.  She has had it cut before just below her shoulders but let it grow out again. This time, she wanted a short cut but I wouldn't agree to how short she wanted it. (Just below her chin)

She wanted to donate it but to do that you had to have 10 inches.  Wow.  I didn't think I could let her do it. Sam was with us to watch and their adventures began.

The lady measured 10 inches and it would be cut just at her shoulders.

I gave her the go ahead and she did it. 

She cut 10 inches.  

Darbee couldn't stop smiling and she hadn't even seen herself yet.  She was thrilled that she was going to have short hair.   I was a little nervous but after it was done, I loved it.

I had one HAPPY girl.  

Sam was smiling too.  He loved her new look. 

She looked so grown up!

We plan on donating the hair to a local organization.  

What a neat adventure she had to journal about with Sam.

My big girl is growing up.

Until next time...

I'm Back

Welcome!  I took a pretty long blogging break but I am happy to say I am back and ready to get on board again.

How do you like the new name and look of things?  I contemplated quitting blogging all together but knew I would regret it.  I have made so many good blogging friends and didn't want to lose that.  I love reading all of your blogs and keeping up with your lives.  

I did decide to change the name.  We have gone through a small season of change in our household and thus the new blog name.  A Joyful Journey. I will still do some prim decorating posts but I intend to post a lot about our new homeschool journey and our daily routines. 

We are on somewhat of a new journey. A journey that I am so excited and joyful about so I found the blog title to fit perfectly.  Darbee started first grade this year and is loving it.  I am too.  She is attending a private school that is a University Model School.  What makes it different?  She goes to school at the school campus two days per week and we homeschool the other three days.  I couldn't be happier.  I know there are many mixed opinions about homeschooling and I respect those but this is what we feel is right for us. 

My crazy girl had to make a silly face too. 

I have always had the hopes of being able to homeschool but never felt brave enough to jump in. Where would I start?  What curriculum would I use?  What textbooks would I need?  Will she be around other kids enough?  All of those questions kept me afraid. 

  This school allowed me to have the opportunity to do it but not 100% on my own.  She has teachers who create lesson plans for the week.  We follow those lesson plans at home for our homeschool days. We were given a textbook list and just had to order them.   It is a perfect balance.  She still has the classroom experience and is away from me two days but we are homeschooling and have that freedom three days.  I LOVE IT! 

It is a lot of work though.  She has worked so hard at home with me and I am so proud of her.

We have made learning fun by using a variety of materials and even doing our school work in dress up clothes. 

When you have to point to a shape why not point with your nose?  Haha.  

She loved it!  It makes learning fun and keeps things interesting.

Before her first classroom day at school, the back to school fairy came to visit.  

When we came home one afternoon, this bag was on our doorsteps. *wink*

The fairy brought some really neat school items.  

She was so excited!

I had a special gift for her too.

I loved this poem.  Thanks to Pinterest.

Her bookbag was packed and her teacher's gifts were done.

Her lunch was packed too with a special note inside.

We climbed into bed and read a special bedtime story that the fairy brought.

And one very excited girl drifted to sleep.

She was so excited the first morning.  She was up before me!

Here she is all ready to go.

This is the first year she has had to wear uniforms.  I love it and she does too!

Goofy girl!

I walked her in for the first day and she got busy with a puzzle.

This is one of her teachers, Mrs. Anderson.

She wasn't too nervous at all. 

Her school is set up like a little town.  Her room is the candy shop.  It is so cute!

She had a GREAT first day and has had a good few weeks so far.  We are both loving it all!

We started back our homeschool art class.  We are excited to have new projects!  We moved to a different day this year so we have all new friends too!  This is always such a fun class.

Darbee also did cheerleading.  It finished up last week and here she is with her trophy.

I am excited for you to follow along on our new journey with us.  I am excited to recreate the blog and share our days with you.  

Until next time...

I'm still here...

Good evening everyone!  Wow.  It has been such a long time since we visited.  I have no excuses.  I just haven't took the time to get on here and update.  I have been wanting to make some changes to the blog and have been pondering several ideas.  This school year will be the beginning of several changes in our lives that I am excited about.  I promise to do a blog post soon about it all.

We went on vacation several weeks ago and I can't wait to share pictures of a special place I was able to visit.

I am working to get everything organized and together.  School starts the 19th for us and I hope to get into a smooth routine and promise to work blogging into my daily schedule.

So...sorry this is a short post but I just wanted to let you know I had not forgotten about my blog. Thanks for being patient.  I promise we will visit again soon.

Until next time......