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......

Fresh from the garden

Good afternoon! Wow, it has been a while since we've visited. There hasn't been anything new going on around here. Nothing too exciting.

We have been staying busy with play dates and outings with Nana. 

 We haven't had too much interest in our house just yet. Supposed to have a showing this week. I am such an impatient person and want something to happen NOW. I know when the time is right it will, but I do not like waiting. 

A little known fact about me is I do NOT have a green thumb. I pretty much kill any plant that I am near. My daddy however can grow anything. He has even taken dead plants that I have killed and nursed them back to life. 

I get excited every year when he starts planting his garden. I cannot wait because he is always so sweet to share his crops. 

Sunday after church, Darbee went home with Nana and Papa. Hubby and I rode around looking at houses. When we ended up at Nana's house it was supper time. Guess what Papa offered us for supper? A fresh ripe tomato sandwich. Oh my. This was one happy girl. 

It was so delicious. Wasn't he so sweet to share one of his first tomatoes with us? Well, that's not all he shared. I also went home with this

A HUGE basket full of fresh green beans! I remember as a kid, I would get so excited when he would bring these in. I would get to get my own bowl and Mama would let me have some beans of my own to snap. I thought I was a hot shot. Darbee Rae is just like me. She couldn't wait to start snapping and begged me to start even though it was after 11'o clock when we got home. 

We snapped them last night and she was a big helper. She did a great job!  

Today, we spent the day at Nana's and she showed me how to prepare them for the freezer. Good eating for the winter! 

I ended up with 8 quarts! 

Do you garden? What is your favorite that you grow? I am thankful my daddy enjoys it and am thankful for all that he shares. 

Until next time....

New goodies

Good afternoon! 

I love getting new things....don't we all? But I especially love getting new things for my home. And you know what makes that even better? When it is handmade. And...to top that off, handmade by my daddy. 

We have a Five Below store here that opened a few months ago. Have you heard of that store or do you have one in your area? Everything in the store is $5 or less.  Darbee LOVES going in there and I do too sometimes. I saw in a recent store flyer where they were getting in 1 gallon glass drink dispensers. I couldn't believe they were only going to be $5. We went soon after they went on sale and I bought one. I tried it out to make sure it didn't leak and it worked perfectly.  Yesterday, I found a picture of one on a wooden stand. Oh how I loved it. I sent the picture to mama and told her to tell Daddy to make us one. He is so good. On HIS day yesterday, he made us both one just like the picture. I couldn't believe it. I got mine this morning completely done. Painted and all. 

I LOVE it. I can't wait to mix up some summer punch and serve it in it. I think i should have some friends over to enjoy it with us don't you? 

I also have had a new quilt for my bed for quite some time. I have waited to put it on the bed until summer since it wasn't as thick as our comforter. I decided to put it on just the other day and I LOVE it.

 I found the quilt and the shams on sale at Lid'l Dolly's in Pigeon Forge, TN. We love going there. In fact, we were just talking about sneaking in a girls trip up there today. We should do it don't you think? Hehe. 

I love adding special touches to our home. I hope I can add special touches to a new one soon. We are looking and still hoping to sell ours soon.....if it is meant to be. 

I hope you all have had a good day!  Thanks for stopping by. 

Until next time.....

Fun Day at Zoo Atlanta

Good morning!  

It's been a great weekend so far.  Yesterday, Hubby's company had their company picnic at Zoo Atlanta.  How fun!  We were so excited to go.  Darbee Rae hasn't been since she was in a stroller.  She was excited to get to walk all the way through this time!

We got there really early hoping to get through before it got so hot.  It was still terribly hot but we were done before the hottest part of the afternoon.  It was a great family day and lots of fun.

Such a fun day!