-
bedroom update (by amie).
Hello! This is my bedroom update. Over the summer I’ve been changing my room from a tween room to a teen room. I want it to be a cozy place for me to have alone time, and also a fun place to have friends over and chill. I call myself a plant nerd and you can tell by these pictures. I have 28 houseplants in my room! Kinda crazy. I bought two strands of twinkle lights to hang in my room, I like their cozy vibe. I still have 3 roommates (pets) with me: Max and Oscar, my guinea pigs, and Albus, my bearded dragon! Yesterday morning I woke…
-
july.
I reread Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series in its entirety this summer, and decided to go out to breakfast to celebrate. You were invited if you’ve also read the entire series, which is no small feat considering there are 17 books (with one due out this fall, hooray!). Linda, Cheryl, Beth and I met at Small Sugar for cafe au lait and croissants and spent a solid hour and a half talking about the series. It was blissful. Nina’s Retirement Party My Mom (known to her grandkids as Nina) retired this month from working at CIU for 24 years. She started out in Residence Life then spent the bulk…
-
13th birthday trip (by amie).
For my birthday my parents took me on a magical trip to Charleston! We drove to Sullivan’s Island on Tuesday morning to spend the day at the beach. I hadn’t been to the beach since last summer, so it was so fun to go this week! We stayed at the beach for two and a half hours before it began to rain. It was still enough time to go on a walk on the beach, swim, eat a picnic lunch, and lay out in the sun. It is such a nice and quiet beach. I asked Mom to take a picture of these gorgeous flowers for me to paint.…
-
gatlinburg.
Last week we spent 5 lovely days in the Smoky Mountains with the Gentinos — minus the Vargases, who we missed! This was our family’s first trip to Gatlinburg, and we had mixed feelings about the town itself, which was packed with people and a plethora of touristy shops that boggled the mind (it’s not called The Myrtle Beach of the Mountains for nothing). But the mountains were magical. We loved staying in cabins right outside the entrance to Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and drove into the park every day. There was a great mix of shorter trails, lookouts, and drives and then some bigger hikes. We hiked or…
-
june.
The month of June felt wonderfully, blissfully, like summer. I did a whirlwind of homeschool work at the beginning: reporting, purging, and organizing work from last year, as well as registering us for the coming year. And a little co-op planning as well. Then I was very ready to put thoughts of school aside for a bit and enjoy a slower pace, being with friends and family. Our church is doing a 6-week women’s and men’s Bible study on the book of John, so David and I have been going to that Tuesday and Wednesday nights. I’m also in a book club with a group of women that my friend…
-
may.
We started off the month by finishing homeschool co-op for the year, playing the last game of the soccer season, and coming down with Covid. Most of us had a fairly mild case — congestion and fatigue — but David had flu-like symptoms for a whole week. Jump Off Rock Half Marathon Judah and David had finished their training program right before they got sick (actually David realized he ran the 12 miles while he was sick), and we were all a little worried they wouldn’t be able to get their strength back one week later for the race. They drove up to Hendersonville the night before, and…
-
april.
April was full of pollen, warm temperatures followed by 45-degree days, pushing through school work amidst spring fever, and Easter festivities. Two of our friends that Amie babysits for gave her a gift card for a manicure, so I took her and Caroline the week before Easter. It was Amie’s first manicure! That same evening, we hosted some of the girls from church to help fill eggs and gift bags for our church Easter egg hunt. This is becoming a very fun annual tradition. We had a Good Friday church service, then the picnic and cookout Saturday afternoon. The weather was perfect; it was my favorite of…
-
front yard.
Three of the six of us have Covid, so we’re hanging out at home these days, alternating between laying around lethargically and puttering in the house and yard. Today I spruced up the front porch with a good bit of help from Amie. Basically all it consisted of was moving plants and other decorative items from different spots in the house out to the porch. It’s called “shopping our house,” and if it weren’t for the resulting barren state of other areas of our home, it would work perfectly. David was feeling depressed about the front yard garden this winter and threatened to do away with it completely.…
-
audiobooks.
One of my kids recently informed me that we have over 100 audiobooks in our Audible library. I was so surprised. I’ve added to our collection over the last eight or nine years, mostly just one title a month. A few times there’s been a sale on classics, and I’ll buy several books for under $5 (for instance, the Green Ember series by S.D. Smith is currently on sale for $4 a book). I know I’ve mentioned audiobooks often on the blog, but I thought I’d give you an update of how we use audiobooks in our house by answering some of the questions I get regularly. Years ago, I…
-
7 years.
Gabe and Noah have been apart of our family for 7 years. It simultaneously feels like the time has flown and also that they’ve been with us forever. I thought to celebrate Adoption Day, I’d tell you about what they’re each like, right now, in spring, 2022. Gabe. He’ll be 11 years old in a month. He has endless questions about the world and the way things work. He wants to know the details of machines and appliances and any technology. He shines in math, Latin, and science. He’s not a bookworm in the way some of the rest of us are, but does enjoy reading nonfiction, especially…