Dreams comin true!

Every year the Shriners throw a big Christmas party for all the shriner patients in our area. Last year we just blew it off and did not even mention it to Kalysa. Well it just so happened that the local news was in attendance and Kalysa happened to see the story about it. When she saw all the decorations and clowns and children holding presents and looking so happy on that tv screen she really felt like she had missed out on something big. This year Keslee got the mail the day Kalysa received the invitation and so Kalysa heard about it before I did. In other words, we just had to go.

They really DID do it up big for those kids! Every kid got a stocking stuffed full, a present and a hat when they walked in the door. Of course Kalysa (being the daddy's girl that she is) had to pick out an OU hat on the day they were preparing to beat Nebraska and win the Championship☺.

That big present wrapped up like a big piece of candy was a blanket. Every kid there got a new fleece blanket and the fact that Kalysa's was totally pink and purple made it even more perfect.

They served cookies and drinks and Kalysa found these awesome light up sunglasses in her stocking.

While people were still arriving, the shriner band played Christmas music. Of course santa was there to talk with the kids and take pictures and the shrine clowns were making balloon animals. We got to see a few of the drivers that have taken us to Shreveport and back and Kalysa got a few hugs.

They entire place was decorated really beautifully. They had a couple of Christmas trees, balloons tied to every chair, huge blow up snowmen and reindeer and lots of lights.

The highlight of the day was when they passed out presents. I would guess there were a few hundred kids there and every single child had a present with their name on it. Kalysa sat listening and watching presents being pulled out from under the trees as she patiently waited to hear her name.

When her turn finally arrived she was not disappointed with this new doll. It is a Barbie type doll with a sled and a powder that we can mix with water to make snow. All in all the day was everything she was expecting it to be after seeing last years news story.

As soon as Kalysa and I were done at the Christmas party, we had to hustle back to town to see our local Christmas parade.

It is not a very long parade, luckily, because it was soooo cold, but the girls had a blast. The fact that the streets were not real crowded meant that they came home with pockets loaded with candy. Keslee also caught a big stuffed unicorn that one float threw. And where was my only son while his sister's were enjoying the parade???

Why he was sittin atop a hay bale, smiling from ear to ear, amidst his fellow boy scouts! Maybe you heard me mention that it was freezing...temps were in the high 30's along with 20-30 mile an hour wind gust blowing that Arctic air that just rips right through ya...but my boy wanted everyone to be able to see his uniform so he took his coat off part way through. When we picked him up at the end, I was all prepared to really yell at him for that (that is AFTER I had already yelled at his daddy thinkin he had taken my baby boy out in the freezing wind to ride in a parade without a coat just to be reassured that it was on him when Monty left him at the float) but when I saw that smile on his face, I just couldn't. Especially when he shared "Well that was a dream come true, I always wanted to be in a parade!" Well what was I suppose to do then?? just enjoy it, that's what!

Every school has to have a mascot, Right?

Unfortunately our mascot, Soffie, is a little more active in the everyday studies.

Every.Single.time that we sit down for school work, Soffie is not far behind. She plants herself right on top of whatever book I may be reading from. When I move her over to read from the portion of the book that she is hiding, she will mosey on over to any of the kids that happen to have an open book or notebook. It is not just school work that she is interested in. Oh no! She will climb up between my face and anything I may be trying to read no matter where in the house I may be reading it. I know one thing, we probably have the most well educated cat in these parts!

That's my boy!

On Wednesday nights we have our prayer meeting at church. After the sermon, the mood gets more relaxed as we all share prayer requests, answered prayers and blessings. It was during this more relaxed period that Kenyon sat back and put his feet up on the back of the pew near the song book holders. Now what I am about to share could be divided into at least 2 more blog posts. I could write a long post about how right my son is and then I could turn right around and write another post about just how wrong he was but I have decided to just leave it in the funny category so don't nobody start yellin at me. Just contemplate the rightness and the wrongness yourself and then you can leave me a happy little comment. Just so no one is confused thinking that our conversation just ended with the little laugh. Ok, to get back on track-Kenyon puts his feet on the pew and I say....

"Get your feet off of God's pew!"
to which he responds...
"Mom, He won't mind. He is my best friend!" insert cute mischievous little Kenyon grin that he has been flashing since before he could walk☺

November is not over yet!

Ok, I just could not let an entire month go by without one single blog post going up. I know I am cutting it kinda close but November ain't over yet! (ok, so it may be by the time anyone reads this but anyway...)



WOW! I can't believe November is almost gone. Where oh where has it gone?? I am just sitting here wondering what exactly was it that has kept me from my blog? What did we do in this past month? Wasn't it just yesterday that the neighborhood was being decorated with pumpkins and scarecrows? Now the trees and Christmas lights are popping up all over the place and another page is being ripped off of the calender.
Well let's see.....I spent a lot of time this month trying to get back on top of the mess piles in my house, school has been chugging right along, Kenyon has had a great time being busy with boyscouts, Kalysa had 2 trips to Shreveport....I guess we have been kinda busy.



About my house...It has been a long time since I have felt on top of things. I am much more familiar with the drowning under piles feeling. Well, enough was enough and we have done something about it. It all started with the girls bedroom. For the past several I don't know how longs, they have had the bunk beds separated into two independent beds. Come to think about it, that drowning feeling started not long after their beds were separated. I never realized it but their room was holding up the entire house! With two beds in their not so large room there was very little play area left. That room was the most disgusting room in the house. I am not exaggerating at all. Even after spending an entire day with them cleaning, 2 days was the record before you could no longer walk through the room. I had tried helping them, punishing them, and even removing their toy box and leaving them only with 1 baby doll apiece. Nothing worked. That room always looked like the after tornado pictures we have so often seen on the news and it inevitably spilled over into most of the rest of the house. Well 3 weeks ago I put those bunkbeds back together freeing up over 1/2 of the room. The girls and I went through everything. We got rid of trash and found a place for everything. They were excited to have so much room to play. And would you believe that 3 weeks later that room is still clean and has even been the cleanest room in the house several times!?!? (I am tellin ya, if you would have seen it before-you wouldn't believe it now!) Once that one room was conquered the rest of the house just seemed to fall into place and I feel like I am on top again! YIPPEE!





Remember the stick system I started in our school? Well they are really working out good. It has kept us all on track and nothing is getting forgotten. They have been a great motivator. One week Kenyon did not want to cooperate and did not get many sticks done at all. I did not say a whole lot to him about it but come Monday morning his cup was full again and also held the dreaded black stick. When it hit him that he had NO games-gameboy, xbox, OR computer-he decided he did not like that option at all! He spent Tuesday and Wednesday almost dawn till dusk both days getting his entire weeks worth of school work done (besides the part we all do together). He worked hard and I was very proud of him. It was very encouraging to me to see him work so hard on his own to make sure he got everything done. That confirmed to me that by the time he is ready for high school he will be ready to work independently and be responsible for himself (which is one of our goals).





At the first of the month, Kalysa had her year check up scheduled in Shreveport. She had a gait analysis to compare the way she walks now to the way she walked before the surgery. After that test, she had a new splint molded to account for the growing she has done and saw the doctor. When the Doctor did all the measurements, they were still not real happy about how tight her calf muscle is so they decided to put her in a cast to hold it in a slightly stretched position. That decision really felt like a step back for me but she was super excited about it. She just really loves having a cast on-crazy kid☺. I guess after about 25 casts in 5 years ya either love them or hate them. I am glad that she doesn't hate it since they are such a constant part of her life. She got a green cast and 3 weeks later we made another trip to get it removed and pick up her new splint. Although her measurements were not as good as the doctors hoped, she really has made a lot of progress. She can now stand on her left foot and balance for a full minute. Before surgery she could not do that at all and after surgery she could only balance for 6 seconds. She can also hop on her left foot and actually come off the ground-something she was never able to do before. She has been working hard on walking with the heel-toe step instead of just toe. She can do it great and now just has to break the habit of stepping on her toe. I sometimes have to remind her but it is getting closer to becoming more natural for her. She will continue physical therapy and wearing her splint and we will have another check up in May. We will also be doing some shoe shopping soon since the new larger splint wont fit in her most perfect girly shoes.





Well there ya have it-our November-in a nutshell-all in one post for the month. Hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving and hopefully I will be able to stay on top of things which will give me more opportunities to check in here.

Daddy at work

Monty's car has a bad tire rod so we have been sharing one car until we get the money for repairs. What that means is that Monty takes my car to work and I have his car for the few errands I may need to run around town during the day. The kind of errands that do not require going more than 20-30 mph or being more than a few blocks from the house just in case that ol' tire rod decides it's time is done. On days that I may have a need for more driving, I take Monty to work so I can keep my car.
Well that is what happened on Wednesday. After church the kids and I headed on over to pick him up from work to find out he had at least 2 more hours until he would be ready. Instead of making the 30 minute drive home to just turn around and drive back, we were able to wait it out in the break room at his job. I remember when I was a kid getting to visit dad at work was about the coolest thing ever and my kids feel the exact same way. Since Monty does not have the kind of job that is "bring your kid to work" friendly, staying at daddy's job was an extra special treat!

They got to see their dad driving his lift truck around the warehouse. The only thing better would have been to be able to ride along but that would be a serious safety violation.

The break room was full of fun activities and the kids wanted to be sure they did not miss a single one. A deck of cards left on one table was just asking to be used in a game of go fish!! My kids did not leave those poor cards lonely for long.

Although they were really too busy exploring every nook and cranny to sit through a tv program, they did stop long enough to find Qubo network for a quick cartoon fix.

Then on to the set of dominoes! The girls don't know how to play dominoes but the fact that this set had bright colorful dots meant that they would be perfect to make some pretty little stick figures! ☺

Anyone that has kids knows that anytime you visit some where new- whether it be a store, a restaurant, or a friends house-the trip is not complete without a stop in the restroom. I am not sure what it is about restrooms and kids but you would have thought that the one at daddy's work was the most beautiful and exotic place ever. They would have went about every 15 minutes if I would have let them.

The next best thing to visiting a new restroom, is choosing a snack from a vending machine. Since they don't normally get many vending machine opportunities everyone was excited to push the buttons and watch their treat fall.

After snack time may as well get in some exercise time. Kenyon has been working on doing push ups and he did not let the fact that we weren't home interfere with his practice.

Of course the best part of the break room is the little window in the door. Perfect for watching out for a glimpse of dad driving past.

All in all we spent about 2 hours in the break room but with all the excitement of a new place with tons of things to occupy 3 kid's minds and hands, it really did not seem long at all.

aaawwww...memory making!

♥ ♥ ♥ IT!!!

I love love love the fall!! It is just the most perfect season. I love everything about it. The cool weather, the leaves changing colors and

falling everywhere adding their own decoration to anything they touch.

The cool rains storms with gray skys and thunder and big clouds swirling around the sky.

Fall weather always brings back the best memories. It seems that tons of the most important memories I have happened between August and November. Now, why would anyone want to miss the opportunity to enjoy the fall every chance they get?

That is why I ♥ ♥ ♥ homeschooling!!!

We can take a "play in the rain " break right smack dab in the middle of our school work!

There is no need to get your shoes on.

No need for don't get dirty speeches.

Just no real good reason to stay out of the puddles!!


We can always finish up with our studies after we kick up our heels and have a little fun!!

Cup o' sticks

Since all three kids are doing the same curriculum, our days go pretty smooth. The 4 of us do the bulk of the school work together. After our together work, they each have math, language, and writing and then Kenyon also has extra science and personal help for boys character training. Those extras have been posing a problem. I have a bad habit of forgetting one or the other subject for a few days and then have to spend a day on catch up. I also seem to forget how many lessons I have assigned. I was writing assignments down one side of our chalkboard but they seem to disappear or get distorted. To solve this problem I have just implemented our knew system; Cup o' Sticks. Each child has a cup and mom has a cup. Each color represents a different subject. At the beginning of the week I will place one stick for every lesson due by the end of the week. When a lesson is completed that stick is then moved to mom's cup and I know what I need to go over and grade. If any sticks are left in a child's cup on Sunday morning, mom will place a black stick in that cup. Any child with a black stick in their cup has no computer or video game privileges until they have a week of completed sticks. Everyone can tell, by just a glance, how much work they have to complete and in what subjects during the week. If they put off doing math all week, they will have to spend extra time or their Saturday completing the weeks worth. We are just starting this but I have hopes that it will not only help me stay organized but also teach the kids some responsibility about keeping up with their own work. If they don't, they will have to pay the consequence. I'll let ya know how it goes.