Gobble, gobble

We are so close to vacation. I can almost smell it. Can you smell turkey and stuffing, pies cooking, and fresh bread? I can. And it is divine. It has been so long since I have been home for a major holiday. And I need some serious family time.

Hubby came home yesterday from work with a movie for us to watch. He had a couple of dollars and stopped and rented Kung Fu Panda. What a cute movie. And it is filled with some fantastic sayings. For instance, "Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. But today is a gift, which is why it is called the present." Wow. If that doesn't make you stop and think for a minute, nothing will really. And it makes me realize that I am grateful for the present.

I broke down and bought the movie for vacation. But I bought the one that came with The Furious Five and the pc video game. It will not come out of the plastic until we leave for the trip. I am not getting worn out on it before an almost 1100 mile journey.

We have had a busy week. Monday was relatively quiet, except dance for the big girl. Our youth at church did a fund raiser at a local restaurant that night. We stopped by early because of dance. Hubby met us there and we got to eat together. It was fantastic to see so many of our congregation show up and support the youth. We had people from all three services show up, which was incredible considering all the strife that we have been going through. We filled the restaurant three times that night, and the youth raised over $400. They were hoping for $200.

And the big girl's dance teacher picked their recital song already. They are doing "It's Tricky" by Run-DMC. That just happens to be one of my favorite songs and one of the first I downloaded onto my iPod. The big girl is so excited she can hardly stand herself. I love that she is so dedicated to something she loves. I wish we could afford for her to take all the classes she wants to take. Hopefully we can get the bills paid off and she can.

Tuesday brought a flurry of activity. We had a co-op lesson. I love our co-ops and so do the kids, which is really the point. We learned about Greece. We all learned some really neat things that we did not know. And my friend had actually visited Greece years ago when her father was stationed in Italy. So she had a little first hand knowledge as well. The kids did a mini Olympics that they thought was fantastic. But any time you get a bunch of kids running around like that it's a good time.

And the baby had dance. Hubby got home in time to take her. I was very thankful for that. It gave me time to get dinner made and the big kids got to finish their work they didn't finish because of co-op. But they got it all done before dinner. I love the flexibility of homeschooling.

Wednesday was JAM and busy, busy, busy. I had dance. Hubby took the day off to help us. He had to work Saturday, so he got a day off during the week. He likes to be able to participate in things like that with us. He likes to be able to share the family activities with us. It was quite a success and we are so blessed to have the volunteers we have. This program would not happen without them. And we get to spread the love of Christ and show the kids what it means to do that.

Wednesday night we had a church dinner for Veterans Day. There was a ton of good food. The church provided the meat (sloppy joes) and we all brought a side dish. I brought cracker salad. I had two plates of food, shame on me. The kids ate really well, but they also had to in order to get dessert. Then anyone who had been in the service could get up and share stories. That was a lesson in history and pride and dedication and patriotism if ever there was one. It was a privilege and an honor to be in a place with all those veterans.

Thursday was our science co-op. We made s'mores in solar ovens. That was neat. I had never seen the pizza box solar ovens before. It took a little work, but melted chocolate, graham crackers, and melted marshmallows were worth it. I would have preferred a charred marshmallow, but it didn't slow me down much. Or the kids, either.

And Friday was park day. I know I do not have to go into the song and dance about park day. Let me just say, it was fantastic once again. And we may start an art co-op that meets once a month. Yes, another co-op. But when it comes to learning and being with your friends, the kids and me, it just cannot get much better than that. But I'll fill you in on that later.

So that's our week in a nutshell. I will fill you in this week as we get prepared to visit the great country, sorry, state of TEXAS!!!!! And we will send greetings and blogs from the road. Look out world, we are headed out onto the roads. You may pull over now!

Have a great day!