Zoo Atlanta Trip

I can't even tell you how many times I have driven through Atlanta on my way to Hinesville when I lived there in 2004 and again in 2009.  I had never actually stopped to see the sites and do all the touristy things. We went this past weekend primarily for the zoo and to see the panda cub, Po.  OMG, he was so cute!!! It sure took us a minute to find the pandas.  I told my mom that Jack Black better be there in person after all the walking we did. :) I know he was there when they announced the name. That would have been cool to see that.

Our trip was last Friday through Sunday and included me, Hannah, Autumn, Meagan (my sister), Emma (my niece), my mom, her BFF Jonna, and Jonna's granddaughter, Marianne. While the trip was fun, I would also say it was pretty tiring with four kids ages 6 and under (even though there were four adults!).  Hannah, Autumn, and I traveled about 1000 miles total! We went up to Clarksville Thursday, left for Atlanta Friday, came back to Clarksville on Sunday, and drove back to Millington on Tuesday. Whew! It was a great trip, but always nice to be home.  Now enjoy our adventure!

lounging at the hotel

in the elevator getting ready to go to the zoo!

first stop--the flamingos!

the zoo had cute little parks!

Pumba! What's funny is the meerkats were
nearby! ;)

Po the panda cub!! He sure likes to climb!

Mama Panda trying to get him down...he sure
was a defiant little thing!

trying to get her child under control (we've
all be there!)

Having fun in the hotel pool!

Marianne jumping to her Nonnie

This is what I did...felt nice :)

Emma and Autumn lounging

Girls coloring while we wait for pizza...it wasn't as peaceful
as it looks!

Meagan took this pic...all the Cozbys' "grandbeauties" :)

Autumn is intrigued by the storm we had
Saturday evening

Watching cartoons and having pizza...chinese the first night
and pizza the second, oh yeah!

And then McDonald's when the girls and I headed
back to Millington! We won't be eating out for a while :-p

Totally Cute #3

I love me some fall decor! I got these little gems at the Dollar Tree for 50 cents a piece! So cute! They're not porcelain...I'm actually not sure what they're made of. Plaster? Something...anyway, Hannah already wants them displayed in her room but I'm feeling a little selfish. :-p 

This came from TJ Maxx for a whopping $12.99! I've been wanting to do something like this (again, thanks to Pinterest), so I was pretty excited. I just wish there were four clips so the girls could have equal room for their masterpieces, but I can just rotate.

Our School House

We had a school room once upon a time before we realized that our sanity was on the edge if the girls continued sharing a room. That said, the school room that once was became Autumn's room again.  Since Hannah's room is bigger we moved the desk and all that good stuff in there. Now we have an actual school house since everything is spread out and never kept in a single area. My ultimate dream would be to have a huge finished basement to be a school/play room. It would be the cutest place on earth. Some day.

This is the right side of Hannah's room. Yeah, I'd say it's a smidge cluttered. :) If I'm going to show our schooling space I may as well show it as is. It's looked worse...just papers and various books. The little table has Hannah's coloring and drawing.  The desk features an array of future work and various school supplies I have yet to find a place for. The pink crate down at the bottom left is mostly "I Can Draw" books.  Clean laundry to the right that most likely won't get put away for a week. ;-p

Walk down the hall and you will come to this.  Our morning board and the white rack holds our craft supplies (overflowing a little so I will have to figure something out). Not pictured is a plastic tote with sensory bin stuff (just put one together! so excited!).

Now take a left and you will be in the kitchen where most of our actually learning has been taking place.  Here Hannah is decorating the workbox I got today (Dollar Tree! Woot!)--more on those later.  At this time Autumn had cranked out and went to bed a little early, so she will decorate her box tomorrow.

So that's where our school takes place! :) Hope you enjoyed it!

This post is linked up with Heart of the Matter's "Not" Back to School Blog Hop

Happy 100th birthday Lucille Ball!!

Everyone young and old loves Lucy!! Who could possibly say, "Oh, I don't really care for I Love Lucy..." Yeah, whatever. I think I was 12 or 13 when I became a big Lucy fan, which then got me intrigued by all that is vintage. :) I seriously remember laughing out loud hysterically on the episode "Lucy Does a TV Commercial" when she first tasted the Vitameatavegamin (yes, I actually spelled it by myself). Now I have all seasons on DVD and my girls like watching it too! :-D

I know her birthday was actually yesterday, but I didn't have access to a computer. :-p So happy birthday Lucy! Wish you were still around to give all this other women a run for their money!

Week in Review #37: Cc is for cat and Copernicus

Working hard no doubt. :)

This was a short week due to our trip to Clarksville on Thursday.  I was bound and determined to get more organized this week and get a good flow going. Seems like every week since we started school there has been some reason for me to not follow through for the week (church day camp, traveling) but I knew if I kept that up we would not get anything done. This week was wonderfully different.  Despite only having a three-day week we got a lot done. We finished our first lesson in astronomy which was just learning what astronomy was and how perfectly God created the universe. :)

Hannah was very excited about this project!

The yellow ballon the far left represents the sun and the rest represent the planets.  I tried to make them the correct sizes in comparison to each other.  This was an activity at the end of the lesson and I really believe it helped Hannah start to remember the order of the planets and all their names.

Autumn traced this herself, no help from me!!! I am so proud!

A low point of the week was on Tuesday when I wanted to go to Kroger and work some coupon magic before the latest sale ended.  Turned out the battery in my truck was totally shot. We took it to Auto Zone and it was so bad they couldn't even check the charge in it!  But the Lord is good and we were able to get a new one.  So we come home, Ryan puts the new battery in, and the truck starts right up.  Cool, right? Still anxious to see what goods I can stock up on, I put my stuff in the car and I turn around to go back in the house to get my phone.  Walking through the garage, I hear this buzzing and then this searing pain in my ear.  I GOT STUNG BY A WASP!!  ON THE EAR!!  My automatic reaction is screaming and swatting at my head, no doubt scaring Ryan and the kids (who are splashing in the pool nearby).  I fall on the ground, glasses falling off in the process, and just sob! It...hurt...BAD!  I'm happy to say that as I type this the swelling has gone down a lot and it's barely sore.  After a bad car battery and getting stung in the ear, I didn't want to see what else could possibly happen so I sadly did not get any couponing done.  I figure my safety and well being was worth a lot more. 

I'll end this post on a lighter note and show the one "c" craft we got done this week:

C is for car

The idea for this craft came from Toddler Approved.  Pretty fun idea to use old Playdoh lids for wheels. :)

Posted at the Weekly Wrap-Up

You know you're a policeman's wife...

...when your potty training toddler pees on his bullet proof vest laying on the floor.

...when you are washing his holster in the sink along with the dishes.


More to come I'm sure :)

Our Morning Board!

I have been wanting to do one of these for a good while now. I wish I knew to do it last year, but with this journey we call homeschool I think every year we learn new ideas. :) We will be learning/reviewing day of the week, months of the year, weather, and seasons.  Lots of time, velcro, printer ink, cutting, and poor man's laminant (packing tape :-p) I am very proud of the finished product.

I got the dates and months from the Dollar Tree last year.  Aside from the numbers the dates also include the various holidays, birthdays, and no school.  You'll notice there's "no school" at the end of the week, because we are going to Atlanta! :-D Three days!

Isn't this just adorable?  I downloaded these from A Year of FHE, which I came across thanks to Pinterest!!! Oh my gosh, that sight is so amazing!!! There is a tree for each season and underneath is four corresponding pictures.  I like that under winter they have a picture of the nativity to represent Christmas. :)

I got these weather printables from Montessori Print Shop.   I don't know why it's starting to look a little warped, but it still serves its purpose.

I didn't get any pics of the morning board in action, but the kids really enjoyed it!