Saturday was a crazy day.  We had a scout event for Wes, two soccer games for Tyler, and a Bible Study for Maddie.  Plus Tom had a funeral.  I was sore and still trying to get over my head cold so I took the day off of exercising.  Sunday I preached and went out to eat with the family and took that day off too.


Today I told the kids they had to write up a summary of things learned for each subject studied this year.  Wes did a great job writing about some grammar he studied~he used humor and some everyday situations to describe the things learned.  Our 180 days of school officially ends tomorrow but the kids have  until Friday to finish their essays. They will also keep daily journals and be reading the paper/current events to talk with me about daily.  And, of course, the math that wasn't done.


Tomorrow early I take Wes to get the impression for his nighttime retainer.  Tom and I have a UMM/UMW banquet tomorrow night.  Other than that I'll have a day at home.  Yay!


Today's workout:  Petra Kolber Just Dance; TA Meta Ab L1D6.


Esther:  Becoming a Woman of Beauty and Strength by Elizabeth George(http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Woman-Beauty-And-Strength/dp/0736904891/ref=tmm_pap_title_0 ) Mary Madison wanted to do a Bible Study with me, yippee!  So, she picked this one out.  We got it on Kindle since it was $7.19 and could be downloaded to both of our Kindles.  We do 5 days per week, answering the questions in a notebook, and will meet on Saturday to discuss what we learned. Isn't God awesome to allow me the privilege to learn alongside my daughter?

It's been end of school busy here.  We had a Skating End of Year homeschool party yesterday for Tyler.  Today Wes and Maddie had a park day for the middle and high school kids.  Tonight Tyler has a sleepover and tomorrow he has two soccer games. Thank goodness that's it!  We also have a funeral tomorrow and I agreed to preach for Mother's Day on Sunday.  Tuesday and the final day of school (except for math) can't come soon enough.


Workouts:  Thursday was Dance off The Inches Tummy Tone Party and TA Meta Ab L1D4; I also walked Tucker and did Squeeze Arms.


Today:  Ellen Barrett Fat Burning Pilates and TA Meta Ab L1D5; nothing else so far.  I sure hope I can get a walk with Tucker in tonight.

I still haven't been able to catch Wes long enough to get a picture of his fabulous teeth!  He's been too busy eating Doritos, chips, and Starburst. Oh well, this too shall pass.  It's all that fun food he couldn't eat for the last year and a half.  But he's grown a ton in that time and I told him it was because he had to resort to eating real food since most junk food was off limits. :p


Today it rained all day until about 3:30.  So I'm just getting ready to walk Tucker before church dinner.  We got our regular school work done and the kids ended up banding together to clean Ty's room which really needed it. Then Maddie and Tyler had piano lessons.  I'm preaching for Mother's Day on Sunday so took my work and worked on that while I waited.


Today's workout:  Denise Austin Burn Fat Fast Cardio Dance (25 minutes); Meta Abs, L1D3.  I could see improvement in my upper body strength holding me on all 4s so long and I took fewer breaks and could do the reps (she does 40 of every exercise on all 4s, it's a lot).  I think she has something making you do the same workout 10X before moving on~you get better at it and feel the accomplishment of improving.  Now I'm off to walk Tucker for a mile.

I need to post a picture of Wes soon for everyone.  His teeth look AMAZING.  It just blows me away how much they can do with orthodontics now as far as changing the structure of your teeth/mouth, etc.  He definitely has a million dollar smile (and sometimes it feels like we paid that much, lol).


So, today we got our math done and not much else. We did celebrate Wes getting his braces off by letting him choose what do do in the afternoon.  Umm, yeah, we ended up watching an episode of The Universe, no surprises there. ;)  Wes is also cat sitting so he did that and Tyler has been working on a Mario lego  creation that he made.  He's started taking on online Lego class for homeschoolers that's free. It's every Monday evening from 4-5 and he loves it. This month it's all about Mario.


After dinner tonight we walked to Long John Silvers/A&W and had root beer/root beer floats and an iced tea for me. I've not had a diet soda in over a week and feel better. I sure hope I can keep it up.  Cold turkey is the only way as I've pretty much got an addiction to them!


Today's workout:  Dance off the Inches Country Line Dance Party; Meta Abs L1D2; Dog Walk


PM workout: Squeeze Arms and Triceps; Rodney Yee Ultimate Power Yoga, restorative segment.  Lots of lovely, lovely forward bends.

Well, our computer died last week and I was fighting a nasty head cold. So, it's been over a week since I've blogged!   We're counting down the days until school is officially out for us (May 15) although we will continue to do math throughout the summer because we're not done.  Actually, I think this is a good idea because math builds on previous lessons and it's good to keep in practice. We'll also do a lot of reading and relaxing.


Today began with some sort of leak in the basement. The water got into a clean box of litter and made a mess that Wes cleaned up. We owe him big time!  Tomorrow Wes gets his braces off so we're looking forward to that for sure.


I started doing a new workout rotation. Tracy Anderson's Metamorphosis Abcentric.  You do 30 minutes of cardio (she recommends her dance which is crazy complex and high impact) and then 30 minutes of muscular structure work(body weight training mostly).  It's very creative and I really felt my body today~especially the lower body where the work is performed mostly on all 4s.  So, today I did Dance Off the Inches Dance it Off and Firm it Up (25 minutes of dance) and then Abcentric Level 1, Day 1.  (You change the muscular structure work every 10 days).  So from now own I'll be saying I did L1D1, level 1 day 1.

Well, my throat has a sore spot on it but it's not getting worse. I'm worried that I'm taking Maddie's cold but maybe I'm fighting allergies. Taking my vitamin C for sure!


The kids took Tucker on his walk and will do fix pasta for us tonight since I'm feeling tired and "off."  I'm glad God has blessed me with such sweet children~well, they're sweet most of the time. :D


Today's workout:  Cardio day.  I did a 10 minute workout from Firm Time Crunch Cardio; 20 minutes of cardio from an Exercise TV workout; and 20 minutes of hip openers from AM Yoga For Your Week.

We did have a busy day but with an unexpected open spot in the afternoon.  I ended up not taking Maddie and Tyler to piano.  Maddie had not been practicing much due to her cold and Ty had been extra busy so I just kept them both out of lessons.  It was a nice change to have some extra time to do some fun things.

Tyler and I did his Story of the World lesson after the three kids and I did our Bible devotion and study. Then we did a very basic French lesson with greetings, etc.  The lesson included a picture of Joan of Arc and Napoleon.  Wes wanted to color Joan. It was so funny because he's not colored in years and never did much as a child.  However, he used some good colored pencils and enjoyed it. :D

We also got our regular math done. Wes has lately been doing his Algebra lessons without any help at all from me.  Such a huge advance over the beginning of the year. Prayer, time, and effort really do pay off if we can just relax and trust the process.

Wes had some some extra work for me so I took him to McDonald's and bought him a sweet after he and I walked Tucker for a mile.  It's a blessing to get to spend this time with my children for sure.

We got home from church and Maddie is babysitting right now. The dogs are lying at my feet and the two guys are enjoying a game together.  I am so blessed.

Today's workout:  Leslie Sansone Just Walk, blue mile; YogaWorks Body Slim; PM dog walk with Wes and Tucker.