So you’ve probably been wondering where I’ve been….
At the beginning of last week my dad was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia. He was still bound and determined to go to the family reunion on the weekend. Prayers were sent and he was released on Wednesday. They drove from Nashville to here that evening and we left on Thursday to go to my aunt’s in Columbia. On Friday we visited my grandparent’s grave and placed flowers. Afterwards we headed to Hilton Head!
We had SO MUCH FUN! I can’t even describe how wonderful it was to see and spend time with everyone. My dad has 7 siblings and all but one attended the reunion. Then add in all my cousins and 2nd cousins and a couple of 3rd cousins! LOL It was a BLAST!!!!
On Saturday we had a cousins day at the beach! It was just so cool to see all lined up down the beach and hanging out with each other and watching our kids play in the sand and water together.
We had pool time, family meals, park day and family worship on Sunday. I can’t wait for next year!!!!
Here are some of my favorite pics from the weekend. (At the time of writing I didn’t have permission to show everyone’s face.)
My dad and Colin at Golden Corral.
At the beach! Almost all of my cousins that attended the reunion were at the beach on Saturday, one of my 2nd cousins and her 2 little ones missed this trip. The kids all totaled 12.
At the pool!
At the park. All in all, I believe we had 9 kids at the park! SO MUCH FUN!!!!
At Sunset Bay Restaurant.
At Hilton Garden Inn.
I think this picture says it all!! LOL We ran around alllll day long everyday and then hit the pillows HARD when we finally made it back to our room! LOL
I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to spend time with my wonderful, loving family!
We had a WONDERFUL visit that was over way to soon for me. But then, any visit with him would be over too soon. Thankfully we might be able to spend a whole week with him in February! YAY!!! Keep your fingers crossed that it all works out!!!!!
Yes, yes… I know… Today’s title is very much like yesterday’s! LOL BUT the post is very different.
I finished Cailey’s costume yesterday! YAY!!!!! She LOVES it!!!!! BUT because of the Frankenstorm the Halloween party was rescheduled. Now, ordinarily that would not be such a big deal BUT since we are moving at the end of the week, we won’t be able to go. Cailey was SO upset. SO, Momma Hope (she sort of adopted our family and I LOVE HER SOOOOO MUCH!!!!) is going to take Cailey and Colin trick or treating to all the church members’ houses so she can show off her costume. LOL That made it better. 😉
I was lucky enough to be invited to lunch Friday with Momma Hope, Grandmomma Verna and Marie. These are 3 very special ladies. I already mentioned that Momma Hope sort of adopted my family into her heart and Grandmomma Verna is her mother. You will never meet anyone as kind and generous and loving as those 2 special ladies. Marie is taking over Bags of Hope and Love for me here. She is SUCH a blessing!! I am so thankful for her!! We had a very nice lunch with lots of chatting. LOL I am so thankful that I got to go before we moved.
Today at church I said my final farewells to a very special group of people. God blessed me so much when He had Momma Hope stop at my door and invite me to her church. My life will be forever changed just from knowing those special people.
Pastor David passed around a church directory and had everyone sign it. SUCH a special going away gift. I will always be able to look at it and remember each and every one of them.
I cried and cried and cried. I know God has a purpose for us. I know that we are moving to Georgia for a reason. I may not know that reason for a while but I know there is one. Like a friend said today, it may only be to support our family better but that is a reason!
I have pictures of Cailey’s fairy princess costume!!!! I am sooooo very very sorry that I forgot to take the pictures for a tutorial. I’m not sure that I would have done a very good job with the tutorial anyway….. I was flying by the seat of my pants on that costume!!! LOL
She LOVES her costume!!! YAY!!!!! 🙂
Deanna was disappointed about the Halloween party, too. I was going to make her a long black skirt today. Last night was did a trial run with the Dios de los Muertos make up. It looked REALLLY good. She wouldn’t let me take any pictures, though. I’m thinking she might want to dress up on Halloween. She will be helping Grandmomma Verna hand out candy while Momma Hope and I take the little ones trick or treating. 🙂
I was going to finish Colin’s dino costume today. All it needs are eyes, teeth and nostrils… But since the party was cancelled, we spent the day flood proofing the sunroom. Well, not really flood proofing…. more like cleaning and making sure all the books were above the flood level. SIGH… PLEASE PRAY that our bottom floor doesn’t flood again!!!!!
We had a little silliness going on last night. Check out these pics!!!
Clown Cailey!
Clown Colin!
Hubby the Clown!!! I still can’t believe Colin talked him into this!!! Sorry the pic is blurry but I only got one shot….. LOL
Joshua the Clown!!!
Deanna put the wig on for a split second but wouldn’t let me take a picture… LOL I was hoping Jacob would show up today so we could get one of him. Where is that boy???? He TOLD me he was coming today!!!! He better not make me call all his friends… 😉
They are saying that the worst of the Frankenstorm will be tomorrow night into Tuesday. Pray for us!!! The Hubby is still planning on going into work and that means I will be getting up at stupid:30 in the morning to drive him through the Frankenstorm. Yay…..
I will start going through closets tomorrow in preparation for the move. Fun…. LOL And toys boxes will need to be thinned out… Pray for me on that one. Colin will NOT be happy!!!!
HUGS and PRAYERS for all of those in the path of the freaky storm!!! Just remember that God is in control. We can depend upon HIS strength!!! He will take care of you!
So sorry for my lack of sewing posts lately. I did manage to cut the pieces for Cailey’s Tinkerbell costume! Step one – complete! LOL I should have a tutorial up by the end of the week.
Then Deanna comes in yesterday and tells me that she would like me to make her a long black skirt to wear to the Halloween party on Sunday. Nothing like waiting until the last minute! LOL AND she wants makeup like this –
Yep… Nothing like the last minute! 😉
Anyway, since I have a lot of sewing to DO but nothing to SHOW, I thought I would do a post about hands on science for homeschooling! FUN! 😉
OH! Legos!!! A great hands on unit for boys especially!! This is from The Homeschool Post.
This is an AWESOME idea for this time of year!!! Basically you just fill your pumpkin with soil, water it every so often and watch the seeds grow! 🙂 This idea comes from Growing in PreK. Although it says Pre K, I think this would be excellent for any elementary age child!
I ❤ the Crafty Classroom!!! This fossil craft would be an AWESOME addition to a fossil or dinosaur study! The page has more hands on idea for fossils. And you should check out all the other themes on the right side bar. AH-MAZ-ING!!!!!!
This is BRILLIANT!! What a great way to show the molecules in the different layers of the atmosphere! A really good visual from Science Matters.
E Is for Explore has a lot of great ideas to show static electricity! And we are quickly approaching the time of year when static electricity will be zapping us on a daily basis….. LOL
I thought this was just brilliant. I would never have thought to use a soggy graham cracker to represent the tectonic plates! Thank you to the Homeschool Den!!!! This page has a lot of other ways to explore plate movements. 😉
Another perfect for fall science experiment!!! This one was put together by Science Sparks with a guest post by Rainy Day Mum.
The Science Behind Who Gets Magical Powers would be great for high school biology. It’s not exactly hands on but it is definitely an attention grabber for those HP fans!!!
If this shows up (FINGERS CROSSED!!!) it will be a video from BBC One that shows how your ear works.
Launch a rocket from a spinning planet with this guide from NASA Space Place.
Water Cycle Wonders from Practical Pages. And while you’re there, check out allllll the other amazing things on this blog!
Another brilliant idea!!! This can be found at Momma Owls Lab.
Here is another one that isn’t actually hands on but definitely an attention grabber. It shows the skeletons of different cartoons!! How cool is that???
Speaking of skeletons, we had an interesting science time yesterday. LOL Cailey was petting Bonnie and asked if a cat has bones in its tail. Instead of just saying yes and moving on, I looked up cat skeletons on Google to show her. Then we dragged out our DK Eyewitness Skeleton book and looked at all the different types. That led to dragging out the starfish as an example of exoskeletons! LOL
Whenever your kids ask a question, don’t just answer it. Help them explore it. See where it leads! You never can tell….. LOL Science is a natural topic for kids. They are always wanting to know the how and the why of everything around them.
We haven’t been doing any “actual” homeschooling since we decided to move. There have just been a thousand things going on around here…. BUT they have still been getting their daily dose of science just by being interested in the things around them. Such as, “why are the leaves turning colors and falling off the trees?” “Why do squirrels collect nuts?” “Why are the buzzards circling over there?”
Sometimes you even get really lucky and can add some history in, too. 😉 “Why do we use pumpkins on Halloween”, can be both a science and a history question!
And don’t forget with Thanksgiving just around the corner that the opportunities to combine the two subjects will continue! Weather, crop growing, and the different animals of the New World just to name a few science items to go along with the history!
And I just had to pause this post to explain how the earth tilts for the different seasons and why there will most likely NOT be any snow in Georgia this winter…. LOL Geography AND science in one question! LOL
I need to get sewing on Cailey’s costume but all I reallllly want to do is take a nap! LOL I am trying to fight an oncoming cold….. WAH!! I do NOT need a cold right before we move!!! AND right before Halloween!! Not to mention that I am still having awful fibro flares. I think they are due to having to get up at 4 am this week to take The Hubby to work. WAH!!!!! BUT when we move he will have more decent hours! YAY!!!!
Well, we are in Georgia. We just got settled into the hotel. So far I really like it. Spanish moss hanging from live oaks, palm trees…. Yep, I like it.
I did NOT like the ginormous chemical plant we passed, though… BLECK! STINKY! And we could smell it from outside the hotel room last night.
I got a couple of pictures from the beginning of the trip when everyone was still awake and the travel centers were still open…. LOL I am hoping to get MUCH better pictures today!
The Hubby is off at his interview. I hope it goes well.
The kids are still asleep. We have until 11 to check out, so I think I will let them sleep as long as they want to! 😉
I am looking forward to seeing more of the town today. It was soooo late when we finally got here!! It’s a small town. I think the website said 13,000 people. We also have 2 houses that we are planning on checking out today.
OH!! The Hubby was THRILLED last night when we saw a Krystals the next town over! I know we will be stopping there at some point today! YUCK!!! I have never been a fan. Maybe you had to grow up around them?? An acquired taste???
OH!! While I’m thinking about it, have any of you ever been to South of the Border??? I remember driving past it a ton when I was a kid. I always wanted to stop but we never did. 😦 We passed it last night and I STILL want to go! LOL Oh, man… I just looked at their site.. Now I REALLLLLLLLY REALLLLLLLY want to go! LOL
I’m wearing my Hocus Pocus skirt today! 🙂 It’s soooo comfy! I am very glad I packed it because OMGOSH! It’s going to be 90 today!!!!! Yep, I’m in the deep south, all right….. SIGH…..
Oh, great. I see that we might have rain for the return trip. We definitely need to leave earlier today to head home. I do not want to be driving that late on little sleep.
Anyway….
Have a great day everyone!!! We will be checking things out here in south Georgia and leaning on God’s will. I wonder what He may have in store for us.
I’m thinking she might want to dress up on Halloween. She will be helping Grandmomma Verna hand out candy while Momma Hope and I take the little ones trick or treating. 🙂
Stacy Sews and Schools 