Meet Allison. She pens the blog After His Smile. A mama who talks about her sanctification as a mother, lover of adoption, life, and food. It’s just a life beautifully written, documented, and examined. She loves the Lord and boldly shares it. I am always refreshed when I read her posts, so much honest and beauty fill them. Blogs are beautiful because everyone has a different story to tell and different experience to learn from. Allison has no doubt gone through some trials that most of us don’t even want to think about. Her story (can read part of it here) has touched my heart tremendously. I can’t even imagine going through the pain she has gone through and yet, she still smiles. Despite having known dark days, she still praises God. Her life is full of joy in Christ and it shows. I am sure if you take a read at her blog, you will be encouraged by the joy that she lives. I know I am! Thank you for sharing your story with us Allison!

Stop by and say hello to Allison at After His Smile.

The biggest news of the week is that Ben and I are still sick. Lame, right?! We missed out on this gal’s fun birthday party and another good friend’s daughter’s 1st birthday. I mostly feel bad for our girls who have just been cooped up at home. I can’t wait for this weather to cool down and for us to feel better so that we can start planning outings.

The exciting news for the week is that my vintage, cascading chandelier is finally up! I spotted this beauty in April from a gentlemen who does amazing things restoring vintage lighting and he was kind enough to save it for me while I saved my pennies. It’s now September, finally mine, and we just had an electrician install it. It totally changes the look and feel of the room to exactly what I was hoping for and it makes this new, regular suburban tract home feel like it’s an old home with character. Our house has new and decent bones and a layout we love, now we are just working slowly to change out the cheap standards home builders give and are filling it up with details that make it perfectly fit for us. If you live in a tract home and are discouraged by the cookie cutter style your home has, don’t lose hope, you really could infuse it with a lot of character yourself! All it takes is a little imagination (and saving some pennies).

Really though, all this stuff is just stuff and ultimately still won’t make you happy. There are tons of people living in their “dream” homes that are still supremely unhappy and left wanting something else. It’s the truth. I’ve said it before and I will say it again because we need to be reminded often, don’t let reading blogs or looking at instagram make you unhappy. Read and admire with appreciation and not with a coveting heart. I have to do heart checks with myself often.

This week’s learned and links…

My girls would rather make things than watch a movie.

Glow is an eating machine. Each meal she feels 5 lbs. heavier. OH! And she took a step!

We’re making these paint chip animals soon!

This locket makes me go WOW!

Paint dipped pinecones?!! Genius!

Bummer. We didn’t win the ray-ban giveaway, another blog won. I so wanted to win to get Ben, give one to a blog friend, and pair and give a pair to one of you! Sorry guys.

Digital polaroid camera. Cool! Reminds me I need to order more polaroid film.

I am loving reading all your comments regarding homeschooling. I don’t have time to go read the blog of everyone who comments, but I love (and appreciate) you sharing your stories here. We all do what we feel is best for our families and at the same can learn from the experiences of others. We all have a variety of experiences and can learn a tremendous deal from listening and critiquing (in a positive way) one another. If we have someone just telling us good things about ourselves and applauding our every move, we will never grow and learn how to improve and be better. There are always ways to be a better person, friend, partner, teacher, and parent (runner, cook, you name it, there is always room for improvement!). We just have to open (and humble) ourselves to listening to others, even if we don’t agree with them.

We’ve been covering the middle and new kingdom of Egypt, so we’ve got a few characters that we’ve come to know. One is the female pharaoh Hatshepsut and the other is the young pharaoh King Tut. For Hatshepsut, we created false beards, but a little more colorful than what was actually worn, and for King Tut, we made our own papier-mâché Egyptian death masks, again probably a little more vibrant than what was actually done. Regardless, both projects contributed to understanding the story of our characters better.

It looks fun and dandy, but I will tell you sometimes homeschooling is tough. If you would have asked me yesterday or this morning, I might have been eager to throw in the towel and send them to regular school. Though when I look back at moments like these, I am reminded of why we do what we do and the benefits of homeschooling.

If you didn’t know, I was once a public school teacher and had my own fourth grade class. It is interesting now to be able to use the skills I went to school for with my own children. At the same time, I think it’s harder with your own children. I definitely was much more patient with a class of 30 than I am with 2. So strange how that goes.

I do love how in schooling at home, we can dig deeper into subjects and mix in their personal interests as well. There is a whole lot of curriculum integration going on. People  are pretty divided when it comes to their ideas of homeschool and I completely understand why. Just like there are bad and good teachers at regular school, homeschooling could be executed well or executed poorly. I went to school to be a teacher, so certain aspects of homeschooling may be a bit easier for me than others, but not everyone who does homeschooling has to have a teaching background to be successful, and not everyone who does it, regardless of their level of education, will be successful at it. Heck! There are a lot of areas of homeschooling in which I could use some improvement. Thankfully, we have a really good support system through the charter school we go through and a teacher comes to the house once a month to keep up to date with everyone’s learning. Plus, most of my closest friends are still currently teaching, so when I need some advice on things regarding the younger grade levels, I bug them.

What are your ideas of homeschooling? Do you agree with parents who do it or not? I won’t be offended if you don’t agree, but please just be nice about it.

I took our most recent photo booth strip from our trip to the fair, went to a local copy center, asked them to photocopy the first picture into a black-and-white 18″ x 24″ print and I must say that I am pretty happy with the result. The best part… it cost $1.99. It was just what this little wall needed (see here).

I did also have them copy another strip, which was already black-and-white, but the shadows in that copy came out kind of strange that I like how the colored one transferred into a large black-and-white better. You can see that one here.

Have any other quick ways and fun ways to put up a family portrait? I love how Jen turned her instagram into wall art. This is next on my to-do list.

p.s. yes, that is an inflatable, pink unicorn. we picked that up at the fair too!

Ben and I woke up Sunday morning feeling horrible. We’re both still feeling pretty cruddy, but we gotta trek on. Now when both parents are sick, well, not much else can be done but get some dvd’s, let the messes pile up, and throw some fast food in the mix for good measure. True and Brave had school today so that calmed things down a bit here and gave us both more quiet time. Despite still feeling a bit icky, Ben goes back to work tomorrow (NO!) and it’s back to finding that normal we had 4 weeks ago. It seems just like yesterday that his vacation started.

I am going to miss Ben terribly when he is at work and will be counting down until the minute he walks back in the door. Plus, I hope we all feel better tomorrow and kick the sickies to the curb! Be gone cold… we don’t like you!

Another day at school together, means another day to solidify being buds and more memories together. They always come home with the best stories and they tell me they are excited to go to school to share with their friends all that they are studying at home, especially what they are learning about Egypt. They love Egypt and now they know all about King Tut, but pictures of mummies scare them a bit. Heck! Mummies scare me a bit too. As much as homeschooling does present its challenges patience-wise, I do love this extra time I get to spend teaching my girls, especially when it is a subject they take joy in learning.

These girls of mine are delightful. Yes, sometimes they make me nutso (I think that’s normal), but overall, they really are sunshines & rainbows.

on true: shirt and skirt, misha lulu. shoes, vintage. on brave: dress, designed by true. leggings, target. shoes, salt-waters.