instagrams

you know instagram is my favorite app, right?
i love photos and i love capturing little moments throughout our days.
also, it's pretty much the only app i have because i have sooooo many photos on my phone taking up all the space.
it's so hard to delete them!

whenever people ask me "what's new with you guys?" i never really have anything glamorous to say.
we're just doing life.
one day at a time.
a happy life with our little peeps.
we like it. :)

i also like these vintage thermoses.
perfect for hot chocolate on a cool fall day.
i kept the coleman and sent the thermos to the booth.

we went to visit my mom & david's house a couple of weekends ago.
ruby had fun exploring outside and looking at my mom's pretty flowers.
they live way out in the country on the prettiest land.
we always love a visit out there.

i walked by his room the other day and saw him and thought, "man i love homeschooling."
also, i was a teensiest bit jealous and wished i could curl up in my bed with a book. ;)
but mostly just really happy that this is his life.

on the 16th we had the joy of celebrating AJ's birthday.
the kids get so excited about birthdays and they each made him a sweet card.
ruby kept saying, "birtday! birtday!"

AJ and i got to have a lunch date on his birthday.
so. fun. seriously best idea ever.

i made the best cheesecake in the history of ever and we had fun celebrating as a family that night.

i like to send AJ pictures throughout our day and he loves receiving them.
they can't all be just adorbs photos of the kiddos.
sometimes i gotta send the ones of our kids being total goobers.
like ruby wearing ginormo plastic ears and being super proud of herself. :)

to his future wife: you're welcome.
finley loves to vacuum and i love to let him. :)
also, saturday morning cleaning makes me super happy.

AJ took work off this whole week and the boys are on fall break.
we are having the best time.
we went to mt. kessler and it is my new fav-o-rite place.
seriously, i fell in love.
it is gorgeous. 
our family loves to go hiking together.
many of our best family times and memories are of being out in the woods together.
love. it. 

that is my child flying over my head at silver dollar city.
avery has NO fear. none.
deep breaths, mama. deep breaths.

ruby rode her first kiddie ride.
i was so proud of her.
little miss is getting brave. :)

we even got to meet up with my friend christy and her sweet girls for a few hours yesterday.
such a treat.
{nice face, ruby}

so that's us lately. what are y'all up to?




{if you instagram, i'm itsgoodtobequeen :)}


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who are we?

this past week our school had it's first ever talent show.  

it was so great.

a far cry from the talent shows we had when i was in elementary school. 

i'm pretty sure i did a dance routine to "oh lolli, lollipop" that some friends and i made up at recess. 

yep. 

cool kid, i was not. 

anyhow, it was a really entertaining show and it was so great to see the different acts.

so proud of them all! :)

a group of our 5th grade boys did a stomp routine called "who are we." 

they learned the routine and even how to stomp in under 2 weeks {thanks to my really talented mama-friends who taught them}.
it brought tears to my eyes to hear them calling out who they are in Christ.
i hope they always know and stand on those truths. 

very proud of these sweet boys.  :)

proud mama's supporting our boys......

these girls are God's gift to me.
so thankful for their encouragement and friendship.

avery loved learning how to stomp.
so glad that he got this opportunity and so proud of my boy!

okay, here's the video of our boys {thanks callie for recording it!} 

{if you're reading in a reader, you'll have to click over. ;)}

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first day of school 2013

i have loved scrolling through instagram the last few days and seeing everyone's first day of school pics.
so. cute.

i was telling the boys how i vividly remember my first day of 7th grade.
i had a matching purple shirt {with the side in a t-shirt clip no doubt}, ruffly skirt and scrunchy.
pretty sure i had matching socks and fake keds as well.
i remember standing in front of the mirror in my room, admiring my outfit and my side pony tail and thinking how cute i looked.
never mind the fact that i always looked about 2 grades younger than i was.
i'm sure i rocked it. ha. ;)
....and suddenly i feel  super old.

yesterday was our big boys' first day of 5th and 3rd grade.
yeah. they are crazy old. it's nuts.

the boys wear uniforms and we are dorky and like to all wear school colors on the first day. :)

if you're reading and saying to yourself, "hey i thought she homeschooled??"
i do. part time.
our boys go to a college-prep, university model school which means they attend classes at the school two days a week and i home school them the other 3 days.

avery and his buddy sawyer {aka, big sawyer} rolling their ginormo bags in {a necessity for bringing books back and forth to school}.

this crazy cat needed to wear his pretend head set.

me and my twin. :)

i love that finley's teacher is funny and sweet. :)
i think he'll have a great year.

by the time i got to avery's class, they had already started so i just snapped a quick picture at his desk.

after drop off we have a tradition of heading to chic-fil-a and letting our little ones play while we decompress from all the craziness of getting everyone ready for the first day.

all of our first born boys are in the fifth grade together so we give each other lots of moral support. :)

it's always, always sad to see summer go, but we are thrilled to have our boys back at providence.
knowing that i will still have them home 5 out of 7 days a week makes it so much easier to start back to school.
plus we got our homeschool done early today and headed to the pool so that's pretty sweet.

yay for living in the south and having plenty of warm days ahead. :) :)


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one room school house field trip

this semester i have had the most fun reading little house in the big woods to finley for home school.

we both look forward to that sweet time together in the afternoons.

i practically grew up on little house on the prairie and i have always loved her books. 

a few weeks ago we got to go back in time for a 2nd grade field trip to the one room schoolhouse. 

it was so much fun.
all the kids dressed the part and they were adorable!!

 we spent the day at the rocky branch one room schoolhouse and experienced a school day very much like laura ingalls might have.

we all got to learn about pumping water at the well, ringing the school bell to start school, and even outhouses!
we learned little tidbits about school in 1904 all throughout the day.

we all brought lunches that they may have carried in those times.
fin and i had a basket with sausage, cheese, biscuits, an apple, cookies and a jar of water. :)
i tied the food in fabric and twine or put it in jars...no ziplocks that day.
so fun!

after lunch they got to play outside with old fashioned toys.

that was everyone's favorite part. :)

 it was so great to get a day with just my finley.

 it was chilly in that school house. . . obviously there was no heat.
i was glad i brought along a quilt!

 the teacher had the kids do a reading lesson, spelling lesson and math lesson.

they even had a spelling bee.

they also learned about punishments.
sweet little addie jo had to put her nose on the black board and fin had to wear a dunce hat!
pretty funny that my little mild mannered fin was the one in a dunce hat!

i love field trips and watching the kids learn something in such a tangible way.
it was the best field trip ever. :)

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