Fall Festival

We just returned from our church's Fall Festival and deemed it a success! It was fun to see so many kids (and their) parents having a great time. The kids got passports when they registered and then visited booths representing different countries, where they played games for prizes and candy. Thank goodness Belgium had hot chocolate--it's pretty cold out there!

As for costumes, Little M. and N. were the Mario Brothers, Mario and Luigi; and K. was a prairie girl. The rest of us went "as is". M. actually won 3rd place in his age group's costume contest (with Thing 1 & Thing 2 taking 1st and 2nd) and N. won 2nd place in his! The Mario Bros. were incredibly excited (especially since Mom really didn't expect anybody to know who they were AND Luigi had lost his mustache by the judging). My camera malfunctioned so I only have this photo of the boys from E.'s camera--my apologies to grandparents who would really have liked the picture I took of all 4 kids. Oh, those virtual photos would have included the kids stuffing their faces with pizza and playing games.

Gotta run warm up.
Later Days!
Kelly

I promised face stuffing....

Well, The Old Mill Pizza Buffet is definitely a do-again for our crew. It was a terrific place to celebrate Nat'l Pizza Month; not only did they have a great buffet, but also video games and a tiny merry-go-round! Although he got to ride the merry-go-round twice and pretend to play numerous video games, Little M was still pretty upset when we had to leave.



From there, we made quick stops at Target and Home Depot--where he got to "drive" the race car cart. Happy boy briefly--then more tears when it came time to leave.We're home now, hoping to skype with the grandparents in a little while. Meanwhile, we're going to enjoy "The Billion Dollar Hobo" starring Tim Conway. Life is good.


Later Days!
Kelly

A Day of Celebration

I'm afraid that the significance of this holiday has fallen off the national radar; so much, that even I was not aware of it until the kids and I had our before-school devotion. October is National Pizza Month (as noted in 365 Days of Celebration & Praise--Daily Devotions and Activities for Homeschooling Families). In an effort to jump-start our nation's celebration of this wonderful food, my family and I have decided to try out a new pizza place tonight. Please join us, wherever you are, in paying homage to pizza. Maybe I'll post another photo of my family stuffing our faces!

Other items of interest at our house:
-Church went well last night; the kids are finding friends and enjoying their classes, I am doing the same :o).
-We're preparing for our church's Fall Festival tomorrow night; participants will get a passport and visit booths from different countries (fun AND educational).
-We've already got an invitation to a b-day party for a new friend!
-We're looking forward to a visit from my in-laws very soon :o)
-Tomorrow is hubby's day off so we'll get to work on the garage and other areas we've been postponing (yippee).

What's going on at your houses? Just click on comment and let me have a peek into your houses.

Later Days!
Kelly

P.S. The above photo has no relation to the above post--just thought it was cute.

To Do...or Not To Do

First of all, I should say that I prefer to be a positive, glass-half-full, type of person. In that spirit, let's just say that I DID go to the library with the kids, they DID do schoolwork, and I DID straighten up the laundry room. Vacuuming...not so much. So, it just means that I've got a head start in making out my list for tomorrow.

After dinner, we all went to Blockbuster to rent a movie; we came back with Charlotte's Web (we love the book) & The Billion Dollar Hobo (an old Tim Conway movie). We just finished up a Skype call to the grandparents and cookies are baking--I told Mimi and Papa to enjoy a virtual cookie (which only leads to virtual weight-gain, Mimi said). For those not "in the know" Skype is a magical procedure by which you can talk to someone and watch them at the same time on your computer. I'm sure that it's not technically magic, but for those of us lacking in technical skillz, it seems like it.

Must run now and enjoy family time--for those who can't stand the suspense...we flipped a coin and it's going to be Charlotte's Web first.

Later Days!
Kelly

Today's To Do's

Yesterday's accountability was motivating so I'm going to try it again:
* Homeschool kiddos
* Library trip
* Laundry room tidy
* Unearth some decorative stuff that's still in boxes
* Vacuum
* Work on MY school work
* Personal Bible study
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*
*
* Go to Blockbuster with family and pick out a movie to watch tonight

I'll give you a progress report later--let's see if those vitamins are working!

Later Days!
Kelly

Update

For those interested, tonight's Family Fun Night was a success. San Jose Mexican Restaurant has our seal of approval (and we're pretty picky about our Mexican food). As usual, the kids' favorite part was the cheese dip, which they even agreed was as good as/or better than Puerto Nuevo's! Muy bueno. Perhaps I should explain that the Corona bottles on the table are actually salt and pepper shakers (true). Also, only K.'s hand is visible but I assure you she was with us and enjoying herself.

Books-A-Million is always a hit with our crew. M. hung out at the train table, meeting girls (well, one 3yo girl); K. hit the American Girl books; N., the dinosaur books; and E., a horse-breed book.

Cold Stone Creamery was awesome ice cream. We actually got kid-size cups since we had just eaten Mexican and it was a good portion (but I could have eaten more if forced). Afterwards, we made a quick stop by Publix for a few items (Better than Food Lion, Mimi).

As for my To Do list, I think I did a passable job on all items! Apparently, I'm very motivated by having other people to impress :o). Put a gold star on my chart, please. All in all, a very satisfying day. Maybe I should remember those vitamins every day....

Later Days!
Kelly

Vitamins anyone?

I anticipate getting a lot done today, so I took my multivitamin AND my Super B Complex--anybody have anything that conveys super-powers? I've got more organization to do, schoolwork with the kiddos, and catching up with laundry from the weekend (Where are you, Mimi?). Maybe just putting my To Do's down for the world (or at least 2-3 people) will motivate me to work harder, faster, longer!

Here goes:

*personal Bible study
*homeschool 4 kids
*do at least 3 loads of laundry (wash, dry, PUT AWAY)
*organize coat closet
*move 2 small filing cabinets to coat closet if they'll fit
*find homes for stuff on top of fridge (photo above)
*litterbox (kid job)
*groceries
*keep all children/adults fed and happy (this is where the super powers come in)
*
*
*
*Family Fun--purely in the interest of exploring our new town, we've planned to eat at a new Mexican restaurant (don't be mad at us, Puerto Nuevo), buy books at Books-A-Million, and get ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery nearby. Maybe photos of my bloated, happy, well-read family will follow....

Later Days!
Kelly

Blogger problem

I don't know what's going on with Blogger but I'm going to try to post and see what happens. I was locked out of this account last night so I switched to a slightly different url. Let's see what happens.

Starting Over

Hi! One of the less delightful aspects of moving has been the hassle over email accounts. Blogger won't let me access my old blog account (www.leapoffaith-kelly.blogspot.com) with my new email address so I'm having to start over. Please stick with me while we try to get all of these technical problems straightened out.

In other news, we spent a wonderful weekend in "Hometown" visiting with friends and family (Hope you had a great b-day, Papa!). Our friends at Ebenezer Baptist had Pastor Appreciation Day (& also our last Sunday there). While enjoyable, it was also bittersweet because we're leaving so many terrific friends. Tomorrow begins hubby's ministry at Green Hill Baptist church--exciting. Tomorrow also jumpstarts our homeschooling year again after a vacation & moving hiatus. Pray for me :o).

Later Days!
Kelly

P.S. The photo is of my oldest with our cat, Lewis, who was very glad NOT to have taken another ride in the car; He certainly didn't enjoy our move last week. He was very glad to see us when we got home tonight!