Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Another New School Year

I can't believe we're starting our 6th year of homeschooling - not a bad record for someone who NEVER thought they'd homeschool :-)

Here's Mackenzie on her first day of 6th grade...


Sporting her new zebra striped glasses ;-)
Mackenzie's Curriculum:






My Father's World - Exploring Countries and Cultures (covers Bible, Geography & History)




And here's Abby on her first day of 3rd grade...


Abby's Curriculum:




Draw Write Now (Handwriting)


My Father's World - Exploring Countries and Cultures (covers Bible, Geography & History)




We're excited to start another year with our homeschool co-op. Membership has really grown within the last month and we're now up to 70 families! Abby will be taking PE, Zumba, Homeschool Choir, and Art. Mackenzie will take IEW (Institute for Excellence in Writing), Photography, Science, and Art. They are also both taking Piano and Dance

Looking forward to another great year of school, field trips, friendships, and fun! :-)

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Goodbye Summer 2011

I can't believe this summer has already flown by and it's time for the new school year to begin! Here's a wrap-up of a few of the last things we did this summer.

We saw Dara Maclean and Jason Castro in concert at the Riverwalk...





The summer swim season ended and their Swim Team finished in 2nd place...







They had a great time at Apple Computer Summer Camp...




We had lunch at the Belvidere Mansion in Claremore then window shopped downtown - one of our favorite things to do together :-)



And had lots of playdates with our neighbor friends...


It was a fun summer but I have to admit I'm ready for some cooler weather and the fall can't get here soon enough!

"Field Trip" to OKC

This past Wednesday the girls and I took a "field trip" to OKC. We spent the afternoon at the new outlet mall that opened a few weeks ago. The girls had fun looking around at their favorite shops - Justice, Claire's & Children's Place.




And we had a yummy "lunch" at Orange Leaf - the girls were pretty excited to eat yogurt with lots of toppings as a main meal :-)


After we were all shopped out, we drove to Moore for the main reason for our trip - to see Beckah Shae in concert. The girls are HUGE fans - well, I kind of am, too, so when she announced recently that she would be in concert in Oklahoma, I knew we'd be making the trip to see her. The doors opened at 6:30 but the girls wanted to get there extra early to make sure we could get a good seat. So, we pulled up at 5:30 - the exact same time Beckah Shae and her husband, Shoc, were pulling up. You might say the girls were a little excited when they got out of their car and started unloading their gear. Tears may have even been shed. Just sayin'.





My sad attempt at being a "hip" mom ;-)

Trying to wait patiently for the doors to open

"I can hear them practicing!!!"

Kenzie made her shirt for the concert :-)



So when the doors opened we did get front row seats and once the concert began, the girls got to go up front and watch the show right in front of the stage. They were beside themselves :-)

The opening acts were...







And these guys are AMAZING! They are brothers called Lil Mike and Funny Bone and according to their website, they are "Oklahoma City's only on-call, full-time, American Indian, little people, Christian hip-hop artists".


These guys have moves that puts Michael Jackson to shame. Here's a video of them dancing with Beckah Shae...


You can see more videos of them on YouTube here.

Of course, we loved seeing Beckah Shae perform.



I love her music because it's dance-y, upbeat, and has a really good, spiritual message. She's a great example for young girls which is one reason I'm glad my girls like her so much - they need a lot more positive influences in their lives like her.

Beckah spoke for a long time about how we really need to be careful what we're listening to (kids and adults alike). She said she's done a lot of research on today's popular music, and looked up Billboard's Top 5 songs recently. She said she read the lyrics to the songs and they literally made her sick to her stomach. The song in the video above, Music, talks about taking the music "back" and how music should be God-honoring.

Here's a few videos of Beckah changing up the lyrics to some of today's popular songs - her way of taking the music back...




Beckah's most known for her song, "Put Your Love Glasses On", which basically means we need to see the world through Jesus' eyes and stop being so judgmental and uncaring. When she sang this song, she invited all the kids to come up on stage and dance with her. They had a blast!





And the last song was "Life", another one of our favorites...


After the concert, Beckah went out in the lobby and signed autographs. The girls were so excited to meet her in person - they were a little starstruck ;-)






After seeing Beckah Shae in concert, my girls are even more in love with her and have been listening to her music non-stop. Just for fun I had to post this video for my girls. It's Beckah's daughters singing "Love Glasses" - so stinkin' cute...


If you or your daughters don't know about Beckah Shae, please check her out! I think you're going to love her, too :-)

Friday, August 12, 2011

Our Craft/School Closet Makeover

Our girls recently spent three days with their grandparents for their annual "Cousin Vacation" - something they really look forward to every summer. I have to say I kinda look forward to it, too, because it gives me three days to kick it in gear and get some stuff done around the house. This year I decided to tackle our school/game room. We redid that room for them a few years ago - sigh - I can remember the one day it was so clean ;-)


And now look at it...

Just keepin' it real

Why in the world I still have every dress I ever
wore to a formal or wedding in my lifetime, I'll
never know! Actually, now that I think about it,
the fabric from the dresses will be great cut up
in future craft projects! Guess I'll be saving
them after all!

We have a closet connected to our school/game room that was in dire need of a good cleaning. It was quite pitiful - buttons, glitter, plastic gems, scrapbook paper everywhere! Nothing was organized and it was just one big mess! Here's a before picture...


So, with this in hand...


I got to work. Three days later, it finally looked like this...

















Ahhh - I love organization. Brings me peace. But I know that my clean closet is short-lived. Don't tell my girls this but I have to say - I kinda like the mess, too, because I know what fun they've have had in there and I know our stuff is being used. So bring on the mess! But first, let me enjoy the organization at least for a few days! ;-)