Farmhouse Crew

The crew includes; Pawpaw, Mimi, Mom(Kristi), Dad(Ben), Ryan, Bryan, Marissa, Brady, Emery, Avery, Bella, Benjamin Harrison, Read, and me, Landry.

Top 10 of 2016

This is the 10th edition of our Top 10 list.  I didn't realize I had been blogging for so long.  Since I joined Instagram (and for a lack of time at a computer instead of a phone), I blog far less.  I still write the blog for us and posterity sake.  This is by far one of my highlights of wrapping up a year to look back and see all that we have done.  Have a blessed 2017.

10. Ben became a RSBA coach.  Rock Steady has grown exponentially this past year and Ben traveled to Indy to become a coach.
9.  I became a personal trainer - I'm not really interested in personal training, but wanted to have a better understanding of exercise science.  It took me almost four months to study and take the exam.
8. We had a fun reunion with Ben's family.  This was the first time our kids met many of Ben's family.  We had a great time at Mo Ranch in Hunt for the weekend.
7. We started our 7th year of homeschool.  LE is in 6th grade, Boo is in 5th, R2 is in kinder and HR does pre-k/kinder.
6. The girls and I headed to church camp.  This is the girls' 2nd year to pre-teen camp, my first and probably last.  I have discovered being with other people's children is a thing of my past.  I'll stick to my 4.
5. Landry has taken up karate.  She has already taken her first belt test and worked up to an orange belt.  She goes twice a week and has to pay half of her tuition.
4. Boo was in the production of I Never Saw Another Butterfly.  Boo really missed theater from co-op so this past school year she participated in the One Day Academy Theater classes.  We think she has gotten bitten by the acting bug.
3. We participated in Round the Rock Instagram challenge.  We had a task of 50 things to do in RR this summer and we accomplished 40+.  The last 8 were too expensive or didn't qualify for our ages.  We had an absolute blast and discovered some of our newest favorite things to do in the area.
2. We traveled to Port A.  We took an extended weekend getaway to Port Aransas earlier this fall.  I'm not usually a beach person, scratch that Texas beach person.  But it was a great time to connect with the kids.
1. We had a great family vacation to Branson.  We were gifted a week stay at a time share in Branson and our fighters blessed us with cash for travel expenses.  It was a great week to go off the grid and connect as a family.

Christmas traditions

Monty Mouse has made his home under our tree again this year.  Every morning he leaves tasks for the boys to complete that day.
So far, we have had a slumber party under the Christmas tree, Christmas movie marathon, made gingerbread houses, Pancakes in Pajamas for dinner, made an advent chain, Christmas music dance party and my favorite so far was when they made Ben and I breakfast in bed for our anniversary.
I am so grateful for these moments and I am so especially proud of my girls for taking on so much responsibility in this crazy time of our lives.

Thanksgiving weekend

 No Thanksgiving is complete without lots of cousins' time.  This year we also helped PawPaw work on the farmhouse.  Daddy and PopPop blew up all of the leftover Halloween pumpkins to kick off the holiday season.  We went to the annual Christmas night parade in Comfort. We celebrated Mimi and R2's birthdays at Mamacitas complete with sopapillas and sombreros.  The best part of the weekend was PawPaw tossing me the keys to his hot rod, Road Runner and telling me I can finally take it for a drive.  Too bad I was too chicken to really "drive" it.

Port A Weekend Getaway

Instead of celebrating a spring break, we took a fall break to celebrate Mama and Daddy's birthday.  We took a four day weekend and spent it at Port A.  We stayed in the cutest condo on the beach and our days were filled with sandcastles, seafood, wave jumping, a few sunburns and sunrise walks on the beach.  I love these kind of days to disconnect and be with my favorite people.

first day of school 2016

We started school on August 1st.  It is just too hot to do anything else during the day and we plan to take some breaks when it gets cooler and when things get busy at the gym.

We decided to go ahead and begin both boys in kindergarten.  HR has a true passion for learning and is especially interested in letter and numbers.  He learned to write his first name in just one day.  We are using My Father's World for kindergarten.  If it doesn't work we will try again next year.

LE has begun sixth grade.
She is  using Math U See Epsilon, Building Thinking Skills for logic (pre-SAT studies), Wordly Wise for vocabulary, Spelling Workout, Rosetta Stone for Spanish, Apologia Astronomy for science and Texas Weekly Studies for Texas History.

Boo is in 5th grade, a year ahead of others her age.  She is using Math U See Gamma and her other curriculum is the same as LE's except for fifth grade.

We are using Sonlight's reading list and finishing up the Little House on the Prairie for their daily reading.

They read Jesus Calling for their daily Bible time.

I think the one thing I have learned over the past six years is that we homeschool so we can do what is best for our family and our kids.  We don't follow a calendar and we hope to instill a love for Jesus and a love for knowledge over a grade.

winding down our summer

We are having so much fun with our challenges this summer.  We've had lots of cold treats and even found some new fun spots.  We baked banana bread for a neighbor police officer.  We've volunteered at the nursing home playing Bingo, eaten at local restaurants and worn a little man out numerous times.
We also scored a huge tub of Legos which the boys have really flourished in their creativity.  I'm loving these kiddos and the memories we are making.

Rock 'n' River

We earned our free passes to Rockn' River through our Round the Rock challenge.  We have had so much fun this summer discovering new places around our hometown and earning free stuff is fun too.  Daddy took the day off and we spent most of the day at the park.  HR was very reluctant to try the slides, but he finally gave in.
Part of our challenge was to take a selfie under the big bucket, CHECK.  We are winding down our summer list and most things left are pretty pricey so not sure we will hit the 40 mark which was our goal.  We knew we didn't want to do all 50 because there were a few we were absolutely not going to do.  LE plans to create a fall bucket list for us.  I'm in.

weekend getaway

Our cousin, Emmie celebrated her birthday and we took that opportunity to travel home to see family.  Gigi and PopPop were out of town so we got to take over their house and the creek for the weekend.  It was a much needed R and R for Mama and Daddy and the kids had a blast on the creek for three days with cousins.
I will say working the way we do, I truly appreciate the little things in life far more.

Silver Dollar City take 2 by LE

Hands down, today was the best day of vacation.  As usual the kids woke up before the grown-ups and watched TV till the grown-ups woke up.  We had a late breakfast at lunchtime (Billy Gail's).
Then, we went to Silver Dollar City.  This time we rode more rides than yesterday.  Today, we rode fire wagon frenzy, Up the Ladder, Fire Spotter, Dizzy Dogs, and so many more I cannot remember them.  We need to go back to Missouri soon.

Chrismtas: Toby Mac Deep Hits

For Christmas, we gave the girls tickets to see their first concert, Toby Mac.  Ben and I saw DC Talk when we were in high school at Schlitterbahn, so we think it is surreal to be taking the girls to see him 20+ years later; yea he is the coolest 51 year old around.
We also got to see Britt Nicole (Boo's fave), Building 4:29, Colton Dixon, Finding Favor, Hollyn and Capital Kings.
Thank you Mimi and PawPaw for taking the boys so we could make such a fun memory.

2015, year in review

10. a sad goodbye to all of my fitness classes except RSB
9. Beyond the darkness wrapped and the movie was released
8. Kids' Beach trip, with Gigi an PopPop, a first for the boys
7. kids' date nights were instated every Tuesday with Mom or Dad
6. Africa trip canceled, because of the terror attacks on Christian students
5. Cruise, consolation prize for not being able to travel to Africa
4. Colorado trip, the first time the kids saw snow
3. Indianapolis trip, our first vacation success
2. Rock Steady Boxing became a reality on November 4th with three boxers, now 25 boxers currently enrolled
1. Boo asked Jesus into her heart at camp and the Heavens rejoiced

Goodbye, Colorado

Thank you Mimi and PawPaw for including us on this fun trip.  We had so much fun and made so many memories.  My heart is happy

Christmas with the grandparents

After a late night drive, we got up Christmas Eve morning to spend the day with my parents and siblings.  The kids were blessed with new legos, books, and even a gift card to Charming Charlies.  I got some new candles, gift card to Ulta and crocheted hand warmers I saw on our anniversary weekend, handmade by my mom.  Ben got a Home Depot card, which I personally think he should spend on a fire pit.
After a day of fun with cousins, we spent the night at Gigi and PopPop's.  We spent Christmas Day with Ben's parents and brother Greg's family.  Gigi and PopPop went to Mexico this fall and brought us pottery and the girls back embroidered tapestrie  Gigi made dinner and we all went to bed early for our trip the next morning to COLORADO!!

Christmas morning?

We have a crazy messed up holiday season this year.  With RSB, wrapping up gym duties, and travel, we HAD TO open presents on the evening of Tuesday, December 22nd.  Yes, my the freakazoid Christmas tradition scrooge herself, initiated it.
Ben and I didn't do presents for each other, we have something else planned.  Boo made everyone's presents and LE used the money she earned from labeling books and dog sitting to buy each of siblings a lovie from the Disney Store and Daddy a device so he can wash his favorite hat.  We got the boys new dress up costumes and the girls got tickets to see Toby Mac this spring.  We also surprised the kids with winter clothes for our trip to Colorado.  We will leave for a week the day after Christmas.

Christmas lights

Last night, was our yearly night for hot cocoa, french toast for dinner and seeing the lights in our jammies.  I am so disappointed there aren't lights on 38th Street in Austin any more, but so grateful RR has gotten it right two years at the big park in town.  We rolled the windows down and the kids sang carols at the top of their lungs throughout the drive.  HR danced to the singing.
I cherish these Christmas memories.  They are some of my favorite.

camping 101

This past Friday night, we went on our first family camping adventure to Jim Hogg park.  We just did an overnight trip for one night to see if we could survive and because it was supposed to rain on Saturday.  The kids did great, we didn't sleep much, but we had lots of fun.  We had s'mores for the first time (including Mama's first time), we threw rocks in the lake, all six of "slept" in a tent.  We went with our friends from church.
I think we are all hooked and can't wait to do it again in the spring.

Sunday morning art lessons

My favorite part of homeschooling...that school doesn't happen just Monday through Friday in our classroom.
On Sunday morning, Boo was feeling inspired and asked if she could watercolor on the back porch, which led to everyone being creative on the back porch.  Daddy gave LE a sketching lesson.
These are my favorite times.

Happy Halloween from Mavis (Hotel Transylvania), Eeyore, Girllock Holmes and Iron Man.

Block Party

After our National Night Out Party, Ben said he wanted to have more get-togethers with our neighbors.  I personally was shocked to hear those words.  I being the activator took him on his word and threw together a pumpkin carving party.  It was more attended than the NNO party.  We had two new families come, both we had never met before and both had children.  One couple had a newborn and were planning to get married the next day.  The other had children ages 3 and 5 that we had never seen before.
Our hope was to create new friendships and build relationships.  Our church just finished a series on loving your neighbors, so we stepped out in faith and God richly blessed our evening.
Our next door neighbor brought over his "Big Gas Grill" and we had hamburgers and hot dogs.  I made my mom's famous chocolate sheet cake that was a huge hit.  I cannot wait to see how this builds relationships on our street.