Motivational Monday~

My Pinterest Inspirations Board Pick....

I love this quote. Let's be honest, I love Laura Ingalls Wilder. Her stories of life as a child and adult in the days of pioneers is heartwarming, harrowing, and inspirational.

Funny how some things don't change! Her message is still current and meaningful.

I'm hoping to convince my husband to go through her Missouri home on the way to a family event in Kansas City, Missouri, but even if time doesn't permit, I will know I'm traveling near where she and her family traveled, when trying to find "Home". The boys and I watched the movie "Beyond the Prairie" on her story. The boys sneered at the idea and then ended up enjoying it. It really brought to life the lives of pioneers and struggles they went through, just to survive! A long winter means stock up at Wal-Mart, back then, it meant using left over hay for firewood when the wood ran out. Life was scary and unpredictable. But, when you only know what you know, I guess it's normal.

I just hope I always learn to enjoy the simple pleasures and be happy with what I have. Life is too short, and in comparison to the late 1800's, too easy to complain. Life may be busier and more complicated now, but isn't that even more of a reason to take a step back and BREATHE?

 

These are my two reasons to Breathe....

Happy Inspirational Monday!

*Don't forget to check out my Pinterest Boards for Decorating, School Help, and Organization Ideas and Much Much More!

 

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Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day is special to me, not because of the gifts or special treatment, but because I look at my beautiful boys who gave me that title.

I know every mom says this, but, I'm the luckiest Mom in the world! I have two handsome, smart, kind, and loving boys. They make every day an adventure. They are such a joy to be around and I really mean it! They are so much fun to be with.

So every May, I try to thank THEM, for making me a Mom, and also thank God for choosing me as their Mom.

In keeping with the "April showers, brings May flowers", I brought my May flowers inside to enjoy. And in true Jennifer Style...I had to rearrange and freshen up the house a bit.

Here are a few photos of my tea roses and little Spring vignettes.

The Kitchen table centerpiece....

On the center island...

Oh....and my pot roast in the slow cooker....Mmmmmmmmm!

 

No, the fruit isn't real, but I still like them, {Smile}.

This is my dining room buffet, where I added a lamp and a beverage tray.

I brought the blue scarf back to the dining room and some spring like flowers on the table....

My tea roses at the entrance!! I LOVE Them!

Mr. Darby wondering what I'm doing, running around the house and not paying attention to him.

On my living room ottoman. This is the wasp nest the air conditioning man found in our air conditioning unit outside. I had to save it, isn't it awesome? And the beautiful roses my husband gave me.

The side table in my living room. This horn I bought for $6.00 at an antique mall. Such a steal!

Happy Mother's Day! Rest and Enjoy Your Family and Home, {even if your not a Mom, we all need rest and family time.}

And as always....Happy Decorating!

 

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Homeschool School Year Wrapping Up....

Phew! I can almost hear the STAPLES Easy Button, "That was easy". If only it had been.

I guess it's like anything new, you have to work out the bugs and sometimes, push the reboot button. But, we made it! I am happy to say next week is our last week. Landen, my 10 year old, brought his Math grade up to an A, Woohoo!! So straight A's for both boys! We have some review next week and then....Sing it with me, "School's out for Summer!".

Well, for my kids, we have always done Summer workbooks. I have always felt the old saying is true, "If you don't use it, you'll lose it." So I have always had the boys work on workbooks and read. The younger you start these habits, the easier it is. They then become part of the Summer norm and not Summer "torture". They think its normal and I don't hear whining. That's a Mom WIN!

This year my neighbor, who also homeschools, had a FABULOUS idea! To use the state and national standards test prep books. They cover all material each grade level should master. Thank you Marla, your Brilliant! And, I already had thm, SCORE!

* These are some of the books we have used before. Notice I marked some pages for easier reference. I used that book for enrichment his year in Social Studies and Science.

In wrapping up the year, we had a great field trip to "The Pizza Ranch", thanks to Angel our Science Lab teacher. The event was centered on educating the kids on all the ingredients it takes to make a pizza. I did however want to ask the girl showing the Angus bull, explaining how healthy the beef is, to maybe drop the "wouldn't you rather eat a steak instead of 7 cups of spinach?", part out of her speech...GEEZ!!! But, other than that, it was educational and free pizza from Dominoes at the end, was a huge hit.

That's her below. What was she thinking???

This Dairy Farmer was our favorite. He was funny, informative, and engaging to all ages.

Also, as they wrapped up their Science Lab on Anatomy and Physiology, the made DNA...well, candy DNA. Here is Landen's... Learning DNA made fun!

 

So as Summer creeps around the corner here in Texas, so does the heat. Thank goodness they can get outside and play before the melting begins. Another wonderful advantage to homeschooling. If you work hard and progress quickly, Summer comes sooner!

So a cheer today for homeschooling parents.....Keep going, keep sharing, keep teaching, and keep smiling, it's ALL worth it!

 

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Family Love~

{Oops! I guess first I need to explain my absence. Actually, I have no REAL excuse. I've been busy with life and with homeschooling. I call it the end of the school year "push". It's a time of assessing, reassessing, planning (for the next school year and summer activities), and planning for rest...I say all of that with a siiiigh! So...I'm sorry I've been gone for a bit. But, now back to blogging.}

The Family Love title, is me highlighting my interesting and wonderful family of past and present.

As I have shared in the past, my sister and I decided to research our family history about 2 years ago. This sounded like work, but fun too. We have learned a lot of information on both sides of our tree. But recently I decided to veer over to my Mother's Mother's family. I thought this would be a cinch. Well, who knew Oklahoma & Tennessee would be tricky?

I finally called the small town of Prague, Oklahoma to find a very helpful city official who turned me to the town historian, at the town museum, Diana. Diana was AMAZING!!! One little email and I had a stack of newsper clippings. I was thrilled with all the information she found. Sometimes names, birth, and death dates aren't enough.

Meet Mr. & Mrs. William Green Philips

&

Their beautiful little daughter Jesse Mae Phillips Delly (my great grandmother)

(Poor Cora needed a good dentist and some concealer...I know I'm horrible...but all joking aside, the late 1800's couldn't have been easy at all.)

Paul Delly, Jesse Mae's husband and his home with my great grandmother.

 

Who were these late 1880's pioneer family members, moving from Dekalb county Tennessee to Prague, Oklahoma?

Adventurers? Risk takers? To me they were. They were amazingly brave!

We're they in hope of a better life? A new beginning? Entrepreneurs wanting to move to a new town while it is still "new", to get in on the ground level of business building, and then make it big?

Whatever the reason, I may never know; but finding out that my 2nd great grandmother Phillips was a suffragette and died smiling saying, "I am so happy", was more than I ever expected.

Why is family history so important to some and no big deal to others?

I think the answer lies deeper than we think. I believe for some people it's the connection to family they've never had, even if these family members are dead. Or, it's closure to unanswered questions. Maybe it's just our natural human curiosity. Why else do tabloids sell so well. Other peoples business is always interesting; especially when it's our own family business.

For me, it's a few of those things. I feel you can't have a future without knowing your past. How can I appreciate my life without truly understanding my ancestors struggles and triumphs? After all, that's how I am here in the first place, Right?

Also, if there are stories unheard, how neat to get a glimpse into who they were. Even if it is through the eyes of a loved one in an obituary. I love finding obituaries with mini stories and words of love, that describe in a quick summary, who my family member was. Most importantly, sharing how they lived, loved & died.

Family past and present are very important to me. So it was only fitting that my Anniversary month is also the same month I found more Phillips family background.

This was my anniversary surprise from Preston and Landen my 10 & 12 year old sons. The menu was the best part! They are my world, and I want them to know as much about their roots as possible.

Anniversaries, birthdays and family reunions come and go. They may seem unimportant or everyday "no big deal" to us, but someday...someone may care. I hope I capture, record, and share as much as I can so future generations know I cared too!

Family comes in many shapes, sizes, colors and personalities. Whatever your family is, make it known you care, and most importantly share, share, share!

Happy Sharing~

 

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Motivational Monday~ Memories Made

Another Pinterest Pin onto my "Inspirations" Board. I thought this was perfect for Motivational Monday.

Taking time for family seems to be getting more and more difficult. With cell phones, tablets, etc. etc. we are more accessible than ever. This makes it difficult to shut our business life off and turn family time on.

So when I asked my husband for a few days with the boys, for a "BIG Field Trip", I was totally expecting that it might never happen. His job is 7 days a week, even though technically he is off two days a week. He is still on the phone, texting, emails, etc.

Although at times it is frustrating, it pays our bills and allows me to stay at home with my boys and homeschool them. So I am truly thankful. But, it does get tough to keep the family connected when everyone is connected to media devices and at times disconnected to one another.

So at times it is necessary for mom's to pull the proverbial "Plug"!

But, when it actually happened, (funny enough... I got a text message saying we could go), I was thrilled! We went to our state capitol Austin and then drove the same day to San Antonio. We had a four day field trip. It was an amazing whirlwind.

The first day, we toured the capitol, saw historical exhibits on display, & even saw some senators. Then, we pressed on to San Antonio.

Preston, our 12 year old, took this of me & Glen. We lucked out and made it through all the capitol grounds and to San Antonio before a big thunderstorm.

Preston, studied Texas history two years ago, and is our history buff. He was practically coming out of his skin the WHOLE trip. He even impressed the tour guide in the capitol at all he knew of Texas history. He became our tour guide in San Antonio. It was so cute how excited he got at seeing the capitol & the Alamo! This is him looking through an old surveyor scope in the capitol hands-on museum section.

Of course Landen, our 10 year old, had to try it too!

Austin sure was beautiful, even on a cloudy day.....

 

In San Antonio, we stayed in the Historic Omini La Mansion del Rio, on the Riverwalk. This hotel was an old Catholic School and one of the oldest buildings on the Riverwalk.

The Lobby~

The courtyard with a beautiful heated pool. Of course the boys jumped in our first night.

Staircase to ballrooms & meeting rooms in the hotel.

Spring is the perfect time of year to visit Texas. The weather was the perfect temperature. On our second & third day in San Antonio, we saw The Alamo, the historic Spanish Governors Palace, the Guenther House and ate fabulous food for 3 days.

This picture in front of the Alamo was after much drizzle and then ironically, we were barricaded in the Alamo during a heavy thunderstorm. It was really kind of cool! We then realized why it wasn't crowded....everyone else knew it was going to downpour, but US! Well, it was better to tour it without a huge crowd. But....very wet when we finally took a run for it!

 

The picture below was taken by my husband before he read the sign saying "No Pictures", (We were dying laughing!) OOOPS! But, now you get a sneak peek.

The Riverwalk our first day....

Our first day in San Antonio, is wearing on me by this point...hence the "I'm about to pass-out" look on my face. We started off in Austin and this was after check-in in San Antonio and already a lot of walking, on the Riverwalk.

Preston carefully considering dinner, after A LOT of walking!!!

This is the ceiling in the restaurant, The County Line Riverwalk. It was a great atmosphere and the food was good too. Well, truth be known, we were famished, so if it's not your favorite, don't judge us (wink).

These are pictures from theguentherhouse.com Thanks to my husbands assisstant Anna for the fabulous sugesstion!! It was a great restaurant & museum of the Guenther family who started Pioneer Flour. I brought back some pancake mix! YAY!

We ate in this room below, in the table to the right of the fireplace. Everyone was so nice, and the food was great!

Beyond getting all the 4th Grade Texas History sightseeing on my list accomplished, the trip renewed our spirits. It was not a Hot Texas summer day, it was Spring, in the 70's and one day a dip into the 50's after a cold front. But trust me!! It was soooooo much better than the Texas 100* summer heat & humidity! It was fabulous! { notice my exclamation points :-) We loved our trip}

We had a blast!!

Don't forget to unplug, spend time with the family (face-to-face), and enjoy each other! Make some Memories!

Happy Family Time~

 

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