April Showers?

The beginning of the month saw loads and loads of rain. I'm happy to announce that for the past few days the weather has been absolutely gorgeous! A perfect 80 degrees I believe. It got so warm one of the days this past week that my oldest informed me that "Mom, it's just far too warm to do schoolwork today. My brain just isn't working." Since we worked ahead the week before it was ok to take this one day off. Easter Sunday is drawing near. Do you think it's about time I started working on mapping out that Easter egg hunt? Or maybe I should actually help the cards make it past my kitchen table. And perhaps I'll get the Easter baskets done before Easter morning. Do any of you ever have this problem? I'm not sure, but something tells me that I'm not the only one with this issue. :)

Sunshine!!!

It's absolutely gorgeous out today! Spring is close....I can smell it. People around this house are becoming more productive. I guess that means the hibernation phase is over. Thank God!! Today alone we've accomplished immunizations in the morning, wedding outfit shopping, cleaning out the car, playing outside with Milo (the new pup), and schoolwork. That's a nice chunk of getting things done. Cleaning out that car was a bit nightmarish....but I made it through. I've decided that the lovely children shall not eat sticky things in the backseat ever again, because light tan seats tend to stain pretty badly. I've accomplished everything that needed to be accomplished today. Now let's go in for that extra mile. It'll be nice to get a head start on dinner.

'Tis the Season to Be Freezin'

It's been pretty chilly around here the past couple of weeks. I'm so sad to see Fall leaving us so soon. We've had snow fall twice already. Nothing that stayed on the ground, but it got cold enough to keep me from setting foot outside of my front door. And all this before the official "start" of winter on December 21. Tragic if you ask me. The kids of course couldn't be more thrilled. They know that when it gets this cold they can expect to be playing in a cup, or two, of hot cocoa at the end of the day. With that to look forward to who could possibly be bothered by the bitter cold?? I'm just hoping that Winter passes by just as fast as Fall did. I need Spring to get here ASAP. My fingers and toes can't hold on much longer. :)

Excuses, Excuses

Have you ever noticed that most people will make excuses until they're blue in the face? Particularly when it comes to getting healthy. It's common knowledge that good nutrition along with regular exercise lead to a healthier more fulfilling life. So why is it so hard for people to get with the program? I'm guilty of this myself. What I'd like to share with you today are the three most common excuses you'll hear all around concerning this sensitive issue.

Excuse #1: I Don't Have Time.
I don't think it's a valid excuse. Everyone has the same amount of time. It's just a matter of taking the time you need to take care of you. You have to make yourself a priority instead of always putting everyone and everything before yourself. It doesn't even have to be lengthy. A 30 minute workout 3-4 times a week can still have worthy benefits.

Excuse #2: I Don't Have Money.
Who needs money to work out?? There are plenty of exercise routines out there that require nothing more than the weight and resistance of your own body. Many of them can be done well and effectively right there in or around your home.

Excuse #3: I Don't Know How.
There are tons of resources available to people. The Internet, for example, has a wealth of knowledge just waiting to be tapped into. There are sites that show exactly how to do certain exercised and exercise routines. These same sites almost always have nutritional guidelines to go along with that.

So as you can see excuses are there just to hinder you from becoming the healthy you that you deserve to be. You have to learn to overcome these obstacles and reach for your goals with vigor. The rewards will be so much more amazing than you can ever imagine. Let's get to it! Set those goals and stick with it. You can do it!

Valentine Party

Today was our local group's Valentine Party for the little ones. I was a little apprehensive at first. Not about the amount of kids, or the moms, or the games. I was nervous about how my lovely one would act after she had been pumped up on sugar. As it turns out the worries were a waste of time. No need to be anxious. She did just fine. She had a great time playing all the games and having fun with the other kiddos there. The busy bee momma that organized the even did an amazing job. I think the kids were into all the games she had picked out for them and it was really nice to see them all having such a great time. My munchkin's favorite of the games was a tie between the heart hopscotch and the love bug swamp scoop. She sitting in the living room playing with the bugs right now as we speak. I can see, though, that the sugar is wearing off because someone seems awfully tired. I should hear the snoring coming from the living room any minute now. She's had a long wonderful stuffed-to-the-top kind of day. Tomorrow will be much of the same because we have tons of school to finish up. It shouldn't be too much of a pain though because they're her favorite subjects!! Which means I should have a wonderful day tomorrow as well. Let me come to a close here for the day. More ramblings tomorrow. =0)

There are others out there....

So, it's quite a relief to know that there are others out there that choose to home school their children. I was beginning to think that perhaps I really had sprouted a second by the way people would look at me when I told them. I recently found this amazing group of moms that get together in order for their children to socialize and build lasting friendships. The children enjoy all kinds of fun activities that they do as a group and the moms get a little chat time as well. To my surprise I've found someone who just happens to have a daughter the same age as mine, who lives very close by, and who's using the same curriculum that we happen to be using. On top of that, her little girl is just as amazing and bright as can be. My daughter really enjoys spending time with her. From the time we've had to get together it seems that we have a lot of the same interests and values so it'll be great to build a lasting friendship on that not only for us but also for our little ones. Hopefully we can find more homeschooling families in the area to add to the group. Either way I'm glad to have found someone who, like myself, has chosen a different route to education for her children. As far as the business goes, I haven't had much luck...but I'm not going to toss it in the can just yet. I think a little bit of patience is in order for DahliasRoses.

When will it end???

The cold is driving me bananas. All I want is a little sunshine. I really can't complain, too, much though. We're getting quite a bit of school work done. And that's always a great thing. Yesterday was all about ancient Egypt and the first farmers. My 4 year old couldn't get enough of it. The only parts that had her covering her face was when it registered that there wasn't any indoor plumbing in those days. The clay pot filled with sand, sitting under a wooden makeshift seat, didn't go over so well with her. She wasn't too keen on the whole mummification process either. She said we needed to stop talking about that now because she was to young to know about it. Can you imagine? The things kids say. So in actuality they really are listening when we think they are not. Unfortunate for me she took very well to other parts of the Egyptian study. She's wishing for a sickle now, because she says she wants to cut grain. That should be interesting. I'm not really sure where, in this city, she plans on cutting any grain. Maybe she'll settle for a pair of craft scissors and the 8ft weeds growing in the flower garden. I don't know. We'll see what she thinks about that. She, also, adored the section on making jewelry. Which I understand completely! How can you not love to make things...especially jewelry. So....I had every intention on listing new jewelry on dahliasroses.etsy.com but I think I got pretty side tracked trying to catch up on other things that needed to be done. Hopefully tonight will prove to be a little more eventful than the night before.