Rain Rain Go Away

It's a rainy day here in our corner of the Garden State.

I am starting to feel better, thank you all for the concern.

Regular exercise has made a HUGE difference.

I am trying to get the house clean, and organized for the coming

school year.We will not be starting our school year

until after Princess's 7th birthday. I was going to start on September 1st,

because that is the day Peanut will be officially joining us here.

Two days a week to start, with more to come as her Mom returns

to Grad School. I have decided to hold off and stick with our normal

routine of waiting until all the kids around us are back in school and

Summer is truly over. I am hoping to get back into my regular blogging

schedule as well. I may even continue with A Book, A Craft and a Plate with Kate

this Autumn. I am not sure yet. I want to thank all of the people who took the time to

leave a note about the direction of our little blog. The positive feedback means more than you may ever know. ((BIG HUGS)) I have so much to blog about, but not enough hours in the day

right now, so come back soon. I will have more books to talk about, some product reviews,

maybe even another giveaway. Princess and I have loads of lesson plans and craft ideas to hammer out, and laundry..isn't there always laundry?

We need to start our pizza dough, and Princess is hoping to bake cookies later as well.

Have a great day!! I will be back before Monday. I promise.;-)

Looking for a special t-shirt?

One of my favorite blogging Gal Pals, Heather

is a truly creative homeschooler, and she

has an equally creative hubby.

He has a brand new business making hand painted t-shirts,

sweatshirts and hats. Check it out here.

Recently he sent Princess an adorable

t-shirt all her own...

Can you see how much she L-O-V-E-S it? Go check out My Daddy Tees.

We're Jammin'

I hope you like jammin' too!
My "little" Brother,Mike stopped by for a visit and jammed for a bit
with Princess and Farmer Dad.

Princess loves to rock out with the boys!!

I'll put some video on here of her singing one day, but right now

she says no. :-(

This is what Saturday nights often look like in our corner of the Garden State..with or without visitors. They love to jam in the basement.What do you do on Saturday nights?

Fun Neighborhood

Do you have a fun neighborhood?

We are very lucky to have some wonderful neighbors.

When it got seriously hot here, my neighbor broke out the kiddie pool

and the hose for some wet summertime fun! We spent a couple of hours

playing in the kiddie pool and splashing under the hose. Their son is about 16 months old, and Princess loves to play with him.

Who needs to drive to the water park?

Not us..we live in a fun neighborhood!

Questions

I have a few questions about where I should go with this Blog.
If there is anybody still reading, leave me a comment about what it is
you like to get from this blog.
Are you in it for the children's books?
Arts and Crafts?
My blubbering on and on about my life?
Homeschooling specifics?
If there is anything you would like to see here, but don't..let me know.
I am trying to get on track for September 1st.
Yes, it's right around the corner...back to homeschooling, back to regular blogging.
Thank you all for your support and encouragement these last few weeks.
I love my little corner of the Blogosphere, and the community we have built together.
So come on, chime in. Tell me which direction you'd like to see us head in.
Feel free to tell me what you really think. I'm from Jersey, I can take it. ;-)

WINNER OF JUMP START GIVEAWAY

I am so sorry. I thought I posted this for some reason, but my
darling Princess informed me that she did not see it.
I apologize again for being such a slacker of late.
The Winner of the Jump Start Giveaway is........
Homeschooling on The Hudson !!!!
If you haven't been over there to visit, go check out all the
cool field trips they go on.
Congratulations to Chele and Mikro!! I hope you enjoy it as much as Princess has!
Naturally we can't get photos to upload, I will try to fix it soon.
Princess loved pulling a winner out of her hat, and wants to do another giveaway soon.
My sincere thanks to the good people at Jump Start, especially Cherie Marino
for putting this together to offer our readers.
If you haven't already read my review of their product, check it out here.
Princess loves learning with her Jumpy.

Some photos of what we've been doing...

I know, it's cheating, but it's all I've got in me right now.

I'll be back tomorrow.

Bad Bad Mommy Blogger

I have left you unattended for about 2 weeks.
I could tell you all it is gardening season and I have begun
the mad canning blitz, I could also say I was busy helping my sister move out and clear out 50+years of "stuff" from our Grandparents house in preparation of it's sale,I could say.."hey, it's summer, we're busy playing!" These would all be correct, but not completely honest.
I am always busy. I am a full time, stay at home Mom ,homeschooling my very active Princess
in the middle of the suburbs. I garden, cook from scratch most nights, have cleaning and laundry
and make my own curriculum. I also like to read. For fun, and to expand my mind.
Add in any socializing at all and we are full up over here.
Most of the time I can do it. Not effortlessly, but it may appear so to someone looking in.
I am not a whiner, life is hard. I tend to play with the hand I am dealt so to speak.
Lately, life has been TOO MUCH. I feel tired. A lot. A dark cloud has been following me around
for weeks, probably months, I was just too busy to notice. I am looking into medical reasons,
but I am not counting on them to find an answer. I started exercising. Every day.
I borrowed a couple of dvds from our library, and settled on Hip Hop Abs.
Go ahead and laugh, everyone else has.
I don't care. I started a little over a week ago, and I lost weight, and fit into clothes
that have been hanging in my closet with tags because I got too fat to wear that size,
but didn't realize it. I have not made any real dietary changes, just more aware of eating
3 healthy meals. I do not skip breakfast because I am too busy. I am making some time for me.
I got a manicure and pedicure last week, after my doc appointment, and this week I will do something else for me. I have decided we will take August off here in our Garden State Homeschool. I will get back on track with my blogging. Thank you all for the wonderful e-mails
and in some cases phone calls of concern. I love our community and won't be packing it in quite yet. I will try to post what we did for our last book club book here tomorrow, and Friday I will have a new book as well as posting photos of our giveaway selection. My apologies to all my readers and the kind people at Jump Start for dropping the giveaway ball.