Ultimate Blog Party {2012}

 

Hey y’all!  I have always wanted to take part in one of these blog parties so I thought that I’d do a “little bit about me” post today to introduce myself!

 My name is Adriane.  I am married to David and am mom to five children.  We live in Louisiana and we love the deep south that we call home. 

To start off this post, I thought I’d tell you a few interesting facts about me.

• I love to sing and have been singing in front of crowds since I was five-years-old.
• I play the piano too but quit many years ago due to stage fright when performing on the piano in front of crowds!
• I am a certified elementary/special education teacher and taught in public schools for 8 years.
• I once said that I’d never homeschool.
• We’ve been a homeschooling family for 7 years.  {smile}
• I love Tex-Mex food.  I’d have it everyday if I could.
• I do not like Dr. Pepper {but Coca-Cola is a different story!}
• I love Sonic’s Cherry Dr. Pepper. 
• One of my favorite places in the whole world is my backyard garden.  It is truly a place of peace, wonder, and beauty!

If you’re new to my blog, I’d like to welcome you and tell you a few of the things you’ll find on my blog.

Homeschooling

We are a homeschooling family so it tends to pop up now and again on the blog.  Some of the most-read posts about homeschooling here are:

Homeschooling in a small house ~ look up

Homeschooling in a small house ~ part 1

Our school room {totally different now!}

Homeschooling in small house ~ part 3 {visual aids}

Preschool posts

Learning the ABC’s {working on a post that gathers all of the ABC letter activity posts in one area – stay tuned!}

 

Gardening/City Homesteading

We live in the city but dream of moving to the country one day.  For now we are blooming where we are planted. 

Cantaloupe readiness dilemma

Gardening woes

Companion planting

Monthly garden updates

The City Chicks free range

A day in the life of the city chicks

Family/Recipes/Everyday stuff

On this blog, I share a little bit of everything so please feel free to look around and see what you can find!

Thanks for visiting!  Please feel free to leave a comment so I can meet you too!

 This post is linked to:

 

Five on Friday

It’s Friday!  I really like Fridays.  They are busy days for us as we wrap up the homeschool week, clean the house, and do weekend kind of stuff so I’m going to keep it short and sweet today by making five quick points.  (This also helps me have a place to put those random things that I want to share.)

~Number 1~

A while back I told you about a little girl named Tori who is fighting brain cancer.  Tori’s Mom, Penny, is a friend of mine from high school and college.  Tori is still receiving chemo treatments as she battles this disease.  Would you please pray for Tori, Penny, Todd (Dad), and Hunter (big brother)?  I’ve included a video that was made of Tori as she dances to a beautiful song.  I’m amazed as Penny tells stories of Tori as she goes through some tough times battling this disease.  Tori has such a grace and a strength that I honestly don’t know if even I as an adult could have during this time.  She is a special young lady.

 

~Number 2~

It has been incredibly warm here.  Tonight I sat with the seeds & seed catalogs and realized that I might as well start planting my early spring garden.  I’m probably going to do a lot of gardening this weekend.  I’m afraid that if I wait too long, it will be another very hot/very early summer (and it seemed like no spring) like we had last year.  Now watch, we will probably get the coldest weather we’ve ever had once I plant some veggies!

~Number 3~

 

A while back, we came up with a new chore system based on the one that I read about on a new-to-me blog, Sacred Mommyhood.  We’ve been using the plan and tweaking it here and there which is why I have our names written in pencil (the author of the blog used color-coded ink).  After we get all the kinks worked out, we will also color code our chart.  We recently implemented an incentive system to go along with the chore chart.  There will probably be more on that later.

~Number 4~

 

Do you pin?  I’m talking about Pinterest.  Have you heard about it?  I’m not one to jump on social media bandwagons too quickly.  (I still won’t touch Twitter…yet.) However, Pinterest is different.  It’s like a pinboard where you “pin” interesting and useful (and sometimes just funny) ideas from around the internet.  Some are crafty, there’s a lot of food and fashion, educational, gardening…pretty much something for everyone.  All of these great ideas in one pretty little space.  It’s pretty much awesome!  I’ve put a button above my picture in the sidebar.  You don’t have to follow me (unless you just want to) but if you’re ever interested in finding some good stuff, you can check it out by clicking there.  I’m going to try to plan next week’s menu just from my Pinterest pins.  I’ll let you know how it goes!

~Number 5~

I needed an incentive to help me get up and exercise.  (I mean besides the obvious ones like losing weight and being healthy! Sad, isn’t it? {smile})  As I thought on what would be a good incentive, I realized that I love cheap costume jewelry to add to my outfits.  So for everyday that I exercise, I’m going to buy myself a bracelet or a necklace or a headband at the {cheap} jewelry store.  Or I’m going to save up my dollars and buy a scarf or a flower pin because I’m really loving those trends right now.   Is it working?  Well, as of the time I wrote this post, I had earned one piece of jewelry.  I still have two more days to exercise this week so we shall see!

I hope y’all have a great weekend!  See you all again soon!

 

Let’s talk about hair

For years, I have been fighting my hair’s natural tendency to curl.  The past (at least) 16 years have found me straightening my natural wavy locks with straightening irons and sometimes chemicals.  And the process is not an easy one.  I can spend at least 30+ minutes trying to straighten these locks.  (You can see it straight on this page.)

And that was easy 16 years ago when it was just David and me.  But now…now there are five kids and a house and a homeschool…you get the picture.  There are just not 30+ minutes a day to spend on the hair.

  How incredibly cheesy is this picture!?!

So in an effort to save valuable time, I’ve decided to go with what God has naturally given me and go with the curls.  At first, the curls really wanted to stay frizzy.  So I talked to a curly-haired friend and found out that she uses products on her hair to help her curls not frizz.  (I hadn’t been using hair products besides a little hairspray to hold my bangs.)

  Feeling just a tiny bit vain with all of these pictures of myself!  {laugh}

After battling the frizzy waves, I tried Herbal Essences Totally Twisted Curl Boosting Mousse.  That was the ticket.  The curls now have more shape and less frizz.  And the time I saved was amazing!  All I did was put in mousse and blow out my bangs, spray a little hair spray to hold my bangs and wait for the curls to dry.  (And then gave them a little fluffing here and there.)

 It’s kind of hard to take pictures of yourself.  {smile}

It was a few weeks before I was brave enough to finally venture outside of the house with the curls and you know what?

People liked it! 

So for now…sometimes I’m straight

and sometimes I’m curly – especially on the busy days!

 Oh this picture makes me laugh!  Like I said – it is hard to take a picture of yourself.

Since I tend to pull my hair up, I tried that style out too.  Works for me.

 And that is the last of the pictures of me for a long time!

I like to pin hairstyles on

and I think that now I will try to find some that will work with curly hair. 

If there are any curly-haired girls reading my blog, do you have any pointers for pretty curls and no frizz?

 

I’m a little bit country, I’m a little bit city girl

I was born in a large southern city and it was my home during my early years.  At the age of eight, my dad began pastoring a country church in another state.  It was a bit of a culture shock as I learned that I wouldn’t spend every Friday night at a certain seafood restaurant eating popcorn shrimp.  The state we moved to didn’t even have this restaurant in the nearest larger city.  (This restaurant did eventually open in this city though…but many, many years later.)

 

Despite the culture shock of going from city dweller to country dweller,  I learned to love the country during those two years that we lived deep in the country in the church’s parsonage.  There was a pond out in front of the house and I would spend my days there fishing with my Dad and asking him to take the fish off of the hook.  There were woods around the house and I made a little house on the edge.  I played outside daily and encountered all sorts of wildlife.

Then our family moved to a small town.  Our new town was so small that we had one store, one (small) library, a post office, a school, and a caution light!  (They later added a bank too. {smile})  I spent most of my life there in that small town…even came back after college to live there during the first four years of our marriage.  My childhood days were spent working in Grandma’s garden, going hunting with my Dad & brother, and working with friends in chicken houses. 

 the kids eating frozen fruit pops out front…this made me smile

David and I chose to leave that small town with our two young boys and move to a middle-sized city where he worked.  It has been a move that worked for us as we were now able to spend more time together as a family.  David’s commute was cut drastically and we’ve been very happy here.

I’ve lived in one of the largest cities in America right down to a country town that didn’t even have its own zip code!  (It used the zip for a “larger” town nearby.)  Sometimes I wonder if I’m more of a country girl or a city girl?

 my silly kids

I count myself as a country girl.  I love working in the garden and love getting my hands into the dirt.  I love my city chicks.  I love wearing my “muck” boots and walking barefoot through the grass.  I don’t mind animal yuckiness even though I don’t care for blood too much.  I would rather be outside than inside any day.  I love exploring nature and wildlife here in my own backyard.

But I’m a little bit city girl too.  I love to wear high heels and getting my hair highlighted.  I love to wear my wide-legged trouser pants to church with my heels and pearls (and then come home and go check on the chickens while wearing this outfit).   I love the convenience of the city.  I love being able to go out to eat and having many choices.  I love being able to do my shopping in spurts instead of spending one entire day shopping in the “big city”.  I love the activities and culture that the big city has to offer.

My heart is in the country.  One day we hope that our family will live in the country and have a real farm.  But for today, we live here in the city.  We aren’t really farmers (even though we call it our farm)…we are far from that dream.  But we do try to live a simpler country life here in the city. 

And it can be done.  If you are a city dweller who dreams of living in the country, you can make steps toward that dream.  Turn part of your backyard into a garden.  You will be amazed at what you can grow in a small space.  Learn more about gardening as you work towards your dream of country living.  That’s what we are doing…paying down debt by living a little more simply and learning about gardening.

 

If you are a city dweller who just wants to slow down a little bit, you can do that too.  Evaluate whether you need to add one more activity to your to-do list.  Don’t be afraid to say no when needed and cut back as needed too.  Stay home a little more.  Plant a few vegetables or herbs.  Just enjoy a slower lifestyle even if it’s only for a few days a week. 

Or maybe you are a city dweller and you love the city and don’t care to go country…that’s ok too.  I say just be who you are no matter where you are. 

As for me, I am a little bit country and a little bit city girl.

And I like it that way.  {smile}

 

 

Goals for our little white house family ~

Every new year, I love to make goals.  Now, I’m not calling these resolutions.  I’m not resolving to change a whole lot. {smile}  But I do love to have some goals before me.  For some reason, goals keep me focused and help me to order my thoughts & steps a bit more.  (Being a Type A personality, I think that it’s in my blood to love lists. And lists of goals…that’s even better!) And why do I do it for the new year?  I don’t know…just seems like a nice, shiny, clean slate of a new year needs some nice, shiny, new goals to start it off!  {smile}

And now on to the goals.  Some of these goals will be kind of deep and some will be a bit on the fluffy side.  It seems like life is a little more interesting with a little of both!

This year, I will strive:

1.  To foster relationships in my life by being a giver.  

These relationships are my relationships with God, my husband, my children, my family, my friends, my church family, my neighbors, etc…  I want to be more of a giver in my relationships.  I want to give more praise to God.  I want to give Him more of my time.  I need to give more of my respect to my husband.  I want to give more gentleness to my children.  For my family and friends…and even neighbors, I want to open up my home and share with them hospitality.  To the random person on the street, I want to give of myself in a way that causes me to step out of my comfort zone.  This year, I  hope to let down my walls and open up my heart.  And I want to do it with a pure heart: not as someone wanting praise or pats on the back.  I want to do it to bring glory to my God.

2.   To take better care of myself.

It is no secret that this is a big year for me.  It is the year of my 40th birthday!  All ready, I am seeing what growing older and not taking care of oneself does to this human shell.  This year, I will lose this weight.  I will eat better.  I will exercise more.  I will go to bed earlier.  In return, I hope to add years to my life so that I can enjoy  a healthy, energetic life with these children who call me “mom”.  (And Lord willing, live a long life with my best friend & husband David as we enjoy grandchildren.)

 3.  To organize our home school and lead my children to a love of learning.

I hope to write more about this on our homeschool blog.

4.  To spend more time doing things that I enjoy.

That sounded really selfish, didn’t it?  Here’s what I mean.  It is very easy for me to burnout because I have a tendency to be a workaholic.  I work hard to keep our house clean, educate the kids, etc and then I get a bit burned out.  This year, I am going to purpose to set aside time to do things that I like to do.  Ok, that didn’t sound right.  I do like to clean my house {sort of} and I love to teach but I sometimes neglect those things that I do just because I love to do them (not because others depend on it to be done such as cleaning, et al).  I’m talking about things like sewing, reading, or crocheting.  I’d like to say that I’ll do those things every week but it will probably be more like a once a month thing. 

5. To learn more about chickens.

Here comes one of those fluffy goals!  We have wanted to move to a farm for a while.  But we will be here in the city for a while longer.  I have dreams of building this really cute chicken coop and having a few here on our little lot soon.  I know, some of my family think that I’m crazy. 

6.  To paint and decorate the rooms of our children.

It has been about a year now since we rearranged our small house to give our children separate rooms.  I’m really excited to get started painting and making their rooms special places for them.

7.  To organize our home better.  

Each month, I am trying to focus on doing something new to help our busy home run a little better.  This month, I am focusing on cooking meals ahead and putting them into the freezer.  Lately, I have been having a hard time getting the meals ready in a timely fashion after a busy day of home school and extracurricular activities.  I’m also choosing one area a month to declutter.  This month, the lucky area is the main bathroom linen closet. 

8.  To relax and play more with my children.

Remember when I said that I was a workaholic?  I am learning that my days go better if I relax and go with the flow that my children create instead of worrying over that to-do list.  And here I am making a new to-do list!  {smile}

9.  To bring more music back into our home.

Recently, I have taken on more responsibilities at church in the music ministry area.  I had forgotten how much I love music.  My life has been much more joyful since I’ve added more music to it.  My children love music too.  I have children who want to take guitar lessons and some who want to take piano.  My mom is giving us her piano if I can find a place to put it in our little home.  I even have some who want to take drum lessons.  I don’t think I’m ready for that just yet.  {wink}  Who knows?  Maybe we’ll have a Little White House Family Band one day!

10.  To stay focused on the task before me and follow the path that God has laid out for me.

It is so easy for me to waiver.  I am weak.  Just this week, I was questioning decisions in my life that I know are decisions God has put into place.  This year, I am praying that I will stay focused and keep my feet set firmly on the path before me.

Well, that was long!  And no pictures either!  Thank you if you read this whole thing.  God bless you!  Adriane

A little about me~

I believe it was back in March when I received a comment on one of the birthday posts of my older boys.  It was Amanda introducing herself to me.  I was ecstatic because (1) someone was reading my blog and (2) she seemed like a nice person.  The more that I have gotten to know Amanda over these months, I truly feel like we are kindred spirits.  I honestly never thought that I’d make a connection like this with someone via a blog whom I’ve not met face to face.  If you’ve not been to Amanda’s blog, you need to visit her.  She is such an inspirational woman.  She loves God, her husband, and her family.  It is obvious in her posts and it is quite inspiring.  Plus she is such an encouraging person.  Her words have lifted me up when I really needed them. 

Amanda tagged me with some questions a while back.  Thank you, Amanda, for thinking of me with these questions!

Here are the answers to her questions:

1.)  What is your favorite meal to fix for your family that you enjoy and they enjoy?

Is it bad when the first question is a tough one?  {smile}  Ok, I love to fix taco soup.  BUT I have one child who is extremely picky and he doesn’t like it.  He prefers gumbo which is not my favorite.  The meal that gets the most raves from everyone is probably a roasted chicken. 

 

2.)  If you had a free day with your husband and children and all your work was done what would you spend the day doing?

We would go out and explore something.  We like to visit historical sites and parks.  We like to trek through the woods.  Sometimes we just like to dig around in the backyard or ride bikes.

3.)   If you had a free day by yourself and your family was taken care of, what would you spend the day doing?

I would either be outside digging in the dirt & planting flowers or veggies or reading a book.  Actually, last Friday I could not put down the history read aloud book after I read to the boys.  I ended up reading most of it during quiet time and the rest of it that night before bed.  I guess I took the day off because I didn’t get all of my stuff done.  I felt a little guilty about it too but my wonderful husband just smiled and told me that I deserved the day off.

3.)  Why did you start blogging?
One, I wanted a way to document our days.  This is much easier than scrapbooking to me.  Two, I needed a way to connect with other moms.  Three, I needed a creative outlet.  Blogging gives me all three!

 

4.)  Do you have a TV and if so what good family movies do you recommend?

Funny that you should ask this: we have been discussing this very thing in our home…again!  We do have a TV.  We also are always talking about turning off cable.  Actually, we called the cable company and told them we wanted to disconnect.  They came to the house to pick up the box and talked me back into it!  And you know why?  I hardly watch TV but I didn’t want to miss the Duggars!

I honestly can’t recommend much of anything that I like my kids to watch.  We monitor what they watch but if I were honest, I really wouldn’t want them to watch much of anything.  There is so much in so many shows that just doesn’t sit well with David or me.  For instance, one show that the kids will sometimes watch, one character says really demeaning things about poor people.  That really, really bothers me.  So I use those opportunities to teach my children about how God loves all people and that we should love, reach out, and help the poor.

I do like it when we watch Little House on the Prairie.  We also have some Berenstain Bears movies that they watch.  I would like to introduce them to the Waltons.  I think they would like that.  We recently watched Toy Story 3 and it was pretty funny.  Oh, the TV is a hard one around here.  It leaves me waffling and unsure what to do!  Sometimes I feel like it just needs to go but I just can’t let it go!

 

 

5.)  Tell me three things you are passionate about.

Being the wife, mom, & woman that God wants me to be

Living a life with integrity

Music

 

This is an oldie.  Sunshine Girl was a wee baby.

6.)  If God had not called you to be a wife and a mother what do you think he would have called you to do?

I would probably still be teaching in an elementary classroom.  Of course, I still do it daily in my home!

I once dreamed of singing on Broadway or being involved someway in vocal performance.  I absolutely love to sing.  Music stirs my very being!

It’s a crazy life but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

* After I posted this on my blog, I remembered that I am supposed to tag others to answer some questions.  Since I’m supposed to be packing tonight and planning school (and I’m taking a quick break) , how about if you read this and you want to do this then copy & paste the questions onto your blog.  Then answer these questions and come back here and leave a comment to let me know. 

And if I don’t make it back to blog over the next few days:

Happy Thanksgiving!