Ad Ode to.........

(to the tune of "Oh Christmas Tree)

Oh Chick-fil-A, Oh Chick-fil-A

how much we love to see you!

You are clean, and you are kind

you have a Christian state of mind

Oh Chick-fil-A, Oh Chick-fil-A

how much we love to see you!

Today your heat & air was broke

you offered free warm drinks to all the folk

Oh Chick-fil-A, Oh Chick-fil-A

how much we love to see you!

Your food is good

not like the clown's

the golden arches

make us frown

Oh Chick-fil-A, Oh Chick-fil A

how much we love to see you!

As if your food were not enough

you have handy wipes and sweet stuff
(butter mints)

we love to eat and play at your store

we will love Chick-fil-A forevermore

Oh Chick-fil-A, Oh Chick-fil-A

how much we love to see you!

(seriously.....it was kinda chilly in there today and they were offering warm free drinks to whomever might wish for one! The staff is ALWAYS so nice. I love the way they base their business on GOD and are closed on Sundays.....they are doing SOMETHING RIGHT!)

Christmas wishes 2009

Gracie in her Christmas frock the Sunday before Jesus' birthday
loving the lights on the tree.....

loving our new Elf on the Shelf, Elton

2009 has been a year of changes for us. The biggest change, of course, is taking on the joy of homeschooling. We both love it (at least at this point we do!) and are looking forward to our second semester in January.....Gracie has already completed all of her 2nd grade Language Arts, so we are going to work the rest of the semester on 3rd grade, cursive drills and creative writing. Gracie has done a beautiful job on her cursive and practices every day. We are on track with all of our subjects, most of them being a bit ahead. In January, Gracie will be starting something else new: Rhythmic Gymnastics. Now, the child LOVES her gymnastics and this is a combo of ballet and gymnastics....floor work with ribbons, rings, balls....it's quite beautiful and I think she will dive right in and be a pro in no time!!!!

When the new year arrives, I hope to be purging and organizing (I think this is my goal EVERY year!) and also I hope to start back up BLOGGING again.....I think I've come to a stand still because of 2 things: 1) Facebook and 2) backlog of blogs/posts to print into books! I need to save me a stash of "Blurb book" money and get these suckers PRINTED!!! That will be quite an expense, and along with that expense, I have some antique posters that I bought in China that I need to have framed.....sigh.....I guess another 7 years won't make much difference! hee hee

In January, I will turn the big 4-0! I'm less worried about turning 40 than I was turning 30! I'd really prefer to go out of town to celebrate, as I don't like "all eyes on me parties"! I'm not shy but I get embarassed about that kinda stuff! I'm not counting on a "birthday vaca" though. I feel like I should be about 22-23 years old. ha....very far from it!

We pray that 2010 will be a better year......economically, especially. The first decade of this century has taken some major blows, but here's to looking up with a positive attitude for the second decade!

Arts for Life finale!

Gigi & her drama teacher, Ms. Anna

Gigi and the owner of Arts for Life, Ms. Karen
(who was also a teacher for part of the semester)

Gigi and her Art Teacher, Ms. Stacy

(I think they coordinated their outfits! hee hee)

Gigi with her world cultures teacher, Ms. Roseanne

The kiddos surprise ending of their performance.....I lucked up that I got a photo of the confetti flying, 'cause I had no clue!

Arts for Life ended it's 5 year run last night. We made some special friends in our short time there....that makes it worth every second. Gigi is going to get back into gymnastics, and is excited that she is going into a "specialty" of Rhythmic Gymnastics.

Be looking for her training for the Olympics soon......;)

Hugs make it all better.....

Ms. Karen getting cuddles from the kiddos

Ms. Karen, the owner of Arts For Life, is taking a leap of faith and moving on to a new career in life....today was her last day at school and it was bittersweet. She will still be involved in the program on a certain level (it's her business, afterall) but she won't be with the little sweeties each Thursday.....when we left the classroom, Gigi said "I sure will miss Ms. Karen....I didn't get enough time with her! I love her so much already!"

She took the words right out of my mouth!

We love you Ms. Karen!

Naomi, the librarian....& comparison/contrast....

Living in the Nashville, TN area, you often see Country Music Stars (and legends)...we have ran into George Jones several times (although not in recent years because now I would be bold and ask for a photo!) but last week we ran into Naomi Judd in Franklin. Such a sweet woman, told G that she was "very fashion forward"! I told G after we left Naomi about how she used to wear little fancy dresses on stage that looked like they belonged on a baby doll! Gracie proceeded to tell me that she now looked like a librarian! ;)

Today, we were working on comparison/contrast in English. I explained to G the difference in comparing and contrasting subjects.....G proceeded to tell me that "there was major contrast in the triplets....between Lauren and "the twins".....very observant. She really gives me giggles!)

I'm sad that things at Arts for Life are going to be changing.....the owner, Ms. Karen, has taken a new job, although not without a lot of prayer and thought....one of the families that has 2 children in the program is being relocated and as of January, we will probably not be attending. This is sad, but when God closes one door, He opens another.....

Projects in our near future......

(don't worry....we are NOT making the gifts in this photo!)

One thing G and I are going to be doing over the next few Fridays is deciding what type of holiday crafts we can make for gifts and who for......there are a few reasons for this.....

1) money is tight (for MOST people, including us)

2) it teaches Gracie that things don't have to be bought in the store

3) it fosters creativity

4) it's heartfelt......

My Granna ALWAYS, always, always made our Christmas gifts. Her mother did the same thing with my Mother and Uncles. Those gifts from Granna mean more to me than anything she could have "purchased".....it required her time and artistic ability and the thoughtfulness of creating something just for me! My mother enjoys doing the same thing, and I want to instill this in Gracie as well....

So........if you are on our Christmas list this year, more than likely (but if time and ideas run out), your gift will be made with love by the two of us!!!!

It's a good thing.

I'm so bad......

I can't figure out why I don't blog much anymore. I don't even LOOK at other blogs much! I'm thinking it's a combo of a different lifestyle with homeschooling as well as facebook! Gracie has been under the weather some (but not this week, as you can see in these fall break photos of the Bowers grandgirls!) We have moved school into the house....the studio just didn't seem to gel with us....we keep the tv off and people seem to know now not to call the house. It's nice and quiet....all we hear is the windchimes, the birds and an occasional meow out of the baby kitten!

Yes....a baby kitten. It's mother rejected it and our neighbor Martha asked us to "kitten sit" one day last week when she had to be gone most of the day. That was all it took. We are feeding it with a bottle and it's a great learning experience......for BOTH of us!

where in the world is Gracie Jo?!

Well, I guess we have been busy! This is G's "fall photo"....each year I put a photo of her in her Halloween gear in a frame (sometimes a costume, sometimes clothes). This child is really growing! It's amazing......

We've been busy with school.....Rhett & I celebrated a dozen years of marriage, working now on our baker's dozen ;) and we have been under the weather too! I'm going to try to be better about posting on here.....I really don't get to browse blogs much anymore!

We have almost totally phased out 2nd grade work at school....although she is still technically a second grader, it is better to give her a bit of challenge :) Gracie is doing well in all of her studies....it's wonderful to see her actually learning.....and teaching me a thing or two in the process!!!

Random post

I don't know why I took a photo of all of G's Chucks......I'm a little sad, she has just outgrown them.....I love Chucks so much, and I know these are going to a good home, but it just represents her growing up more and more to me......I am on the hunt for a low top black pair AND a low top brown pair to "ease the pain" :)
Today was really good with homeschooling.....we started the day off with the Wii fit....G thought it would be fun to wear her scooter helmet while she worked out! hee hee.....

Today in health, we were learning about the parts of the eye.....as I was explaining that there were "many parts of the eye that we could not see but were very important", G grabbed her pointer, jumped up and began to show me the parts of the eye behind the eyeball that we see! This learning thing is FOR SURE a 2 way street!

Arts for Life is going well on Thursdays! We have switched things up a bit....Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we will "typically" work in the studio on mostly "book work". Thursdays are for enrichment and then Fridays are days for "creative learning".....crafts, projects, field trips, etc. Some days will be switched around, thank goodness for the flexibility of homeschool!

My confidence is building, as well as learning to just relax a little bit......Gracie is doing well, retaining information and growing. I'm thankful each day to my Lord for this chance to work with our child in all aspects of her sweet little life!

how busy we have been!!!!!

somehow the past 2 weeks we have squeezed in some school work! Now, it hasn't been in the "classroom" at the desk and chalkboard so much, but that is part of the joy of homeschooling....we can be mobile when we need to be!

Last Friday afternoon we picked up Briley and headed to Build-a-Bear.....the girls really enjoyed the time together (they started kindergarten together and also were in first grade together) Rhett met us at the mall and after raiding the bulk candy store, we headed to Logan's...

(oh...by the way, this was to celebrate the 7th birthday!!!!....and Rhett's 38th)

The day after this fun evening out we had practice for Sunday's halftime show where Gracie was a mini T-Rac!

The past 2 weeks have been very, very busy with taking care of things at Nanna and Poppa's house while they were in Hawaii, picking them up from the airport, Daddy's birthday, G's birthday and then the Titans stuff.....this week we are recuperating and getting thank you notes finished (a post on that later) and trying to get back into a routine.....

Next week.......back to the schoolhouse across the breezeway......
I'm ready for some structure!

NOT G's cup of Tea!!!!

I don't know what it is about Halloween that I personally enjoy. I believe it's the time of year.....bonfires, hayrides, hot dogs and s'mores....
masks? not so much.

Well, G is getting to an age where she has firm opinions on some things....she thinks in a more complex manner and yesterday she and I had a long talk about Halloween.

She has never been "crazy" about it. Masks and wigs make her head "hot". She isn't a big candy eater. It's just not her cup of tea.

She sometimes has nightmares about vampires. This, (which I attribute to the Twilight phenomenon) along with Halloween stuff on sale everywhere has it on her mind. Now, she is not a scaredy-cat. She simply does.not.like.Halloween.

I respect her feelings......we talk about the fact that it isn't "real", it's all for "fun", but she stands firm. There you go. No argument from me :)

So, if you are lookin' for little G to come trick-or-treating......it ain't gonna happen......
We are just going to celebrate Autumn....or Fall.....either way, no candy or masks for us.

This isn't a bad thing ;)

A day of FIRSTS....

FIRST time Gigi put in her own "pigtails".....

to take our FIRST trip to The Learning Circle. The Learning Circle.....so glad it isn't *too* close to us or I would be contemplating taking out a personal line of credit in order to pay for something that could easily become an addiction! It's a homeschooler/teacher's dream! Gigi and I were both oooh-ing and ahh-ing all over the place!

Our FIRST time using a spring-form pan and baking a cheesecake! These photos REALLY do not do this tie dyed cake justice! It was oh-so-fun to make too! The crust is a red velvet cake...we made this for Daddy's birthday (which is tomorrow, but we won't have time tomorrow afternoon to make it. The best part?! ITS as YUMMY as it is FESTIVE!

Make a wish, Daddy......we love you!

off to the library we go!

Gracie applying for her own library card


outside the library with books (of course) and the new card! Yipee!

Gracie was excited that we took a field trip to the Nolensville Library today! I'm ashamed to say this is her first library card....we always go to the bookstore, and there is no need when you are just looking for basic reading material! It's funny how a place can evoke feelings from years ago....as I was looking at the books, I started reminiscing about all the hours I logged at the libraries in college.....and high school.....and elementary school, too! Love the library!

First day at ArTs FoR LiFe!!!!!

G was bee-boppin' today to go to her enrichment program, Arts for Life, that started today. I believe I have already posted about what all they do, but each Thursday from 9-2:30 they have Music, Art, Science, Drama & World Cultures......this is an incredible program. When we took the leap to homeschool, I prayed to God for some sort of enrichment program to come along and within ONE DAY, I found out about AFL. I didn't even seek it, it showed up in my email inbox!
Here is G with the owner of AFL, Ms. Karen. She is the Science teacher & has been in the education field for over 25 years. We are excited to start this new relationship with Ms. Karen and the rest of the staff (photos will be taken soon!) at AFL!

Ms. Karen took a photo of the two of us also!

A cheshire cat grin after school......

G was bouncing off the walls, telling me about her first day and how she has made a wonderful friend, Molly. She said it was amazing that she found someone that she had so much in common with! I'm so happy that Gracie has these 4 instructors and 8 other classmates.....it's a great teacher student ratio. Looking forward to a fun year......

possible extracurricular activitie(s)

Rhythmic Gymnastics


Irish Step Dancing

Now that we are starting to get the swing of homeschooling and G's enrichment day starts this week, we are exploring the extracurricular activities G might like to try! It is my wish that we could do BOTH activites, but I doubt we can make that happen right now. We will just have to see.....I'm hoping she won't be torn on which one she prefers!

It's a wonderful thing that we are going to be able to take a free trial class on each activity. The gymnastics class would be on Fridays at 5pm in Cool Springs. The Irish step dance would be on Wednesdays at 4:30pm....the instructor rents studio time from Elite in Nolensville, so that would be convenient! The step class also caters somewhat to homeschool students.

So, hopefully by October 1 we will be ready to add at least one of these activities to our agenda!

Labor day fun.....

G decided that Daddy needed make-up and a (pink) manicure!
Isn't he a beauty?
Such a good Daddy.....lots of fun and a good sport.
G reminded me today: "be sure and put those pictures on facebook AND the blog!"
hee hee hee.....

family fun day

started our day off with a yummy breakfast at Puckett's grocery off the square in Franklin. G is enjoying her chocolate milk from Hatcher's dairy farm. I went to high school with Jim Hatcher, one of the owners. I'm glad their business is doing so well!
After some shopping, we decided to go see "G-Force" in 3D. G got a bag of popcorn that was almost as big as she is!!!! Such a cute movie!

There is always time for a jump session on the trampoline after a play day....G has started doing front and back handsprings on the trampoline, plus cheerleading jumps like this one!

All in all, a nice day with my 2 best buddies! :)

Fun Friday!

Friday is PJ day and "mix up the order of lessons" day too! G gets a real kick out of this and enjoys picking which subject she wants to start with, etc. Here she is saying the pledge to the flag.........
Pledge to the Bible (this was one of my Pappy's Bibles :)

And saying a prayer for us to have a good day and learn a lot. I felt guilty taking this and not focusing on her prayer....she is so used to the camera sounds, she didn't stop for one second in her prayers......so very, very sweet!

Daddy came home with a large white board that I believe Poppa got a long time ago from a office supply auction/sale. I use it occasionally in class, but today G was excited to get to answer some questions on the board......

We got a call from Toodles saying that G's lunch purse was monogrammed and ready to pick up! You can't really tell by the photo, but it says "GiGi" in hot pink on light pink and brown. She was very excited about this! It's insulated and very well made....I think it will be around for awhile!

We finished our first unit in Bible on Biblical Obedience. We will start a new unit on Tuesday....I believe the next topic is going to be Biblical Compassion.
Homeschooling is so very rewarding for both of us. It's a blessing and a challenge and pure joy! I thank God for the ability to experience this type of education, and I thank Rhett for working so hard to help make it happen!!!!

(3 out of 4) Grandparent's Day

We know it isn't really "Grandparent's Day", but G saw 3 of the 4 today! Pa Pa is the only one who "missed out"! ha ha! The day started with Poppa and Nanna being "chauffeured" (by me!) to the airport for their extended visit to Hawaii! The little devils! (no, truly, they DESERVE some R&R in paradise!) Nanna started packing 3-4 days ago, so I know she was excited!
After the airport, we needed to go to Murfreesboro to pick up some items from my friend Jill. So, while in the neighborhood, we stopped by MNE to visit Ma Jo! The phones, students and teachers "left her alone" long enough for us to snap a photo! hee hee....she is a busy gal at work! Ma Jo gave us some lunch money, which we GREATLY appreciated!

Starting next Thursday, G's enrichment program will start. She is really going to enjoy the class, she spent some time yesterday decorating her class notebook (they were sent home with the parents Tuesday night so they could be snazzy for the first day of school!) Hers is fancy, of course! :) We stopped at Toodles and "ordered" a personalized lunchbox, since she will be taking lunch each day and won't have a back pack. Ma Jo, G's lunch "purse" is fancy like yours!!!! We will take a photo with it before she enters Arts for Life next week (of course!!!!)

Not sure if I mentioned this or not, but I will be putting together a yearbook of sorts for Arts for Life. This will be easy-peasy for me, since I will be snapping away with the camera anyway! This can be my "room mother" type of contribution to the group! I'm sure those kiddos will be sick of me and my camera by Christmas!!! hee hee....but I hope the book will be a happy memory keeper for them for years and years to come......!

Tomorrow we will do most of our normal studies, but will also include some "holiday history"....explaining WHY we will have a free day on Monday! This is something I think I should have learned when I was in school.....we never really cared WHY we had a day off, we just wanted the day off! Speaking of, we hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday.....