Way back in August I planned a Shootout for fellow shutterbugs to get together and talk shop about our beloved hobby. We met some great new people and had some great discussions. Then after lunch we met again and played with a studio setting and talked about lighting and posing. Then we took a couple models downtown to play some more. We shot some portraits as well as some other things that interested us along the way. It was so much fun we are planning to have another one soon! We're not an exclusive group, just one that enjoys getting together to share and to learn. The only requirement is that you want to have some fun. :)

I didn't shoot a whole lot (compared to what I usually do!) but will share a bit of what I did capture that day.

Miss A is a real sweetie and so great to work with! Isn't she just gorgeous???



She thought we were a silly bunch but was willing to do whatever anyone asked her to do!



A, you are stunningly beautiful...



Hanging out downtown...


Thank you so much for allowing us to photograph you! I seriously could have shot this girl all day!


If you are interested in joining us for the next shootout, just let me know and I'll add you to the mailing list! :)

There are two subjects that are never at risk of neglect around here. Three if I can be totally honest.

I love math. Maybe because it comes fairly easy to me? Maybe because it just makes sense to me? Maybe because the hard fast rules stay the hard fast rules? I get frustrated with English and all the rules that have a million exceptions. And then History... Ugh. It's just too much to remember that I have never used. I am not a good advocate for these subjects. Jeremiah seems to take after mommy in this. But I try to never say in front of him that I am not a fan of these subjects. When he complains that something is "too hard" then I just remind him that it's not hard, it's just tricky. And we need to learn to be trickier! I started this sometime last year when there was something I knew he could do but he felt defeated and wanted to give up. He eventually worked it out and we celebrated and I reinforced that he learned how to be trickier and he did it! It seemed like a good idea so I tried to reinforce it on anything small to build up his confidence to try things. So when he complains about English, I just remind him that it's tricky because there are some words that don't follow the rules but he can be trickier by memorizing the words.

Okay, all that for what reason? I don't know. It's late. lol

Anywho, where was I? Oh yeah, I love math and so does Jeremiah. I also love anything artsy crafty and so does he. We get along so well! So there we have the two subjects that never get neglected around here because they come up all the time, all day long. Other subjects do to but they don't seem as fun. lol

Here is a boatload of images taken one morning when we declared it paint day (turned into paint week and is still going...). I had Jeremiah write out some sight words in his choice of media and then he could paint the birdhouse he picked out. Joshua loves to join in everything we do so it was a win-win-win!






Joshua felt the need to paint everything...

Everything everywhere...

He also has this problem with walking over thinkgs and not noticing...
But when you point it out, he gets a tad upset about the results...

I'm just thankful for Crayola's Washability...

But Crayola doesn't clean up the rest of the mess...

Jey working on his birdhouse...




He's always so serious when he's working. He gets that from Daddy...




Oh, and what is the third thing? P.E.

I never lack for a way to keep these two active. Sure they'd love to sit around in front of the TV all day. All I have to do is shove them outside and the yard become an obstacle course. Or turn on music in the living room and it becomes a dance number from Mary Poppins. The thing that seems to work the best is that I just sit on the floor in the middle of the room. They come running and attack me. They climb and try to balance themselves on my arm or leg (I'm so sore!) or they start a tickling wrestling match. All because I sat on the floor. For some reason me in that stance screams "free-for-all dog-pile!" Nice. The bruises are nice too. (note sarcasm)

I mentioned in a previous post (HERE) that I make a lot of stuff we do for school. Here are just a few examples of some things I throw together to make learning a little more fun around here...

He stacks the scoops on the appropriate cone...

Self explanatory...


Basically, he's just putting them in the correct "container"...

I'm such a frugal homeschooler. Not always by choice, I just think it's practical and fun. :)

My homemade Lesson Planning sheets...

I got two of them.
(Actually 3 of them but I only have pics of two to share today!)
And I don't think I'm just another proud, biased momma.
Well, I might be.
But they are still pretty stinkin' cute.
Seriously, just look at this little stinker here...



And you can't pass up gorgeous lashes they both share...


I think know I'm in love. :)

Just some random shots of my little guy enjoying some afternoon sun at the sandbox...

Yes, he's in his jammies. It was a PJ day. Don't judge. :)

Shot him from different directions. Backlit...

Full Sun...

They each give a different feel to the image, don't you think? My fave: sun flare...


We love summer but we are also thankful for the cooler weather! This summer was pretty sweltering. I am a fan of heat but not a fan of humidity. Not at all. Not one bit. Bring me 100 degrees as long as there is no humidity and I'll will be just fine! Makes me miss Southern California a bit. But not enough to move back. Just wait for fall here in KY! So worth the smothering heat of summer and frosty freezing of winter!

Kids toys are just so cute, aren't they?



Harvest Season is coming fast! Yay, Fall!

{Mommy Moment}

We made a family trip to the grocery last week. It's always an adventure to shop with kids, isn't it? When Jeremiah was really little, he would get upset about not being able to open and partake of things before the checkout. We would always have to remind him that we had to "pay for it" and he then dubbed the checkout clerk as a "PayForIt" and eventually all the workers in the store were called this.

So anyway... last week at the grocery, I sent Daddy and the boys to get a loaf of bread and a baguette (for this awesome recipe HERE). They couldn't find the baguette so they approached a worker from behind the deli counter to help. When my guys got back to me, Daddy started to tell me how they needed some help finding it. Jeremiah chimed in (very matter-of-fact) with "The PayForIt with the bag on her head helped us!"

When you homeschool, you get a lot of questions. Among the homeschool crowd, one of the first questions asked is "What curriculum do you use?" I don't really have an easy answer to that one! I researched a ton of curriculum and couldn't really decide on which one I thought would work the best. I liked certain aspects of different ones but not enough to want to pay so much for a book I'd only use a fraction of. So I started researching "What your child should know" lists for his grade level (scope and sequence charts). I found some great sites for educators with some very detailed lists. I also looked at several curriculum that lined out what your child should learn each grade. I combined several reputable lists and I design my own curriculum. This master list lines out my objectives for the year and it gives me a starting place to find resources and activities to teach each thing. Some people call it "Unschooling" because it's not traditional but I don't think that is really it. I am pretty traditional in that we actually do the pledge and sit down to work on worksheets and such. Shoot, we even have a traffic light behavior chart! lol

Basically, I look through my lists and lesson plan week by week. I prefer to do week by week because some things Jey learns quickly and we can move on while other things are a bit more challenging and we need to stay there for a little longer. This way I can be flexible and he can learn what he needs before moving on to more challenging things. And if for some reason we didn't get to something, we can just add it to the next day/week without disrupting my long term lesson plans.

Anyway, I prefer to think of my style of homeschooling as "Freestyle Homeschooling." I scour the internet for ideas and get creative! Learning can be so fun! There are a ton of ideas out there to teach whatever learning style you have and thankfully, there are a ton of free or really cheap ideas to do some fun things with your schooling. One day I might post some links if you are interested. I am also SO THANKFUL for friends who have passed along some of their curriculum and random books. I have a lot of reading books as well as science and math. I also find lots of things to supplement at Dollar stores and (my fave) the Target Dollar Spot. They always have little workbooks on various subjects and lots of flashcards as well. Flash cards are great when we are "carschooling" or for making up games to review information. We have purchased several books and CD Roms for our homeschool and they are great tools we use often around here.

The odd thing about KY is that homeschoolers are only required to log the number of days that we school. This is nice in that we have the freedom to choose what/how our children will learn. But then it is kind of sad to me that there might be families who claim to homeschool and then do absolutely nothing! My poor kids would probably love that! haha But no, I'm the meanie who has a huge list of things for them to learn and do each day. If I ever feel like my kids are not getting a quality education, I am not too proud to send them to a school to learn. But in the meantime, things are going great and we are having a blast! Yes, there are headaches now and then but that brings up another beauty of homschooling. If we are having "one of those days" then we can just stop for a while or for the day and switch gears while we work things out and get back to normal again. If we end up losing a day, we just tack another day on the end. I actually start a couple weeks before public schools start up so we have some days to play with as needed. Sometimes Mommy needs an Inservice Day to get renewed!

All this random talk about our Homeschool just to educate you on the title of this post. So explains why we are Freestyle FUNschoolers! Daddy is a great principal and when a student has reached the teacher's last straw, they get sent to the principal and the teacher gets a mini break to chill. And we all get hugs so it's a great situation! haha

I started taking some pictures of some of the things we do around here. I have a ton of images to go through but I'll post a few so you get an idea of school life around here at Kairos Learning Center...

Right now my office doubles as our school room. Sometimes we "do school" in other areas of the house but mostly we hang out in here.


I make a lot of the worksheets for Jey. Mainly because I know exactly what I'd want on it and can't always find some that I like. Plus its almost free and there is always the exact number of worksheets we need to get enough practice on each topic!


Jeremiah is not always enthusiastic about language arts so I have to keep him interested by incorporating other things he likes. Having him write his spelling words on the dry erase board feels like drawing so he is much more cooperative about it...

Besides, what kid doesn't love to draw on the board? And all the colors! Fun stuff here!

My biggest obstacle is keeping Joshua entertained during school. Suddenly toys are boring and he usually ends up finding stuff to get into...

There are lots of things I let him do that keep him semi-busy but I always have something to clean up or put back together when we are done. I don't like that part! lol

Any ideas of keeping a busy toddler busy during Jey's school time?

I do involve him whenever I can (mostly to keep him from making a mess to be quite honest!). Like having Jey read to him. Joshua likes to do whatever Jeremiah is doing. At least he tries...


(couldn't resist this one!)


I know these pics aren't very exciting. I have a ton more so I'll post periodically about our homeschool life so stay tuned! :)

Anyone watching the Great Food Truck Race on The Food Network? We watched the first episode just to see what it was all about and got hooked! So every Sunday night after church we dig up some grub and find out what is going on in the world of food trucking. It's actually pretty fun to watch! I'm rooting for team NomNom because they are just refreshingly fun and professional too! They are rockin' the competition and win every week! Go Nomsters! The last episode is tomorrow night so hopefully we will be celebrating!

And isn't this cute? ---> Nom Nom has their own blog! NomNomTruck.com!

But that is not really what I was going to post about. haha!

My sister-in-law sent me this FABULOUS recipe for Jalapeno Popper Dip (thanks Erin!). It sounded like something we'd love so I thought I'd give it a try. And all I could say after tasting it was "Nom Nom Nom..." It's SOOOOOOOO Yummerific! Seriously.

We tried to eat our weight in it. Okay, maybe that is an exaggeration but we sure did eat a lot of it! It's creamy and has the jalapeno kick we love so well and it's heavenly cheesy goodness!

Nom Nom Nom...


So incredibly easy to make too. I whipped it up while keeping an eye on a whiney 6 year old and two very busy toddlers nipping at my ankles (I was babysitting). Yup, it's that easy. Slice up a sourdough baguette and dip dip dip away! It's honestly hard to stop once you get started!


Here is the recipe: Jalapeno Popper Dip
Enjoy some Nom Nom Nom time for yourself!

Almost every morning starts out this way. The first one to get up grabs a book or two and we end up all cozy together in a bed reading until the other wakes and joins us. A great way to snuggle ourselves awake if you ask me! This particular morning we squeezed into Joshua's tented bed. This Toy Story tent drives me nuts but he loved it so it stuck around for a while until I got really frustrated with them taking it apart and I had to keep putting it back together... (boy, was that a run-on sentence or what?!?!). It's gone as of yesterday. :)

But we have the memories, right? And here they are in all the glorious, busy color that it is...


Jeremiah reads to us from an I Spy Christmas (?) book...

Heehee, look at those sleepy eyes!



Good times. :)

Whenever I see these beautiful, long lashes I just have to grab my camera and capture them...

Jeremiah got dressed and donned his new favorite article of clothing: a "Jesus Loves Me" hat. He came to me and said (with a wink and a pose), "all the kids at church are going to say I'm looking cool!" I cracked up and had to take a picture of him saying it again. He didn't give the same crazy pose but he still made me laugh with these:





I had just put on some makeup and he said my eyes looked very Korean. lol So we took some pics together.



And then we got silly. :) Enjoy our goofiness!