Today was Alex's first soccer game. He was so cute in his uniform and during their practice session before the game. He was very nervous and quickly became overwhelmed by the whole thing. He ended up not playing during the game, despite doing very good during practice. Afterwards he told us that he will have a good practice on Monday and will play next Saturday. I hope so! We shall see. He has never been involved in anything like this and you could see how it overwhelmed him. Another little boy was having trouble too so at least we weren't the only ones. LOL! My mom and brother (and 2 of his dogs) were able to come watch the game. My mom is doing pretty good after her epidural cortisone shot yesterday and was able to walk across the parking lot & the soccer field really well (something she could not have done before without a lot of pain & trouble). We had them over for lunch afterwards.

Earlier in the day we took the kids to Lowe's workshop and they each built a bird house. They are getting really good at hammering nails in and look forward to the workshops at Home Depot and Lowe's each month.

We got a really GOOD rain late this afternoon/early evening. We desperately needed it as it has been bone dry around here. We lost power for about 30 minutes and the kids had quite the time figuring out why the internet wouldn't work even though my laptop still did. LOL! Ahhh, amazing what lessons come in the course of an ordinary day.

Yesterday was a nice day. The kids did really well getting their school work done. Morgan worked up at the kitchen table with Alex and he did pretty good staying focused on his own work. Corey didn't want what was on the menu for dinner so we headed over to Applebee's for dinner. Then we went by Wal-Mart and got a replacement game system (previous one broke) and a couple of discounted games. Corey even surprised Morgan with the soundtrack for High School Musical. She loves it and we hear the songs all the time on Radio Disney. Now she can really play them all the time. LOL!

Today, Morgan and I went with my mom into Nashville for a procedure she was having done. Her neurosurgeon referred her for an epidural cortisone injection to help relieve her back pain. She has several back issues and surgery is in her future but they are trying to buy her some time and pain relief. Everything we had read lead us to believe that it would take an hour or so...but she was done in about 20-30 minutes. No waiting & poof it was done. At the moment the lidocaine (or similar) that they mix with the cortisone is providing some pain relief. Hopefully this works for her...she needs it. After we got home we got school work done, took the recycling to the convenience center (we had A LOT!) and headed to my mom's for dinner. She has set up her Halloween village stuff and the kids got to help finishing it up.

Tomorrow we are taking the kids to the Lowe's kids workshop and then Alex has his first soccer game at noon. We can't wait and he is excited. I'll post a pic of him in his uniform.

The kids are starting to sound and feel a little better. A little less stuffiness and much less coughing at night. Morgan had her musical theatre class this morning so we left early & got her a cassette tape (and a personal cassette player to listen to the tape) and got her to class. No part assignments were made today but they practiced several of the songs. Maybe parts will be assigned next week. Alex stayed home with Corey because we weren't going to our homeschool park day due to his soccer meeting. We met Alex's coach at the practice fields and got his uniform and our handbook. He met another player (several picked up their uniforms already because they didn't want to meet on Wednesday due to church). His first game is on Saturday at 12. The association is very relaxed, especially at this age, and very firm about no pressure being put on the kids. Very cool with us. I'll be taking plenty of pictures. :-)

Not much else going on as of now. Ooh, and Ashes had her birthday...she is now 18 years old! I can not believe it. I'm not prepared to be the mother of an 18yo...even if it is my cat! LOL!

Today is another gorgeous day. We slept with the windows open last night and it was wonderful! Nothing like cool, fresh air while you sleep. Alex is still sniffly so we got him some decongestant. We decided to take the kids to the Maury County Fair today (last day). We ran by Lowe's before heading over to the fair as we needed a longer outdoor extension cord and a couple of rakes. We then headed to the county park for the fair. I'm not sure what exactly was up but other than a midway we found nothing. Well...take that back....they had a pony ride corral, a zebra & a camel in a small pen which bothered us...what do either of these have to do with a county fair?? They had a few overpriced food booths, tons of games & some rides, a handful that our kids could ride. There was no livestock,etc that one would expect at a fair. I don't know if it was all gone or what but it was a real bummer. The "exhibition hall" had a display booth from several politicians, a partylite rep, the cosmetology school..and that is about it. We bought a few tickets so the kids could each ride 3 rides and played 1 game. We shared a funnel cake (a fair must have according to Corey) and left. Thankfully admission wasn't much & the kids were free. After we got home the kids helped rake the leaves in the backyard. They did a good job. We are really enjoying the nice weather and look forward to more. We don't really have any plans for tomorrow. Probably more family time, which we are all enjoying too, and hopefully some nice outdoor time.

Well here I go being quiet and no posting again. Sorry! It has been almost a month since I posted anything. In that month we've gotten in a nice groove with homeschooling. We have learned that Alex focuses much better if I work with him one-on-one. I can watch for him getting distracted & get him back on task very quickly. Morgan has become quite independent and just has me give her a list of assignments and she gets them done. She's doing fabulous with our math curriculum. We got our new life science program and started it. I think it will be fun. We've been attending park day with the ecclectic, inclusive homeschooling group that I found. It is up in Nashville, an hour's drive for us, but so worth it. There are several children Alex's age and Morgan is quickly making friends. I enjoy it as well having other moms to talk to (and not just about homeschooling). LOL! Morgan started her dance classes...all 3 of them. She is taking ballet, tap and jazz this year. She has the same teacher for all of her classes and they are one after another on Monday afternoons. This past Wednesday she also started a musical theatre class. She was excited about the class and was thrilled to find out that 2 girls from our park days are taking the class too. The class is before lunch on the same day as our park days and is just a mile or two away from the park so we were able to take advantage of this opportunity and only drive into Nashville 1 day a week. Nice. We got Alex signed up for soccer and he starts next week. He is excited and we think it will be great for him. I can't wait to see him in the uniform and on the field.


In August we celebrated my brother's birthday on the 15th, and Alex cut his foot good on the shed door, then we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on the 18th with a night out! My mom kept the kids overnight for us & even took them to work with her for a couple hours on Saturday morning. So we had until Saturday afternoon kid-free. I must admit it was nice. We then celebrated Corey's birthday on the 25th.

We have had a delightful cool front come through and our temperatures have dropped today & tonight. We took the kids to Home Depot this morning for their monthly kids' workshop & they built planters. We then had lunch at Sonic and sat outside because the weather was so nice...overcast with a light breeze and a temp in the low to mid 70's. Then we got to do our grocery shopping at Publix since we were up in Spring Hill. I wish we had a Publix here in Columbia. I've heard one will be opening...maybe soon. Once we got home we decided the temps were too nice to not be enjoying them so we opened all the windows. Alex is coming down with a cold or something & has been stuffy (started yesterday). He crashed on the couch after a Benadryl cold & allergy melt-tab. Corey & Morgan played soccer in the backyard and then went for a walk around our circle. I put a meatloaf in the oven and went out on the deck to read...and enjoy the delicious weather outside. We've been waiting for this! We will still have some warm days but we are enjoying all the cool days we get.