Sweet Home Alabama

Well October has come and gone in a blink of an eye. I am finally caught back up with house work and home schooling and can now share pictures from our Alabama trip we took with Grammy this month.
We had a really good time visiting with Bryan,Gwen, Bryce and our newest addition to the Patton Family, sweet baby Karis!
Joseph and Bryce took to each other pretty quick and seemed to like the competitiveness in each other. If it wasn't  "I WIN," it was "NO I WAS FIRST!" from sun up to the wee hours of the night before bed. It was so sweet watching them play together and get to know each other all over again.
This was our first time meeting baby Karis and it was about dang time! She is 7 months old and the sweetest most happiest baby I have ever met. She can brighten the cloudiest day with her beautiful smile. Lets just say her presence made my whole trip and brought that baby fever back to my heart.

 

We took the boys to Calera Alabama for a fun day riding a train to a pumpkin patch. They had fun looking at all of the old trains they had out on display and pushing buttons to make the bells ring. It was a fun and very tiring day.

 

After a long drive to Alabama and back, we were so glad to be home. We miss you Pattons so much. I cant wait for our next visit and hope its sooner than later :)

Train ride in Alabama!

For our last full day in Alabama, we took the boys on a train ride in Calera to a pumpkin patch. It was a lot of fun and the boys enjoyed the activities they had.
Grammy, Joseph and I are heading back to Texas tomorrow. We sure are gonna miss these sweet babies in Alabama. Maybe we should take another trip out soon.

Road trip

This week Joseph and I hit the road with Grammy. We are headed to visit the other Patton family that lives in Alabama. Just wanted to post this image from a stop in Mississippi along the way.

We are.....

Some have already heard the news, but it aint official unless you blog about it right?!
No we are not pregnant.... even though we would love to be
Our family is taking on a new chapter in life
We have decided to start homeschooling! Some of you are going... um what???
Yes that's right, we are now a homeschooling family and this is how we got there.....

Josephs first day of school went really well. He loved playing with new friends and I loved having time during the day to get house work done, laundry folded and errands marked off my list. It was great while it lasted.
The second, third and fourth day were not so good. It was brought to our attention how much further behind Joseph was than the rest of the class. As a mother, this was very hard to hear. You think your child is a genius because of what he can do at home. Then you stick him in a room with others and you start to compare him to everyone else. (which most of us as adults do way too often). Yes Joseph is smart, there is nothing wrong with him.The public school setting just wasn't a good fit for OUR 5 year old.
Not sure of what to do, I sought advice from the people that matter most in my life. I was in tears for 2 days trying to figure out what to do. I felt like I was pushing him to do something he did not like. I was making him feel left out in class when he didn't know an answer. I knew that is not what I would want and not what I should be doing. After a wonderful conversation with my sister in law Anne, I knew what I had to do. It was plain and simple.... pull him from public school.
After making that decision, we were ready to start homeschooling right? well easier said than done... Most families have months to prepare the years curriculum and schedules, I had 2 weeks. So the journey began. We moved our whole house around that weekend and made a school room. I was excited! I cleaned the room, painted twice, moved furniture in and out, gathered all of my craft supplies, made many trips to wal mart and ordered tons of homeschooling stuff online.  The past 2 weeks have been full of organizing, cleaning and lots of reading.
I had never planned to home school, but God has put us on this path for a reason and I am beginning to understand why.
Here are a few pictures of the new school room/mommas craft room!