Expo-in' & Cheesecakin'

I'd have never believed you if you had told me 20 years ago that in 2008 I'd be married to a wonderful man whom I've known since he was a boy; that I'd have 4 amazing children with whom I would have the privelege of staying home; that I would be teaching these children preschool, 1st grade, 2nd grade, and 3rd grade. And that my idea of fun would be fighting traffic to then fight crowds in a crazy room full of eager vendors.

But life is full of surprises, and attending the Homeschool Expo today with two sweet, lovely, funny, and caring friends was a delightful way to spend the day. Of course, an added bonus is that the wonderful man whom I've known since boyhood was in charge of those 4 precious darlings. Yes, roaming each aisle, lingering over a shelf of books, spending way too much money, and then ending up at The Cheesecake Factory was simply as exciting as being a mallrat, hanging out at the beach, hiking up a mountain, or whatever else was intriguing to me 20 years ago.

The Lost Sea

Sometimes you just need a change. And my sweet husband recognizes that and thus brought us along on one of his trips. We've enjoyed Tennessee and mostly just the change of pace. Today we played the role of tourists and visited The Lost Sea. We had an interesting tour of enormous caves, and we also enjoyed a short boat ride on the largest underground lake in North America. Unfortunately, I still haven't completely become fluent in Southern, and I couldn't understand a word our guide said. I did, however, understand the word "guys" which he said incessantly: "So, guys, over here we have southern, southern, southern guys, and, guys, what they would do is southern, southern, southern guys." But, overall, we had a good time.

In addition to our cave exploration, the kids also had a chance to mine for some gems. Our bag of sand yielded several sparkling, colorful stones, so the kids were convinced they had hit the mother lode. As for me...spelunking and treasure--a welcome change of pace--I guess I hit the Mommy Lode!

Pajama Day

Today has been a pajama day. Not intentionally. It's just one of those days. For all of us but the Princess. She insisted I get clothes out for her, and she was NOT happy with my selection. We had a little squabble over the shorts set I put her in, but as I explained to her, her strong stylistic preferences were not clear at the beginning of the summer and I just didn't purchase enough dresses for the girl to wear one everyday. It is summer after all. Shorts are acceptable.

It's been a strange summer. Usually we fill our summer to the brim with plans and activities, but we don't even have a family vacation planned until the end of August. I won't say it's been a boring summer, just a very lazy one...which makes it difficult to be motivated to do anything. Today, for example, being that it's Pajama Day and all, we could have eaten chocolate chip pancakes shaped like Mickey Mouse or something for lunch (you know, just to be creative and keep with the theme), but instead I let the kids talk me into watching "Tom and Jerry" over chicken and biscuits. Not that I'm complaining--I'm just happy they enjoy the good cartoons!

But I've been motivated to do little else today. In fact, I just realized Monday is laundry day, and all the dirty clothes are still in the hampers. (Really, can one successfully combine Pajama Day with Laundry Day? I don't think so.) Although Pajama Day has its merits, I'm hoping tomorrow we all wake up with a little more enthusiasm (and I'm mainly lecturing myself here). Because, just as the Princess has a limited supply of fancy dresses, the rest of us have only so many sets of PJs!

Fireworks at the Mall

The fireworks were at the mall. As for us, we were in the Sam's Club parking lot. Last year, Audrey watched our homemade fireworks show from inside because it scared her, but this year she thoroughly enjoyed it: