what a weekend!

this has been a very busy weekend, but a great one. friday night my very good friend, jill, came to the city and we went to the cheesecake factory. let me suggest the chocolate tuxedo cheesecake, but don't expect to be able to eat the whole thing. you will not be able to. it was absolutely delicious!

well of course as friends who don't get to see enough of each other often do, we stay up until late hours chatting. all worth it though.

i woke up friday morning at 5 a.m. to go to wal-mart. i forgot something i had to buy for our end of the year homeschool party. let me take a brief moment to tell you that i do not get up at 5 a.m. unless it is BFS! i had to go early so i could make it back home before the officer left for work at 6 a.m. i got back home at 5:45 a.m. plenty of time to spare. i woke my kids up at 6 a.m. and was out the door by 6:30 a.m.

i went to help my cousins set up a garage sale. my large extended family was having a garage sale to raise money for our family reunion in new mexico this july. the "older" generation (i'm not quite in that category... yet) had a garage sale a couple of weekends ago. they did pretty good. they made enough to cover the food costs for our meals. we wanted to make some money to maybe help defray the gas and camping costs. i decided to go by mcdonalds to get my kids some breakfast and pick up some sausage biscuits for everyone else. i placed my order and tried to pay with my card. the lady said, "do you have cash, our credit machine is broken!" i only had $5 so i bought my kids breakfast.

we made it to my cousin's as he was lifting his garage door to move things out. we got the garage sale all set up and i left at 8 a.m. to put out the garage sale signs. we made it to our homeschool group at 8:30 a.m. to set up for the party today. there were several people who showed up help so that was great. another mother and i were in charge of the actual party.

the party actually went great. i was a little nervous because after sending out two emails about volunteers to help, five mothers responded. however, when it was actual party time a lot of the mothers pitched in. the biggest hit of the party was the sonic ice snow cones. did you know the sonic ice, which is $1.59 for a bag, is just like snow cone ice. we bought three bags and another mother had 5 different flavor syrups. the kids loved those. it beats sitting there for 4 minutes shaving the ice cubes.

after tug of war, kangaroo races, sac races, and the big hit water balloon fights, i think the kids had fun but were tired. i know the moms were! :) it was nice to be able to see all the kids interact (we are usually broken up by age groups) and have fun.right after the homeschool party, we headed back to my cousin's to help out with the rest of garage sale. they made over $350 that day. that will go a long way in helping out with all the expenses of a family reunion. the garage sale was going to go on for two more days.

saturday morning we woke up but didn't get around quite as early, sorry julie! :) we were at the garage sale by 7:30 a.m. and helped set up. we had to leave around 9 a.m. to get to tae kwon do so my son could test for his red belt. we were early, but we like to be so we can get a good seat right in the front. testing is the only time we are allowed to be in the studio where they practice. the officer had to work, but he came by for a little bit. my mom and my sister came to the test also. my son loved having his family there to support him.he was the highest belt kid testing this time around. he had to show master lee he knows all his kicks, hand and kicking techniques and all his forms.

while he was demonstrating his forms for master lee, master lee asked him if he wanted to be in karate kid 4. you can hear master lee asking him if he wants to be a movie star in karate kid, but my son is in the zone and i don't think he had any idea what master lee was talking about. you can hear me giggling on the video because i know my son is thinking, "okay i have no idea what you are talking about can we just get back to the forms?"

(don't forget to pause the music on the playlist at the bottom of the blog before you play the videos.)





this is my son getting his red belt and certificate from master lee.

after we were finished with the red belt test, we headed back to my cousin's house again to help finish up the garage sale. they had closed for the day, but we stayed for my aunt's 50th surprise birthday party.

my aunt jeri is very special to me. i spent a lot of summers with her and her family. they have 5 kids and she homeschooled all of them all the way! that's where it all started for me. i saw how it could be done and i saw it successfully completed. she is a God-fearing, loving wife, and a wonderful mother. she gives her advice and help to anyone in the family that needs it. there was a point in the party when her husband handed out 50 pennies. you were supposed to take a penny and either you could give her a hug or let her know how she has impacted your life. i just sat there and kind of cried. couldn't even get it out. when my son was born she came for a whole day - the whole day and spent the entire day teaching me how to breast-feed my son. she always has an encouraging word and there's no doubt she is always wanting to do God's will. their family - not just her - is what i had always envisioned what God wants a family to look like. they have their hard times, but i have never heard her raise her voice in anger to her husband and i have never seen her lose it on her kids. even in heartbreak she turns to God. she is the proverbs 31 woman in today's world. i love you jeri!

a special thank you to julie and jamin for all their hard work on the garage sale. they did all the hard work. we raised almost $500 for our family reunion! yeah. i can't wait for it.

saturday evening we just came home and collapsed.