Sunday, August 28, 2016

August Highlights

Just because I haven't been present in this space this month doesn't mean that stuff hasn't been happening. In fact, we've had a very busy month (which, come to think of it, could be one reason I haven't been present in this space)! Here are the highlights (not including all the football practices and horse riding lessons):


We took the big kids out to see Jeff's hometown, Wink, in west Texas.
Since we were so close, we decided to stop by the Monahans Sand Hills as well.

We spent some quality time with family and friends in the Davis Mountains.
The weather was gloriously cool, and we even had a monster hailstorm,
which was a first in my experience of attending Campmeeting.


Jeff launched his new business, Coconut Math,
and we participated in and hosted a number of
back-to-school events in the community.

I celebrated my last birthday that begins with a 3.

We bought some new furniture, which, in addition to making
our house more homey, also made eating meals
and doing school so much easier!

We started school. This year Watts Homeschool is proud to welcome its
first-ever high school student and its last-ever Kindergartner.
We also have a 5th grader and a 3rd grader studying with us this year.
 

We've been tootling around town on our bikes a lot.
Clay amazed us all by doing a seven-mile bike ride.
That may very well be a record for a bike with training wheels!

We have made some serious changes to our diet and have been experimenting
with new recipes. One of them called for buckwheat groats, which everyone
thought sounded pretty funny. Clay misunderstood and insisted on helping me look for
"BUCKWHEAT GROSS," at the top of his voice, in the fancy grocery store near our house.
We did not find the unique item there, and Jeff has been giving me a hard time for
being too "crunchy" even for the "crunchy" grocery store.

Jeff and I celebrated our 18th anniversary of (mostly) marital bliss.

We started CC on our new campus.
I only managed to snap a picture of Clay,
but the other two boys are also participating.
Ruth is not participating this year but is taking an
AP Biology class at a different homeschool academy.

Max has been really interested in cooking lately.
He checked out a cool kid's cookbook from the library
and made some delicious gluten-free, sugar-free
blueberry muffins for us.

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Before and After

Our move back to Texas has taken my breath away...and my words right along with it. I'm hopeful that my voice will eventually return, but, in the meantime, perhaps you'd like to see some before and after shots of our remodeling project. (The "before" shots appear on the left. Click on photos to enlarge.)

New paint outside

The view from the front door:
Sunk-in living room to the left, dining room behind that, wine bar to the right

Looking back towards the front door from the dining room

Wine Bar

2nd Living Room

Kitchen