I just got back a couple hours ago from a weekend up at my grandparents’ lake house to celebrate our boys’ birthdays. Our youngest son turned four on Saturday, and our oldest son will turn eight on Wednesday. We were hoping to have a birthday party with friends, decorations, a pinata, etc. Unfortunately, either people couldn’t come or didn’t say one way or the other. It’s actually been a hard transition since moving back to Houston in October. Regardless, we chose to change plans and make the best of it!
It was a beautiful weekend! I made sure I crammed (mostly) everything in before we left, which was even better than I planned since my phone died shortly after arriving and I forgot my charger! Oops! There were a couple of things I did have to do while we were there, so I tethered the iPad to my husband’s phone to get them done. I only did that twice, though, and otherwise just enjoyed my time off! I haven’t done that in SOOO long!
We went out on the boat, I kayaked with the kids, made gummies, had cake and presents for both boys, and I caught four fish. It was awesome! I’m actually GLAD my phone died and I didn’t have my charger. I may not say that in about four hours when I’m still working on my freelance work I didn’t get done before we left, though. 😉
Seriously, though, I had some major issues with my host for my blogs this week, so I really needed a break. I feel so refreshed. Hopefully tomorrow I can catch up on emails, too!

Wrapping Up!

Highlights in Our Life:

• Our “baby” turned 4! We have had some ups and downs, and I continue to pray for guidance. He is such a blessing and I hope to share his birth story this week!
• Our little guy has been having a hard time lately with sensory overload and just can’t gain control again easily. It has been a little overwhelming. We would appreciate prayers as we work to help him with our therapy techniques, essential oils, and Occupational Therapy once they finally switch our insurance back on the 1st (and however long the wait list may be as their often is a wait list for Pediatric OT).
• I committed to going to the gym regularly again this week. I love working out at home, but I do so much at home that I really need a break, and the gym is a nice outlet. Plus having access to the massage chairs, hydro-bed, Beauty Angel booth, etc. is enough to go even just for that time to relax even if I did a workout at home already!
• I really got into a groove with my planners, calendar and Evernote, and I’m feeling good about it!
• This weekend was refreshing and a nice break!

Homeschool Highlights:

• Our oldest son is really struggling with open-ended questions lately. Retaining what I’ve read is difficult for him – more difficult than usual. I almost have to ask the question immediately following the paragraph with the information or pose it as a “yes or no” question or multiple choice. I am trying to decide what is best.
• We have been doing a book study, which is something we haven’t done. It’s been a nice addition, and a nice change of pace.
• We got to check out a Christian-based Astronomy curriculum. I’ll be sharing the review in the next couple of days!

Blog Highlights:

• I had some MAJOR issues this week. It was stressful! My host did an update, and for whatever reason it affected my blogs both initially during the update and then afterwards for quite some time! My blog was in and out for a day and half. The downtime was more frequent than the uptime for a significant amount of time. It’s always hard to have something like this happen, but it was particularly hard since I knew I was taking the weekend off.
• I, once again, decided to skip out on Wordless Wednesday due to the time involved and well, the issues I had would have made it difficult for a link-up anyway! Should I bring it back? What are your thoughts?
• That’s about it. I had so many issues, nothing exciting or new happened really!

Goals This Week:

• See last week’s goals. *Sigh*

How was your week?

Oh my goodness it has been a crazy week! Most of the week I was just trying to get a lot of stuff done to gear up for taking the weekend off. Well, at least until now when I’m now frantically trying to catch up on the things I *didn’t* get done! Unfortunately, our youngest son has a cough, so I figure I’ll be getting up to check on him anyway, so I’m telling myself it’s good I have to stay up and catch up on work! Of course, we’ve been diffusing essential oils in his room, and I haven’t heard him cough since he went to sleep! That’s a good thing, though!
Wednesday night we had church as usual, but my husband was feeling bad, and our youngest was in sensory overload, so I dropped them off at home and took the older two kids. It gets hard sometimes not being able to go as a family, but it’s hard to completely miss everything, too, if we choose to all stay home. Such is the life when you have a family with health challenges and special needs.
Friday we had our Easter egg hunt with the homeschool group from church, and that was a lot of fun! I worried that Chaz wasn’t going to enjoy it because he was in sensory overload again. He asked to go on a swing for a bit, and he still didn’t really get back in the group after that, but he did go out and look for eggs. I do think the swing help “reset” him.
Over the weekend we had more Easter egg hunts and my cousin’s wedding on Saturday night. The kids stayed at Grandma’s because the wedding was on a boat, and based on Chaz’s recent experiences, I didn’t think that would go too well. It was his first sleepover without us! It was a really nice wedding, and we got to go by the Kemah Boardwalk, which was nice to see it from that perspective! We got home somewhat late, so we were ready to crash.
The kids had so much excitement this weekend and loved finding eggs, got a lot of treats, but most of all, they know the reason we celebrate Easter, which is the most important part. He is risen! That is what it’s all about. For that we are grateful
“Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying.” (Matthew 28:5, 6 NLT)

Wrap it up!

Highlights in Our Life:

• We were busy, busy, busy this week! Phew! That seriously about sums up our week. I don’t think there was a day this week we didn’t leave the house.
• As I mentioned, our little guy has been having a rough time with his SPD lately.
• I finally ordered new contacts – and I hope they come in tomorrow! One was really bothering me today, and it just ripped in half when I was cleaning it! Yes, I had them WAY too long.
• I have a game plan for the housework. Now I just need to get the kids’ chore charts set up! Woo hoo!

Homeschool Highlights:

• We took Friday off for Good Friday, and the rest of the week was pretty light. We just did what we’re currently reviewing and took a break from anything else.
• Otherwise, we really didn’t do anything exciting this week. I feel like I’m a rather boring homeschooler, but when we are so busy like that, I can’t even begin to come up with something creative. I’m working on that, though!

Blog Highlights:

• I’m behind on emails again. Big surprise! lol
• My Facebook page reached 20,000 fans!! Thank-you SOOOO much for your support! I know I planned on doing a Facebook party with giveaways for my last milestone and didn’t have a chance, but I can’t do nothing for this one! So, once my Deals of Sweetness Facebook page reaches 5,000 fans, there will be a big Facebook party to celebrate! There are still a few to go, but you can help out by liking Deals of Sweetness on Facebook. 😉
• I took an intentional day off! That is such a big deal! I haven’t (intentionally) taken a day off in months! Of course, now I’m scrambling to catch up on things, so I remember why I don’t do it. I do hope to eventually get back to taking Sundays off. I do limit Sundays to evenings only.
• I skipped out on Wordless Wednesday again. I was so busy, and again, I’m not sure I can justify the time I spend on it linking up to others. Maybe since this week won’t be so crazy I’ll give it a shot again!

Goals This Week:

• Well, I’m *still* looking for my Housekeeping organizer, but I went ahead and set my own schedule as mentioned in the meantime, though I really would like to find it!
• Divide and conquer. I’m tired of being unorganized, so we’ll start the divide and conquer plan. One room at a time. It WILL get done.
• Find an alternative to the “Top Posts” in my sidebar.
• Set dates for upcoming posts.
• Catch up on emails – again.

How was your week?

So, I decided it’s a theme to start my Weekly Wrap-Ups with “it’s been a crazy week.” haha You may have noticed I didn’t post a Weekly Wrap-Up last week because I was a bit overwhelmed. I missed this past Wordless Wednesday, too, on both blogs. I’m still not sure it’s worth the time commitment, so it took a back seat this week.
But you know? Crazy isn’t always “bad,” but the past couple of weeks have been equal parts of “good crazy” and, well, stressful. We had a super fun day at Mountasia Houston this past week, have been enjoying the beautiful weather, busy homeschooling, busy with my extra jobs, housework, and trying to balance it all! Phew! We had a blast a Mountasia Houston and did a little bit of everything there! I’ll be sharing our full review this week!
We also discovered we have wild onions or “onion grass” in our front yard and wild strawberries. I plan to put them to use and share recipes on Deals of Sweetness.
The past couple of weeks I also took over more responsibilities for our church website, and I’m so excited for God’s direction. I attended and took pictures at the dress rehearsal and again at the final performance tonight of the “One Voice” program, and I’m excited to do more and share more. I’m feeling so blessed! I hope to eventually get involved with the music ministry as well since in addition to writing, I love to sing! 🙂
I decided to get more involved in other aspects as well. It can be hard with my health challenges, my husband’s, and the kids’ special needs. I know there will be days we may not be able to make it (like this morning *Sigh*), but I’m tired of letting the enemy hold me back. If my fatigue is high or I have one of my bad headaches, I’m going to pray and go anyway. We need this fellowship, and we have been so blessed to find such a great home church. If you’re in the Spring/North Houston area, you should definitely check out North Central Church!

Wrap it up! Past 2 weeks!

Highlights in Our Life:

• The week before this past one our youngest son and I had a doctor’s appointment. It was supposed to be a basic appointment just to get referrals – rheumatology for me (which turned into neurology instead) and OT for him, but we also got an unexpected referral of cardiology for him. It seems he still has a murmur, and our doctor thinks it’s a good idea to make sure his atrial septal defect (the same heart defect I was born with and for which I had open-heart surgery as a teenager) is, in fact, closing on its own like we were told when he was a baby. I’d rather be safe than sorry.
• We were out and about A LOT. We went to my cousin’s Couples Shower, hung out with friends and family, went to Mountasia, etc.
• I also started going to the women’s Bible Study at church, which was unfortunately in it’s last 2 weeks, so now it’s on break, but I was happy to make it to the final two!
• I finally started putting my planners to use, though it’s not “natural” for me to use them. It’s getting better, though!
• Our daughter accidentally degloved the tip of one of our gerbil’s tails. She was so torn up over it. I monitored her carefully, though, and it has healed up nicely.

Homeschool Highlights:

• The past two weeks have been going much better. Because we were out and about a lot we had a couple of shorter days, and I think that actually helped the kids to destress a little bit. There has been much less resistance and struggles over the past couple of weeks, which has been a welcome relief!
• We started a new History curriculum! I have to admit, History is one of the subjects I shy away from because of their young age. They just don’t enjoy it and don’t retain it. I had a good feeling about this, though, and I am so glad I went with that feeling because we’re off to a great start! I will be sharing our review in about a month!
• We did some impromptu lessons about plants since we discovered so many random plants in our yards and our flowers have started blooming. I love those type of lessons!

Blog Highlights:

• I finally caught up on emails! Phew! Well, mostly anyway! I’m not sure there is a way to stay completely on top of it and not be on the computer all day.
• I have reached a new goal with Page Views, and I am SO excited! I’m excited to see the continued growth and am so grateful and feel so blessed. Thank YOU for reading, commenting, and sharing. It means so much to me!
• I reshared our story for Light it Up Blue for Autism. I plan to share two or three more posts regarding Autism/Autism Awareness before Autism Awareness month comes to a close.
• I have had the chance to preview an amazing game called MyDream. I think it will be a great alternative for homeschoolers looking for creative collaboration. Check out my MyDream post for information.

Goals This Week:

• Find my housekeeping organizer. PLEASE! haha
• Finish the boxes in our bedroom.
• Share the updates on the house!
• Rediscover and implement our housekeeping routine and chore routine.

How have the past couple of weeks been for you?

This week was wild! Wow! So I tried to get all my physical planners together to realize I have completely lost the new homemaking planner I bought a couple months ago. Seriously, I can’t find it anywhere! I was so frustrated! In the meantime, though, I got the other planners together and started a plan of action! I also went back to being more organized in Evernote and making sure I had dates for upcoming posts that didn’t have dates and made sure they were in my calendar. It feels better being a little more organized again. I’m still busy, but at least I don’t feel like everything is out of control!
Yes, it was definitely a busy week – particularly the end of the week. Thursday I went to an Open House for a few hours for TLC Office Systems. We partner with them at SiteJab, which is the Houston Web Design company whose team I’m apart of. I’ve been meaning to add that to my “About Me” page, but well, did I mention I’ve been busy? haha It has been a blessing being part of the SiteJab team and working with some great clients in the Houston area. I get to do what I love (writing and social media) and help out our family more as well while still being home with them.
Thursday night I went to my first Essential Oils class and helped out as much as I could there as well! I still learned quite a bit, too! I didn’t get home until almost midnight! Phew! That’s what happens when you get a bunch of moms together. haha I also hope to start a page soon with more about Young Living Essential Oils.
Yesterday we went to the McDonald’s Houston Children’s Festival. I was still exhausted from Thursday! Our youngest has been struggling with his sensory issues more than usual lately, so I didn’t expect to stay long, and I was right. We did have fun, though, and I will post an update tomorrow, so stay tuned!
Ok let’s wrap up!

Wrap up!

Highlights in Our Life:

• It was a fun, crazy, busy, and exhausting week.
• The bushes in our front yard started blooming, and we got our gardening started as well.
• I pretty much mentioned everything else! 😉

Homeschool Highlights:

• We started Logic of English Foundations this week. We reviewed Logic of English Rhythm of Handwriting Cursive last year, and I was really excited to review Foundations. We were so excited when it arrived, and it has been added to our rotation!
• The older two kids were struggling with their Math this week. I don’t think it was so much that it was hard for them as they both weren’t paying attention to the lessons. So instead of getting more independent time for Math, which they prefer, we’re going to have to have more involved Math.
• I am SO excited about how far they are coming with their reading!

Blog Highlights:

• Wordless Wednesday came back!
• I posted a TON of blogger opps! I have at least one more coming up this week, too!
• I am finally getting back on track with posts and hopefully will be back on track with emails this week as well!
• I was invited to become a contributor on The Homeschool Post, and I accepted! 🙂 I am so excited for this new journey!

Goals This Week:

• Catch up on emails.
• Find my housekeeping organizer.
• Finish the boxes in our bedroom.
• Share the updates on the house!

How was your week?