The new and improved Lorien Devon...

{Yay!}

A blog face lift! Isn't she lovely?



Thank you L.C. graphic design for giving my blog a fresh new look. Lauren was a pleasure to work with, and she even assured me {more than once} that I was not making her crazy with my countless requests and indecisiveness. Maybe I was, but she's just too sweet to tell me the truth. Probably.

AND...I just scheduled a family photo session with my sister this  Sunday. That means fun and exciting pictures of the kids will be coming soon! Yahoo! Ben and I are still trying to figure out a way to have family pictures taken without the two of us in them. Any helpful suggestions would be much appreciated.

Oh, and if you read my blog you should "follow" me, 'cause then I'll know that you do and it will make me happy:)

Help!

I am swimming in the sea of curriculum choices for our 2011-2012 school year. Please send in reinforcements. Here is a sneak peek at my rough draft. And for those of you who care {other homeschooling mamas}, I'll post the finalized list later this week. Because I'm giving myself a deadline and decisions must be made. The end:)

School room redo...

Ok. I have four children to teach this year. Wait! Let's all have a moment of silence, take a deep breath, and repeat after me...I can do all thing through Christ. Thank you. So, yeah, while this whole homeschooling thing is the real deal and difficult at times, Ben and I feel strongly that this is what God has called our family to do this year. So with happiness in my heart, I'm preparing our family and home for the year ahead.


B and T are starting 4th grade. {Don't even get me going on how impossible it is that my babies are in 4th grade already} Tate is a 1st grader and Lane will officially start K-5. That's a lot of learning going on, to say the least! So one sunny morning, I woke up and cheerfully announced to my loving husband of 13 years that the "only" way his crazy wife would survive the year ahead was if he knocked down a wall. Ummm, excuse me? What!?! Don't get me wrong, Ben is always up for knocking down a wall or two and is rarely shocked by the ramblings of a crazy woman {me}; he just didn't know that's how he would be spending his day off. Change of plans, baby:)


Have I mentioned lately how much I adore that man? Well, I do. And here is a look at the work in progress around the Puckett homestead.

The doorway into the room before. Yes, I realize that my 9 year old spelled his name incorrectly. When I called him on it, he said he was running out of room and something had to go; he thought the second N was his best choice. Ha. This room was basically useless before, and more often than not we would close the doors completely. Not anymore!

{*My parents have lost their minds completely*}

See... Great idea! Looks good, right? I'm not really crazy am I?




We still have lots of work to do, but here is where we are at.

I fell in love with this light, brought it home and here is what happened when we {Ben} installed it and turned it on.

Ha! Our very own big tent circus, without ever leaving home. I'm still loving the light, though. I'll be covering the inside of the slats with some sort of heat resistant paper/fabric and all will be well.

{Built in desk. We are going turn the wall behind the desk into a large cork board for display of artwork by the kiddos}

{our principal: always keeping his eye on us}

{Outdoor lighting, indoors. My fav}

{a well organized closet. My second fav}

{Piles of curriculum and running magazines mocking my name. Not my fav, but I'm working on it}

View into the second half of our school room. It would be impossible for me to teach without a couch and coffee table nearby. I am typically perched right there with a book in my hands and a child or two or three right next to me reading. The thing I love most about homeschooling.

{and look! No chords. Hidden within the drawers are all things ugly: Wii, DVD player, remotes, controllers and other such nonsense}

So there you have it. A little tour of our school room redo journey to this point. I'll try to post pics as we get more work done. But until then we have a few more weeks of summer to capture and enjoy.

My baby turns FIVE!!!

{A whole hand of fingers proudly held high in the air}

If you know my Lane you know she is a piece of work, our little firecracker. So with this in mind, when we saw the 4th of July fireworks cookies on the MS living magazine cover, we knew that would have to be the design for her birthday cookies. With a slight color adjustment requested by the birthday girl herself~ pink, purple and teal~ of course. 

At her 5th b-day celebration Aunt CC braved the heat, not to mention the dangers of fireworks in the hands of children under the age of 10, to give the kids a little firework show of their own.

{Chani won the "fun mom of the night" award}

We love our Girl-Girl more than words can express. She has brought pink and spunk into our world. She spends her summer days rotating through a wardrobe of bathing suits and pajamas, always sporting a somewhat messy ponytail on the side of her head and a perpetual glimmer in her eyes that makes you wonder what she will come up with next. The day I became "Mommy" to this little girl was a day I always longed for and will forever cherish.

Wishing you the happiest of birthdays, my sweet.

Year in Photos~ Week 24,25,26 & 27

So if at this point you are still checking my blog to see if I've added anything fresh and new, then you are either related to me or like me a whole lot, and for that I thank you. Sorry for my absence, but this whole summer thing is really throwing my schedule for a loop and I'm still trying, with little success, to figure out my days.      


WEEK 24 of 2011...

My Mom's sister, Aunt Nisa, came into town for a visit with her son, daughter, daughter-in-law and adorable granddaughter. And in typical fashion, we threw a party including great food

 {Doug's bacon wrapped scallops. Yumm}

and a hefty dose of kid chaos.

{hee hee;) she really was a perfect baby; I think she just wanted out of the chair}

{I took 20 pictures that night and didn't get a single shot of all of them looking in the same direction, much less at me}

We love you guys and are so happy you took the time to come out and see us.

WEEK 25 of 2011...

I spent the week shopping and packing so my family of six could go on a week long vacation to Chicago... WITHOUT a washing machine. Guess what I was doing on Week 27 after returning home from said washing-machine-free vacation? You guessed it!

WEEK 27 in 2011...

Was spent with me trying desperately to return my laundry room to its before vacation condition.

There it is, folks. A glimpse into what I've been doing with myself ALL week. A for real shot of my laundry room on this Thursday night. Riveting, I'm sure. But trust me when I tell you this is a major improvement from how it looked when two huge suitcases filled with dirty clothes were dumped on the floor late Saturday night.

 The laundry is never really done around here, only maintained. I'm a laundry maintainer, it's what I do.

WEEK 26 in 2011...

We had a fantastic time in Chicago, and I hope to get up more pics before too long. In the meantime, I'm remembering my greatest joy of the trip: wrapping my arms around the neck of my sweet, 95 year old great grandma.

{Isn't she adorable?}

{The kids with their great-great grandma}

You never know how many chances you'll have for times like these and I cherished the moments we had together.


Funny story~ As I was leaning down with a smile on my face to hug great gma one last time before leaving, she looked up at me and said, "you have dimples." My Aunt Terri, who was standing beside me said, "Well, yes." "She's had them all her life." "Don't you remember?" With a mischievous glimmer in her eyes, my great gma said, "I remember them on her cheeks, just not those cheeks!" hahaha;) I laughingly assured her that THOSE dimples were still with me as well. Love it!

Happy Graduation Day, Anna!

My niece graduated from high school and just received her cosmetology license. In celebration of her big day my sis in law and I put together a yummy dessert buffet, 'cause we loves her. Anna is a sweetheart, every room is brighter with her in it, and I can't wait to see what wonderful things God has planned for her future.

{Thank you Darla for making the lovely food cards}

{a chocolate fountain: messy, but oh so good}

{A raspberry almond ruffle cake-I've been needing an excuse to try out this design}

{Molly whipped up an amazing flag banner}

{My sis who just started her own senior portrait business took these stunning shots of Anna}

As you can see, it took a group effort to pull off, but I think it turned out lovely. And by the looks of things, I would say that all our friends enjoyed it.

Wouldn't you agree?

We love you Anna Girl...