As in years past, I am honored that my little blog in blog land has been nominated for the 2013 Homeschool Blog Awards!  I haven't had the time/energy to promote votes for my blog, but I thought a little post about such a recognition was in order.

My blog has been nominated in the "Favorite Homeschool Mom Blog" Category and is listed as "Slice of Smith Life." (vs. "A Slice of Smith Life").





If you want to vote for my blog or any others here's how:
 
3. You can vote in  each category,  once per day, per device until November 18! 


What's even more exciting is that there are lots of other Catholic blogs who are in the running for the Homeschool Blog Award prizes. Chris, over at Campfires and Cleats, has put together THIS great list of all the Catholic bloggers who have been nominated and the category they have been nominated in so if you want to support other Catholic bloggers, this is the place to go.

Be sure to also click on Chris's blog, Campfires and Cleats, in both the "Best Special Needs Blog" AND the "Best Photos Blog" categories. 

Remember you can vote daily in each category per device until Nov. 18!

Thanks for your support!

God bless!

I just saw that Lacy over at Catholic Icing has made Mass Response Booklets for Kids because at the beginning of Advent (Nov. 27 !) all Catholic Churches will begin using the third edition of the Roman Missal and some of the responses during Mass will be a little different. And as our great music minister says in his weekly bulletin write-up about these changes..."some new words, a deeper meaning, but the same Mass."   So be sure to head over to Lacy's great blog post HERE and print out your booklet for Free! Thanks Lacy for sharing all your hard work! 


Speaking of Mass preparations, I wanted to share a fun way that helps prepare myself and my children for the upcoming Sunday Gospel readings.

Usually on Thursday afternoons, we have "Tea Time" which is an idea that I learned from the Catholic mother and author, Elizabeth Foss.  We used to drink tea during tea time, but now it's milk with our goodies. :)  Anyway, during tea time, I sit down with my children at the dining room table (a table we don't use that often except for tea time and other special occasions), bring out their own real tea cups, light a candle or two and read the scripture that will be coming up for the upcoming Sunday Mass.  I also lay out a colored piece of fabric to match the liturgical season.  So for awhile now we have had our green cloth out to represent Ordinary Time in the liturgical season. Soon we will display the purple cloth at tea time as we enter the Advent season. 

After we read the scripture for the upcoming Sunday, I print out the coloring page that corresponds to the Gospel reading that is provided by Lisa Hendey at CatholicMom dot com.  Lisa has a wealth of activities for each Sunday and it's a wonderful resource to prepare for the upcoming Sunday Gospels.

Have you voted for your favorite Homeschool Blogs for the 7th Annual Homeschool Blog Awards?  My blog has been nominated in the "Best Homeschool Variety Blog" Category! Go HERE to vote for your favorite! ;)

No Ordinary Blog Hop (NOBH) that I co-host has been nominated in the "Best Family or Group Blog".  Go HERE to vote for NOBH. Thanks!

A new park just opened on our side of town which is bike riding distance from our home and takes a few minutes to drive to in our car.  It is a beautiful park that we have watched being developed over the past 3 years or so.  There is a picturesque lake with a 1.4 mile paved walking/bike path around it.   On the lake there is a dock where canoes and kayaks can enter and the lake is filled with fish too and my children have enjoyed catching a few fish with friends. 


There is also a great playground for the kids to play on with a picnic shelter.  Recently the park officially opened and I shot some fun photos while my children and I enjoyed the beautiful weather at the new park.



I just found out that my blog is a Homeschool Blog Award Nominee for the annual Homeschool Blog Awards hosted by The Homeschool Post! Thank you for nominating my blog!  My blog is listed under the "Best Homeschool Variety Blog" (Category #14)  and you can go HERE to cast your vote if you think my blog is "vote worthy".  :)  There are over 1,000 blogs nominated in the 20 categories so have fun choosing your favorite blogs in each category.  Click HERE for more details on how to vote and for a list of all the categories. 

If you have a favorite Homeschool blog(s)  and would like to nominate your favorites, you can go HERE to fill out a nomination form until October 21.   You don't have to have a blog to nominate and there are several categories to place your blog nominations.  Part of the rules are you may only nominate each category one time. You may not nominate one blog for more than one category.

There are so many great Homeschool Blogs in blog land so go vote for your favorites and have fun!

Also, I am thankful for my blog nomination for the Homeschool Blog Awards this year!  The winners have been announced and all the nominees are listed here.  Even though my blog didn't win in the "Best Encourager" category, I am thankful that my blog was listed with so many great blogs and thank you to all those that voted for my blog!  Congrats to all the nominees and winners! 

I was wondering if your children have the "drag & drop" syndrome like mine????  Of course, this is a something I have made up and if your child(ren) have this syndrome their bedrooms may look like this:

So what is the "drag & drop" syndrome?  It's when my children DRAG out books, toys, dolls, LEGOs, etc.,  then they DROP these items anywhere, but where they dragged them out from!  We are home alot during the day with homeschooling so there is the constant struggle for me to keep up with my children's "syndrome" and to get them to clean up after themselves.  Like Anna-Marie over at Life's Adventures, I too was feeling overwhelmed this week by stuff all over the place.  So tonight I spent about 2 hours going through my soon to be 3 year old daughter's room to clean it up and organize it.  I threw junk away and reorganized her books, dolls, clothes, etc.  Here are the "After" pictures:
I am thankful for at least getting one room clean today while trying to keep up with schooling and life in general.  This is at least one room done, now several more to go.   I will enjoy my daughter's clean room until.....the "drag & drop" syndrome hits again!!!!!