Keeping Up With The Jones 6

 This has been one sad and devastating year. This year was already going bad because of the COVID19 virus. The world seemed different somehow. I woke up on April 24, 2020 and learned that my nephew passed away.  My Aunt called me and asked if I had seen the post. I was like what post? I just woke up when you called. She said, the post online, is it true? I said, I don't know which post you are talking about. She was afraid to say what was on that post. So that is how I learned my precious nephew passed away that morning. That was one of the worst mornings in my life. I was so devastated I did not know what to do or say.  All I could think about was my sister. My beautiful sister and her husband lost their baby boy. I couldn't stop crying. I cried for weeks. I'm still crying today. Crying for my sister and the pain she is feeling inside.  I kept calling my sister and her husband but there was no answer. My phone rang and it was a counselor asking me if I could get to ...

💓My son's learning everyday💓 I'd like to share some of my son's drawings and a few other things about him with you guys. He is learning to draw like his big sister. I think his artwork is really good.  My son has had some learning  difficulties in his young life. He is a little behind  in learning because he has dyslexia and I believe he has Asperger like I do . He didn't learn how to walk until he was 16 months old and even when he learned to walk he still didn't want to. He would complain that his legs hurt him and all he wanted was to be carried. The doctors checked him out and they said everything was okay that he just had low muscle tone because he wasn't walking. My husband and I were carrying him around up until he was about 6 years old. He would walk a little but not much. Thankfully he is fine with walking  today. He didn't learn how to read until he was around 8 and he still has complications with being able to sound out the words so he can say o...

💕 LAP BOOKS GALORE💕 Over the last 7 years the kids and I have made 63 lap books and counting. FUN times!! The lap books are great learning tools. We have a variety of them in bible, social studies, science, health, language arts, and math. The kids really love making the lap books. It is fun and educational. Making these lap books has taught the kids creativity as well. Creativity is good for the soul. Learning is good for the brain and my kids absolutely love learning. I love teaching them and learning with them.  We are now in our 8th year of homeschooling. The kids are learning new things everyday. Looking forward to seeing which lap books we will be making this year!  Another plus is that one day these lap books  will be handing down to my grandchildren! 

  First day back to homeschooling was a success   🎒 📚 Yesterday was our first day back to school. I'm so happy that my kids love to learn. It makes homeschooling a lot easier.  The kids learned a lot on their first day back to school. They really enjoy school. I was blessed with them and their love for learning.  👩‍👧‍👦 They each have different ways of learning, but they are both learning and that is all that matters. We use easypeasy  allinonehomeschool  as a bases for our curriculum. I add other worksheets and spelling words to their day. They learn at their own pace. My daughter is advanced in her learning and my son is learning at his own pace. They are both very smart and unique children. They both love to draw and are both very creative. Day 1 is complete. Only 179 more days to go !

My daughter did our makeup. She just started wearing makeup earlier this year. I think she is old enough now to wear makeup. Plus, being confined to our home because of COVID19 has been pretty boring. So why not let her start using makeup for something fun and creative to do? She did a really good job with the liquid liner.  She gave me the wing look. She is a very creative young lady. She loves to draw, read, write, and anything that involves creativity.  We also love to watch Glowup on Netflix. She is very inspired by the unique and talented makeup artist on the show. Maybe in the future she will be a makeup artist? You never know.  Here are a few pictures of us. My son isn't wearing any makeup. Look at pictures further below of my daughter's creative makeup looks.

  My daughter loves doing makeup and hair.  Last night she asked me if she could do my makeup today so I'm gonna let her. I can't wait to see what she is going to do to my face!!   😉 We watched that Glowup series on netflix. It is a pretty neat makeup competition show. The makeup artist are very talented. We watched the first season last year and they just recently added a new season. So, if you love makeup and just want to watch something neat go check that show out.  I will share the pictures of the makeup my daughter did on my face tomorrow. So, stay tuned so you can see the future makeup artist's work.  This is my beautiful Daughter!! P.S. Yes she is wearing Moodstruck Epic 4D Mascara  and Younique's pressed powdered eye shadow.

  I quit smoking cigarettes in 2007!  I DO NOT SELL YOUNIQUE ANYMORE! This October 4, marks my 13 years of being smoke free. It was very hard to quit, but I did it for my family and for myself. Ever since I quit smoking I picked up the habit of over eating. And when I say over eating I mean way over eating. I replaced smoking with eating. It became my new habit. My new obsession. Food calms my nerves and anxieties just like cigarettes did. For 13 years I have struggled with this extra weight. I start on vario us diets each year and I lose 50lbs and then gain the weight right back. I want to be happy in my skin. I want to look good for myself and for my husband. I want to feel secure with who I am. This year is going to be my year of finally learning how to love myself for who I am and how I look. I'm not going to let anyone or anything stop me. I'm going to lose this weight once and for all and I'm going to get my new small home business growing. Nothing is going to hold me...

You don't know what the future holds. I wish I could go back in time to the year 2003 so I could be able to see my father one more time. I wish I could see him, hear him, hug him, and talk to him. I'd like to tell him I'm sorry for not seeing him or being there for him. Its been a long time without you Daddums. I quit talking to my father back in the year 2000 for reasons I didn't understand at the time, but I understand them today and I wish I would have just overlooked the way he was because he couldn't help it. He had a mental illness which is a disease. I  was afraid to let him continue visiting me and my children because he had a lot of issues and I chose to cut ties with him. I would ignore his phone calls and he eventually quit calling me. I wasn't happy about it but I knew it was for the best, but looking back on it it definitely wasn't for the best because now I can never talk to him ever again or see him and that hurts. I still cry. I haven't l...

We have a few days until school starts in our household.  The kids are getting a little excited about going back to school. My daughter is anxious to start her Spanish lessons. She did really well last year in Spanish. She does well in all subjects. She is very intelligent. My son is not as anxious about starting back as my daughter is, but he is ready to learn! He is a very intelligent young man, but he takes a little longer to learn because he has Dyslexia.  I can't wait till its time to get back to school. I love teaching them. They amaze me everyday. Its a privilege to be able to teach them at home. I get to watch them grow and learn. I get to learn as well and I love learning new things and even being refreshed on things I already knew, but forgot.  I thank GOD everyday that I do not have to send them to public school, especially all the bad things that are going on in today's world. I want my children to love every human being! I thank GOD for giving me patience to ...

You never know how brave you are until you have to do something you fear and when you accomplish that fear you slowly learn how much braver you truly are. Being brave can just mean getting up and ready for the day. Some of us have a hard time with depression and its hard to even be able to drag yourself from the bed most days. So take comfort in knowing that you are brave and so much braver than you truly know. You are so much stronger than you seem to be too. You have to be a strong person in today's society. A lot of people work hard in their life trying to make ends meet. Take my husband for instance he works very hard to make a living and he just manages to pay the bills every week. His poor hands are cut up and sore from working so hard on a daily basis at produce warehouse. He is a very strong man. There are different types of being strong. Some one could be facing a battle we know nothing about. And each persons battles are different and that is what makes us all unique...

 We made it to the Sunflower Garden!! The Sun Flower garden was so enchanting. Even though the sun wasn't out GOD still blessed us with a beautiful day. The clouds were out and it drizzled a little bit, but other than that it was an amazing place to be. There were all kinds of flowers, not just sun flowers. Fluttering butterflies were every where; flying from flower to flower, without a care in the world.  I'm so happy that my niece Destiny invited us to the Sun flower Garden. Her and her family have been going there every August for three years now. This was my family's first time visiting the garden. I'm pretty sure we will go back next year. The best part about going to the garden was I got to see my sister and her family. I got to see all four of my children together. That is a rare occurrence these days for every body to be able to get together. I love my babies so much. My handsome little grandson and my beautiful great niece was there too. Lots of people were the...

  My daughter likes to try and teach me how to draw! She is very artistic. She has been drawing since she could hold a crayon, pencil or whatever you use to draw. She loves to write and draw. I see great things for her future. Maybe a book writer and/or an illustrator? She has written many books and has a huge collection of drawings. She also likes to read. She can spend hours and hours drawing, reading, and writing. At least she is doing something she enjoys and its good for her too. In the pictures below she tried to teach me how to draw a toddler the way she does. As you can see I didn't do too poorly. She did a fabulous job on hers and an awesome job trying to show me what to do.  In the second picture she tried to help me learn how to draw a girl. I guess I did okay. When we are finished with the drawings she has me make names for some of the characters. I named the girl in the drawing below Oakly.  My daughter is an amazing teacher and artist. GOD blessed my husband...

Delicious!  I f you are looking for a sweet but, awesome some what healthy snack; this is it right here. I sliced 2 bananas up and split them between the kids and I. I topped them with peanut butter except for my son's because he is allergic to peanuts. Then I drizzled them with caramel and sprinkled shredded coconut on top of them. They are delicious and some what nutritious. The kids love them. Its makes the perfect snack.

 We watched the Meteor Shower last night! The Perseid Meteor Shower was taking place last night. We watched it for a little while, but we couldn't see much of it. The sky was beautiful and full of stars. The stars were twinkling and glistening all over the sky. What a spectacular sight. The moon was BIG and orange in color. There was a slight breeze. It felt so good out there especially after how hot the day was. The clouds would blow by gently and block our view, but they moved by pretty quickly. The kids and I stood out there watching in hopes of seeing the meteor shower and what we did see was truly amazing. We seen a few really fast ones. I used to call them shooting stars when I was a kid because I didn't know they were meteors. It was pure amazement for my babies. Something they will never forget. It was an awesome time and a great learning experience for the kids. We had a good time! I took a few pictures but my cell phone is really old and doesn't take too good of p...

JUICY! TASTY and YUMMY!! I made this tator tot casserole a few weeks ago. It was fairly easy to make and It was very tasty. The kids and hubby loved it. Its a great one pot meal. You even get your veggies too. I made fruit salad to eat for dessert. The link to recipe is below.  I found this awesome juicy dish searching the web for a tator tot casserole recipe to make. Thanks to the saltymarshmallow dinner was a success. Get their recipe  here . If you cook it exactly how she states in her recipe it turns out perfect. The tator tots have just the right crunch to them. Pictures below are mine**

Show us how beautiful you really are!  Love yourself for who you are!! If you'd like to share please join in too. This is not a challenge its just for fun and inspiration!!! With all the negativity out there, let's do something positive  🌟 Upload 1 photo of your self where you are happy and post it on your blog page or in the comments below. Then if you want to go ahead and ask some Beautiful/Handsome women or men to do the same. Please no nudes or disrespectful photos.  We will build ourselves up by inspiring each other, not just with pictures, but with words and actions ❤️ 💜 💙 ❤️ 💜 💙 ❤️ 💜 💙 ❤️ 💜 💙 ❤️ 💜 💙 ❤️ 💜 💙 ❤️ 💜 💙 ❤️ 💜 💙 ❤️ 💜 💙 ❤️ 💜 💙 ❤️ 💜 💙 May your day be blessed with happiness and sunshine!

Watermelon pizza anyone? Someone shared this recipe on facebook and it sounded and looked delicious so I had to try it out. I made it for my family and it turned out beautiful. The kids loved it. It was very easy to make. Very refreshing to eat on a nice hot day. Watermelon Pizza Recipe 1 watermelon 1 can whip cream Strawberries Blueberries Sugar Wash fruits. Cut strawberries into slices. Slice watermelon into pizza slices. Put on plate. Top with whip cream. Top whip cream with strawberry slices and blueberries. Sprinkle a little sugar on top of fruit if needed. Its easy as pie! Enjoy!

Ever been to a Sun Flower Field?  I've never been to one. So, next week is coming fast and I'm kind of excited. My sister and her family invited me and my family. We are going to go take pictures and check out the beautiful works of art GOD has created. I hope my anxiety doesn't get the best of me. Whenever I have to be around a lot of people I get very nervous. I have suffered with anxiety my whole life and its not fun. My anxiety and fear has kept me from doing lots of things in life. I'm gonna try not to let my fear of things get in the way of a good time. Wish me luck!!  I don't even really know what the fear is from and why I have anxiety. I think maybe its from being bullied as a child and I learned how evil people are at a very young age. So, I'm very anxious around people and yes family makes me anxious too. I usually just like to hide and stay to myself. Things are better that way. Then I don't have to feel that rush of fear and anxiety. But, when I...