Just The 4 Of Us

The Blog That Time Forgot

2010-12-10T00:51:00.000-05:00

I'm sure by now NOBODY looks here anymore for anything interesting to read. But just in case....

I thought I'd actually post something! Not much interesting is happening, actually. Scott is away again to Qatar. We pray he will be home for Christmas but the military is notorious for delaying flights, cancelling flights, breaking planes, etc. But enough of that. We pray it will work as planned.

Jenna began homeschool again in October. The teacher situation for her at school was not what we had hoped for, and the future was bleak. She's doing well at home of course. It's why I love homeschooling. Jen is also back in gymnastics now that soccer season is over.

Emma is still at Camden Elementary. I can't say she's excelling but things are progressing as planned and she is doing as well as we expected and has lots of teacher-initiated accommodations to help her get through the day. I am enjoying the break and working to restore our relationship as it had become pretty stressful during the past year. We continue to seek professional and eternal guidance regarding her disabilities and learning style. I wish I could keep her home this year, too, but seeing her make friends finally (she's never really been one to want to join in or get to know other kids) and choose activities she wants to participate in, without my help (or force in some cases) is so worth the sacrifice of education. >

Emma has taken the initiative to audition for the school chorus. Tonight was her first concert and they did a great job. I am so proud of her for doing this totally on her own! She also learned how to play volleyball in PE class and asked if she could join the Camden Volleyball Club. She's had one practice so far and did pretty well...she hung in there and really tried hard the entire time. And considering a year ago she and Jenna both informed me, upon asking what sports they would like to do for homeschool PE, that they did not want to play "anything with a ball."

The new house is coming along and we are fairly moved in. We still have a lot in storage due to our current lack of attic space, but are hoping to soon have a shed built in the back yard that can accommodate what our attics always have. We have not made any changes yet, but our first big one is coming soon, much to Scott's dismay. We have this funky little back porch that is only accessed through our master bedroom, and is the only back-yard access. The kitchen "overlooks" this little porch via 2 windows, kind of an odd set-up, but it made sense when the house was built, before some other renovations took place. Anyways, we are going to remove the windows and put in a door. After levelling the floor, removing the clapboard siding (as it is an exterior room of sorts) and generally cleaning it up, it will be a pantry!! I am soooo excited about this. SO excited. I can hardly contain my excitement! After last year's kitchen renovation I'm not thrilled with the prospect of the mess this will create, but it's nowhere near the level of that remodel and we can probably get it done in a couple of weekends. Maybe less if Scott takes off some planned leave over the Christmas holidays. I'll be sure to take before and after pictures. Can't wait!!

Christmas is on its' way, of course. We have worked hard over the past few years to simplify and allow our holiday season to be more enjoyable, and this year is no different. We actually have no holiday parties to attend! Well, Scott's office party is coming up, but with him away we obviously won't be going. Emma had her holiday concert tonight, Saturday is the town Christmas parade (last year it was uncomfortably long but this year we live close enough to walk to the end of our street to watch so we can come home if we are tired of it...or cold) and Sunday is the church children's musical. Next week Emma's class seems to be taking the week off to do all kinds of fun holiday-ish activities (um, do we homeschoolers get to do that??) and then it's on to 2 weeks of winter break, in which the Strobel women will be sleeping late, spending a few days in our pajamas, and generally lollygagging around. I have big plans to bake and sew. I'm sure some baking will get done, but I don't seem to accomplish much these days, as demonstrated by the pile of laundry on the chair next to me that's been there since Tuesday. (It all gets done eventually...or at least disappears as people pull their clothes from the pile...) But I'm generally appreciative of our plan to spend our time enjoying the peace and quiet instead of always being on the go.

I have decided there's not much to say this year in a Christmas card so we're skipping that, too. If I don't happen to send out an email update, we wish everyone a very merry and blessed Christmas season!

Soccer Mom

2010-08-29T23:18:00.000-04:00

Isn't she cute?? Jenna desperately did not want to play soccer. She loves gymnastics. She's also very social. She needed to learn to work with a team. So we made her pick. She couldn't so we picked for her. After her first practice we're sitting at the dinner table and she says, "So, can I play soccer next year, too? It's really fun." And of course I did the told-you-so. Mom's always right, it's just nobody listens to her.

And I'm already off track with my goal to blog every day about our public school experience this year.

I'll catch you up now.

Late last week Scott got a call that someone (military) wanted to come see the rental house (our old house) this weekend. Yay, right? Well, except for the fact that about 1/3 of our belongings are still there!! And the place is generally a mess. So on Friday I rented a storage unit. On Saturday we organized everything into "home", "storage", and "donate". Today we hired the girls to actually help. We took the screens out of the dining room windows (brilliant idea, by the way, if you have lots to move quickly), backed the trailer and the truck up to the windows, and Emma and I passed boxes and bins out to Scott and Jenna. We got it all out, cleaned the place up, and showed the house at 1:45. They loved the place and took an application.

Great! Except for the fact that the family that wants to rent the house has to move in next weekend! A friend is helping us patch holes, paint, and stain the kitchen cabinets this week. Scott is off on Friday and the girls will be in school (hmmm, a benefit already...) so we're going to rip up the linoleum in the mudroom and put down new vinyl tiles. I get the job of thoroughly cleaning the place, weeding the flower beds and putting down pinestraw, general clean-up. Fast!

So I might not get to blog much for a bit! God has placed it on our hearts to lighten our load and trust that we don't need to hang onto so many belongings. We slowly sort, donate, sell, but there always seems to be more. We know we are in the home stretch, but the past year-and-a-half has been rough for our family. We sold a house to move to a more central location where we spent most of our time. We spent 5 weeks in a hotel because 2 previous offers fell through (one didn't inspect well, the other couldn't be negotiated). Then we bought a fixer-upper and pretty much spent 9 months working on the house during every spare moment. AND THEN we told the girls we were moving again!!

This house is NOT a fixer-upper. We'd like to do some work, but not in order to live in it! I need to take some photos but then today we went and filled it up with piles of boxes and bins so it's gonna be a few days.....

Let's pray the family decides to rent!!

Ch-ch-ch-changes.....

2010-08-20T09:43:00.000-04:00

Changes. Change is good, right? I hate change. Things have been up and down here for a while. We've had two moves in less than a year. We have been fighting the nasty SC bugs -- which I guess most people don't really care about or notice or something because we seem to be the only ones trying to do anything about them -- and fixing up houses and fighting year-round allergies and cleaning up after neurotic pets and starting businesses and trying to keep work contracts alive, and on top of it all, trying to train our children to be what God wants them to be.

It's a hard job! We all choose the life we lead in one way or another. For us, we chose to move one town over to be closer to our daily activities. That's fine. We just didn't think it all through from the get-go. Or manybe it's not that we didn't think it through, but rather that we underestimated the time factor. Fixing up a house is hard work. It takes time away from other things, like family walks and weekend getaways. So we moved again, this time to a house in the center of town which requires little work. Maybe a bit of new paint and some new windows. But we still have to ditch all the extra weight we've packed into our attic at the last place, and find storage for the stuff we're keeping. That's happening this weekend. We've got to rent out the other house, and it has to be empty before we do that.

So this weekend is our yard sale, and next week we'll cart the leftovers either to Habitat or storage. Really kinda hoping there isn't much left over! The thought of what we still have to bring over here to the new house makes me queasy.

On another note, we are attempting to heal some family relational issues. Nothing bad, we're just not working very well as a family lately, probably due in part to our various moves and the stress involved. So we have decided to take a year off homeschooling. It will be good for us. It came after many tears. Every homeschool parent threatens their kids at some point that if they don't do the work at home, they will do it somewhere else, and they won't like it! I got tired of threatening. Things started falling apart during the school day around January of this year. Too much coercing. Too much hollering at the girls to sit up, hold their pencil properly, stop dawdling, stop complaining, stop forgetting how to do basic work you've been doing all year! I hoped the summer was all they'd need to get some rest and get back to schoolwork. Not so. We started back and it was the same-old same-old. And it just wasn't good for us. So we enrolled them in public school this year. They were shocked. Could it be that mom and dad were actually serious?

I'm hoping for the girls to learn a few things:

1) Life runs on a schedule. Taking 20 minutes to brush your hair and carve your initials into the bar of soap isn't working for me. Claiming that you "forgot to put on your shoes" so you have to go into your bedroom 15 times, causing us to be late for something is just plain lazy. This list actually goes on and on but I'd get a hand cramp if I typed it all out here.

2) Adults deserve respect. (Now, I know that not all adults really deserve respect, but the adults involved with the girlies do.) God commands us to respect those in authority over us, including our parents (especially our parents!) even if we don't agree with them.

3) Laziness is not an option. Colossians 3:23 tells us to work at everything we do with excellence, as if working for the Lord. I am always asking them, would they give that sloppy worksheet to Jesus? Do they want Jesus to see them dressing in a particular way, or acting in a particular way? Our lives need to reflect the excellence of Christ because we are made in His image. The girlies have been struggling with laziness for too long.

I told the girls, when they can stop complaining about their responsibilities they are welcome to return to homeschool. Until then they are expelled.

Whew. This whole thing just irks me! Our family must get back on track. It starts with Scott and me. So, I've decided to try to blog something each day this school year about my mission to stabilize our little family and restore our relationships with eachother. Today is Day Two of public school. Let's see what I can get done today!

Why Bother?

2010-07-30T00:18:00.000-04:00

We've been having a wonderful, fun, sunshiny, perhaps-the-best-year-ever-at-Camp, week at Camp of the Woods. And perhaps because of that I've had an insight that I've been looking for for quite a while. I post so rarely these days that I don't know if anyone even reads me here anymore, but I'd really love to know what others think of this--

I recently took a Beth Moore bible study on Revelation. It was great, of course. And it really brought home the idea that we as Christians are not long for this world. The signs are all around us. It also reinforced my questions about Why so many believers struggle to fight the opposition here in a dying world....something I have been questioning for a while. I mean, if Christ will return and do away with this present world, creating a new place for us to dwell with him for eternity, why do we bother with anything besides the Great Commission? Shouldn't our goal simply be to save as many souls as we can, since it's all going to end anyways? Kind of like fighting a losing battle, right? Why bother, if the expected ending is inevitable?

So, this week, especially after listening to a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund, it's become a little clearer. It would seem that maybe, just maybe, the Christians who fight against the evil in our world today are doing so in order to make the world a little more livable for Christians in the present while we wait for our Savior's return. We don't know the day or the hour when Christ will call us Home. So in the meantime we must maintain a voice in a world screaming with darkness.

My calling is not the same as the next person. I feel like my purpose right now is to raise up little girls to be young women who love and live for God. I realize along the way God may give me other opportunities to work for Him, but He has entrusted me with these little ones and I just really need to make sure they spend Eternity with me in Heaven!

I am so appreciative of those who have been called to serve me in my daily life, to maintain my freedoms, and to fight for me so that I can focus my attentions on my own calling. Without them I might not be able to home educate my girls. I might not be able to attend my church. I might not be able to read my bible or pray in public. But because of organizations like Alliance Defence Fund, (and many others) who take up the fight daily, my earthly life can be so much more than tolerated. I'm growing in my understanding this week of why exactly we should indeed bother!

On the Move

2010-06-19T22:01:00.001-04:00

Yep, we're getting ready to move again! Another local move, luckily. Just down the road a couple of miles. We bought (or, rather, are in the process of buying) an adorable little house in the middle of Camden. Within walking distance to pretty much everything, including church! We're very excited. Nothing about this move has been difficult, which makes me think this is totally God-driven. He provides. He knows our hearts before we ever do! And He gave us a place to live for the past 9 months until "our" house was available.

It's beautiful. We might change the paint colors, but otherwise we will NOT be doing much of anything to it! God also knew we needed to live in a true fixer-upper to know we don't like fixer-upping. So building is out. And we needed to live in slight seclusion (surrounded by trees and a few questionable neighbors) so we would know we don't want to live on lots of land in the middle of nowhere. He's given us pets, but I really don't know what lesson those are teaching us, except maybe to learn that a muddy dog is not as fun as a clean one, so we won't be slopping pigs and mucking stalls anytime soon.

SOOOOO....that leaves us with a house in town. A cute, ready-to-move-in house with next-door neighbors, sidewalks, a block away from church, library, movies, restaurants, shops, farmer's market, parks.

Come stay with us during the Blues Festival this fall!

The Spirit of Patriotism

2010-06-01T23:21:00.005-04:00

In light of the past holiday weekend, I thought I'd share my opinion on patriotism and good-citizenship. Y'all love my opinion, right?? That's why you're reading!! :)

As we were painting our kitchen yesterday (okay, really Scott was painting the kitchen; I was baking zucchini bread and offering moral support..) we were listening to a past "Armstrong and Getty" webcast from early-May. The discussion was regarding some students in a California high school who wore American flag tee shirts on Cinco de Mayo. Their Hispanic principal made them remove the shirts or go home. He said the shirts might incite anger, or something to that effect. The Hispanic students were not asked to remove their culturally distinguishable clothing.

What??

When did it become offensive to be patriotic? And when did being an American become so offensive? And what exactly does the American flag represent?

So here's how I see it. America is a country built on diversity. It began as a place where folks from every walk of life could enjoy freedom with fair limits. This diversity is what makes our country great. It is what makes us America. Our flag represents this country. It represents a nation that does not opress or repress. America is, in its very essence, multi-cultural, and that is what sets us apart from the rest of the world.

Maybe, somewhere along the way, a few of the various nationalities who call America home, have come to the conclusion that diversity really only refers to them? That America needs to recognize their particular nationality above all others? That somehow their country of origin (even if they and their ancestors may never have lived there themselves....) really lays claim to America and is rightfully superior to every other nationality who calls it home?

Let's say I go to Walmart. Walmart sells just about everything, right? Very diverse. But I'm there to buy yogurt. I have to walk past the men's clothing department to get to the yogurt and I'm offended by this, of course. I feel that Walmart should only sell yogurt. So I'm going to make a scene and try to get on the news, in an effort to have Walmart changed from a department store, with huge product diversity, to become a yogurt superstore. I might even encourage my fellow yogurt-lovers to verbally and physically attack shoppers who are there to buy underwear. Because my rights as a yogurt-eater are being infringed upon since this store, with its' diversity that adds to everyday life (okay, I really don't care for Walmart that much.....) is discriminating against me by allowing jewelry, shoes, clothing, and toiletries to co-exist within its' walls.

Does that kind of make sense? Even in a ridiculous way?? I think I'd miss being able to buy new socks when I go in for milk and eggs, wouldn't you?

I am of Polish, Irish, and Scottish descent. However, I am an American, and that alone distinguishes me in the world population. I do not live, and never have lived, in Poland, Ireland, or Scotland. So therefore I am not a hyphenated-American. Pol-Iri-Scotch-American?? Nope, just American. And that's what my flag represents--Everyone who chooses to live here.

When I see the flag of our great country I see many backgrounds coming together to make something better than where they started. If I thought that the Polish government really has it goin' on, that I would really be happier if America were run more like them, wouldn't it make more sense for me to live there??

We are, by our very nature, a "Walmart" of cultures. A little Italian over here, some French down there, a touch of Jewish, a little bit of African. And all together it forms something new and wonderful. America. And by remembering their heritage, each group adds something beautiful.
I guess my point is, if someone is offended because their culture is not being properly recognized and individualized within the U.S., well, maybe they need to think about relocating. To somewhere less "blended." We wouldn't want them to be unhappy, right?

Walmart's not for everyone, after all.

Homeschooling

2010-04-28T09:55:00.003-04:00

There are lots of reasons we homeschool our kids. I don't want to get into that. But I do want to share something I think is fantastic!

We just got Emma's Stanford test results. This is her second year taking the test. We test for a few reasons, but definitely not for the sake of testing, if that makes any sense. Some folks put a lot of emphasis and importance on testing as a way to prove how smart their kids are, but for us it's just a way to keep records of work accomplished in the remote chance that someone might someday check up on us. Our subject testing at home is "no pressure."

I use Stanford tests so that the girls will know how to take standardized tests, and so I can know what areas might need more work. Jenna starts taking them next year (3rd grade).

Okay, now for the good part. ** THIS IS WHY WE HOMESCHOOL **

My 4th grade, LD/Asperger's/SPD/ADD child scored at an average (based on the complete battery of tests) of a SEVENTH GRADE LEVEL.

This is a child who would, without a doubt, be in special education if she attended public school. She would be passed from one grade to the next, falling farther and farther behind in her work, passed over and ignored. I do know this because I know my child. And this is why we homeschool her.
Yesterday I showed her the scores. I showed her how in some subjects she actually scored "Post-High-School." Then I told her this is why her daddy and I push her in school. Why we insist she do the work, and do it well! We take the time to actually teach her how to do the work rather than letting it slide and hoping she catches it some other time.

So, for the man on the school board I met in McDonalds a few weeks ago who said he doesn't like homeschoolers because they lie about what they teach their kids: Yes, my kids DO work in school. Hard. I'm not keeping them home because I'm too lazy to take them to school. I teach the girls how to learn. And more importantly, I try to teach the girls what it means to be Godly young ladies. My kids are not being sheltered; they are being given a safe place to learn about life, to mature, to not be thrown into an environment that will expose them to situations, words, events, before they are emotionally ready.

SO, THAT'S WHY WE HOMESCHOOL.

First Harvest

2010-04-25T21:27:00.002-04:00

We got home from Hilton Head this afternoon and first thing I went to check my garden. The peppers are all covered with aphids and there's only one little ladybug. She looked like she was working hard, but I hope she calls for backup because I don't feel like spraying.

My lettuce, on the other hand, exploded in the past two days. I hadn't thinned it out since planting, which I probably should have done a few weeks ago when the first shoots started poking through, so I figured there's no time like the present and I got to work.

The results of my thinning efforts:

I am growing a mix called "Farmer's Market" and a romaine called "Freckles." They are, of course, all babies right now, but we had quite a harvest just from thinning! The photo above doesn't do justice to pile on the stovetop. We had to stop right then and there and make ourselves a salad.

Escape.

2010-04-19T15:00:00.003-04:00

You know when Life kind of gets away from you? And it seems to be running ahead of you while you are dragging a heavy bag of rocks and Life keeps calling, "Hurry up! Catch up with me!" but you never seem to be able to?

That's how I've been feeling lately. Life is always busy. No question about that. But it seems like there are just highs and lows in scheduling (I'm sure it's like that for everyone) and I'm in a "high" right now. It's Spring. Everything's busier in the Spring. School is ending. There are dance recitals and paperwork deadlines and workbooks to complete and educational gaps to fill. There is new coursework to purchase, meetings to attend, and dates to record on the family calendar.

But on top of that, we seem to add things that in the moment seem really important. And probably are. But anything new adds something more significant to the workload because of it's newness.

I've started a company at the prompting of some friends. We are starting our own companies and supporting eachother, selling our items together, but still separate. So we are not sharing the workload. We are just working along-side eachother. It's a good thing. But it's another thing.

So the house is constantly a mess. The kitchen is still unpainted. The attic is still a huge disaster area, literally hanging over our heads. Outside, my garden is about 75% planted. I think about planting every day. I stare at the packets of seeds sitting on the buffet and think, "tonight's the night I'll get you started." But "tonight" passes and the seeds still sit there, quiet and still in their little papery homes. Someday. Someday we'll have peas and beans and broccoli raab.

And there are 5 plastic trunks of fabric and sewing supplies in my dining room, waiting to be sorted yesterday.

And my picnic table, which we bought last fall and intended to paint back then, is in the middle of the yard, half-painted, upside-down on sawhorses. At least it's half-painted. Maybe tonight I'll get Scott to help me flip it over (it weighs about 8000 lbs....) so I can paint the top. Or maybe I'll get to those bins. Or the garden.

Or maybe I will read my kids a story before they go to bed.

In the meantime, I'm just praying that I won't be discouraged about my new business. Satan easily gets me to believe that my bows and clothing is no good, that nobody would want to buy it, that it's over-priced and I'm wasting my time and therefore hurting my family. I have just opened my online-shop and this weekend took some items to my friend's consignment shop where she also sells her own line. So I haven't even had my first sale. But I can't wait till I do. A saleswoman at a local store asked me to bring in a baby headband for her. And someone at the consignment shop asked for the same thing so I will bring some over this week.

I would love to have this business covered in the prayers of my friends and family. God gives us all special talents and abilities. But if we ignore His call for us to use those talents we are being disobedient. I feel like I am using my talents to help support my family and eventually interact with people where I might be able to share my faith, but I am not at all a salesperson, and sometimes my organizational skills get me stuck.

I know that's strange. I'm hyper-organized. It's more of a defense mechanism than anything else. I spend so much time organizing and planning that I never actually get around to the point of actually doing something. This is another are where I need prayer. So that I will actually complete a project, list it online and take some to the shop.

I'm rambling. It's helpful to get it all written out and put the jumble of thoughts on cyber-paper. If you're interested in seeing my initial efforts, click on the link to the right which will take you to my children's line of clothing and accessories on Facebook, called Jake & Sophie. I don't care for the photos I've listed. These will not be permanent. I was just eager to see how the storefront on FB would look; it's kinda cool!

Spring Has Sprung

2010-04-13T15:29:00.009-04:00

Ooooh, it's been a long time since I've posted. Our spring has been sooo busy. We spent a week in Vermont enjoying the snow--what there was of it--and my parents. As far as school, we're just trying to hang on for another couple of months! Spring fever has reached an all-time high, mainly for me, and I'm ready to be just plain D.O.N.E.

Every region of the country has it's positives and negatives. I happen to love living in the South. But the North? Well, I think that if you have reclusive tendencies or wish to be a hermit, this is the place for you. Everybody minds their own business. They'd rather you mind your own, too.

On the West Coast anything goes. Whatever your lifestyle, you will fit in.

The Southwest has it's benefits, too. Wanna be hot and dusty? Kidding. Sort of. But if you have a thing for driving slow and smiling at everyone, THIS is the place for you! Love the wind? Head for West Texas. Actually, I really enjoyed living in Texas, too, which, if you minus the dust and wind, is really a big part of why we are still in the South now.

So I'm sure everyone is enjoying their own version of Spring right now, wherever you live. But here in the South it's just something so very wonderful. It started maybe a month ago with the Bradford Pears and forsythia. Lovely.

Thre's no break in the beautiful colors here in the Spring. Next came the wisteria and yellow jessamine. It's our state flower and as it's related to jasmine, it smells like it, too!

Every time we walk outside we're hit with the most intoxicating fragrance. If only we could leave the windows open, but alas, the one time we did that accidentally, the house filled with fine yellow pollen. Not quite as lovely as the flowers outside.

The wisteria and jessamine are lingering today but the colors are slowly fading to make way for the azaleas. Pinks of every shade mix with white and nearly-red flowers. It is so amazing to drive around the streets and see these displays.

The dogwoods are just beginning to bloom now, too. Poor Scott. He's just beside himself with allergies and wishes all this beauty would just fade away and leave him alone. But as for me, I'm thankful that God has given me such nice things to look at as we finish up our homeschool year. I hope you are enjoying similar blessings where you live, too :)

Resolved for the New Year

2010-01-22T21:55:00.004-05:00

**Before I write, Emma got her tonsils and adenoids removed this morning. The surgery went well, no complications thus far, and Emma's already talking and although she's a little dopey, she is happy and not really in too much pain. I figured as much. She's a good patient. :) Thanks to everyone who prayed for her; she was pretty nervous the past few weeks. Thanks especially to our incredibly lovely Sunday School class. God has truly blessed us with this group of friends.**

Last night I attended our homeschool group's monthly small group support meeting. I love these get-togethers. These women are special. This type of relationship is something I haven't had since probably college. We walk together on what can sometimes seem like a lonely, difficult road. To have Godly women friends who identify so intimately with me is something I could have never designed on my own. God planned these for women to cross my path long before I ever decided to follow His lead and homeschool the girls and daily I see God's hand in our lives because of them and because of how the girls are excelling in all they do.

So, anyways! Our discussion time last night was on organization. How do we keep things running smoothly? Do we need help in any particular area? I've recently worked on this (it's an ongoing process, of course, and I often have to change things up when something stops working for me). I thought I'd share here what I shared at the meeting.

I don't make Resolutions anymore. Maybe some of you do? It just seems like a waste of time. I can just as easily keep doing what I'm doing, than to have to promise myself something and break the promise actually AS I'm making it. What's the point?

That said, when the new year rolled around, I took a look at what's become a kind of stressful existence in our new house. The kitchen is virtually done. Scott ripped out a closet in our mud room that housed the washer and dryer and made a better cut-out area for the laundry. And although we have some things in storage still, and our attic and shed are in disarray, things are pretty much in place and day-to-day life is good.

But there has been a lack of true organization since we moved out of our old house in August. I tend to have some short-term memory problems and while we were in the hotel for those five weeks I lost some of my normal household organizing routines. When we moved into the little house there was so much to do that we didn't really clean the house yet, no routine chores for the girls, etc.

Come January, the tree came down and I realized that life was officially returning to "normal." No special holidays, no looming indoor construction projects, school is stable. So why are things such a mess? I started looking for a chore routine for the girls because their responsibilities were down to virtually nothing. Yes, they were happy to help when asked, but I hate having to ASK for help every day with the same things over and over. Our finely tuned machine had become squeaky!

I have avoided the http://www.flylady.com advice for zone-cleaning because I just can't stand that name. Creepy. But every Saturday I found myself putting off the inevitable, hoping somehow the house would just clean itself, or perhaps just become soooo dirty that maybe someone else will notice and take some initiative?? Pick up the swiffer?? Locate the dust rags?? Empty a trash bag?? Figure out how to turn on the vacuum??

So I visited the Flylady. I decided maybe it would be possible to take her zone-cleaning technique and make it my own. Not fully Fly. I also researched a bit on the Maxwell's Chore Packs from http://www.titus2.com/, which I already knew were not our style but still is a good system. I got out my little binder and printed up some pages. I worked on the first two zones on my first two Saturday mornings. It's working! I made a list of things that, in theory, should be done every morning to help me start my day with peace. Mess steals my peace. For instance, if I know there are dirty washcloths in the bathroom I can't focus on Spelling.

After this daily list was composed, I divided it according to areas of the home. I made 4x6 cards and laminated them in self-laminating photo pockets. My daily zones are Pets, Kitchen, Living Room, and Bathroom. Then I prepped the girls. Two cards would be theirs for an entire week. Mom's happiness and well-being hung in the balance. They rose to the occasion! That first Monday morning I presented them with not only their daily responsibilities (make bed, put away pj's, deposit laundry in laundry room, and feed their fish, but also their Responsibility Cards. Emma learned to clean the litter box and made sure the cats didn't eat eachother each morning. (They are so starving by 8am that most mornings we do take that risk...) She also took care of putting out clean dishcloths and towels in the kitchen, and for the most part emptied the dishwasher. Jenna had to clean up the bathroom put out a clean hand towel, and make sure the living room was lovely. (Are bathroom hand towels an issue for anyone else? Ours always look like someone just dragged them through the mud...)

What a joy it's been to start our day with a nice, clean house! Each week the cards will change. Last week Jenna cleaned the litter box. And they don't have chores on the weekend. Unless specifically asked to help with something. They like it. I like it. We are getting to school on time. More importantly, we are getting to school with very little stress. I don't have to ask the girls to get up from their work to go get their laundry so I can do a load. It's right there waiting for me! Lovely!!

Tomorrow I tackle the master bedroom. It's honestly not too bad. I dust weekly in there because I've recently had allergy testing and I'm seriously allergic to dust. Being proactive has helped. (There are no dust mites in Heaven.) I'm excited to think that I don't have to spend upwards of 3 hours (yep, that's how long I used to spend on Saturday morning!) cleaning my house! What will I do with all that free time?!

Home Economics

2009-12-09T23:21:00.003-05:00

There's a reason I don't cook or bake with my kids.

But I thought I'd maybe start teaching them some home skills a couple months ago when I was at the homeschool bookstore in Columbia. There, glowing with possibility (**Oooh! Wouldn't it be fun to teach the girls to cook and sew!**), was a home ec. workbook with three levels designed for kids ages six and up!

What could be more perfect?

Last week we learned about nutrition. "Hmmm, this isn't unpleasant at all."

Today's lesson was how to peel vegetables. The assignment was to learn to peel carrots (and why we peel them), cut off the ends, cut them in half, and finally to create a carrot plate to serve Daddy when he arrives home.

No problem.

As usual with the girls, things got out of hand. Some of the carrots were pretty, um, thin. The simple carrot plate turned into a veritable buffet which included a bowl of chips and a bowl of mini marshmallows mixed with rice crackers (yum??).

After the extra two bowls of snacks were returned to their proper homes we set out the carrots and ranch dip for Dad.

He was thrilled. He at them all.

Peeling and cutting

Pouring the ranch dip

Ta Da!

Yep. There's a reason I don't cook with my kids.

A Single Photo of the New House

2009-11-24T17:10:00.004-05:00

Our cozy little house in the woods. Not really in the woods, it just feels like it because our property is surrounded by trees. It actually IS as small as it looks! But it's perfectly laid out so we're all very comfortable and cozy!

Kitchen Renovation

2009-11-08T00:07:00.004-05:00

Happy "Off Week!" We're off school this week, I'm sick with my annual bout with bronchitis, and today we're vegging around the house. Jenna likes to check out movies at our church library (all Veggie Tales movies that we actually already own but she would rather check them out...) so they are watching movies and I'm getting some blogging done. Fun! We don't often have a day like this, even on our "off" weeks.

Kitchen renovation pictures! Yay! It's coming along pretty nicely but we doubt our request to be done by Thanksgiving will be met. That's okay; at least it's not taking months and months like some friends have witnessed! Our contractor said his own kitchen renovation took 16 months! Of course, if I were a contractor I probably wouldn't tell a client that...but he's a good friend and we'll just nag him till it's done :)

Our electrical system started out as a nightmare. We hired someone we thought would do a good job but he flaked out on us. We're pretty sure he just got in over his head, started cutting corners, and eventually realized this job was bigger than he could handle. Unfortunately, he didn't just tell us that. He messed around for 2 weeks and eventually WE told HIM he was all done. In the end he actually told us he was afraid to be in our house, that most of the wiring was "jerry-rigged" and that the house is a huge fire hazard. Nice.

We let our contractor bring in one of his electrical guys, they did a great job, finished in two days, fixed all the stuff the last guy screwed up, and are coming back this week to do some finishing touches and look around under the house to make sure there aren't any red flags that need to be fixed. I'm sleeping a lot better. I don't even have to take the fire extinguisher to bed with me anymore!

Enjoy the slide show. Next sunny day we have (maybe this weekend, keeping our fingers crossed) I'm going to take some pics of the house outside. Once the kitchen is done and the contents of the kitchen are no longer scattered around the living room and dining room I'll take some interior pictures as well and get them in a slideshow, too.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

What's Going On Around Here?

2009-10-28T23:01:00.003-04:00

I wish I had some pictures of the new house to post. I've been meaning to take some for a month now but I really want to wait until the house looks the way we want it to. You know, everything put away, painted, arranged.

When Scott was in the Air Force we moved sooooo often. We could get ourselves unpacked and set up the house in 1-2 weeks. That's not happening this time. This has been really frustrating me for the past couple of weeks.

I'm now seeing some of the reasons for our delayed "settling-in."

1) In the Air Force Scott would have 1-2 weeks after moving to a new duty station before he had to show up for work.

2) Our last house had all the bells and whistles. In this case, that means there was a place for everything and everything had a place. Here, not so much. The closets are smaller so we had to get dressers instead of closet systems. There's no coat closet or linen closet. We've found solutions that work fine, but it meant delaying the unpacking of certain boxes until we had a place to put those things.

3) We are short about 700 square feet of space now. Our attic will be fantastic--once we can get things up there! For now, things are in the shed out back, or in our storage unit in Lugoff. So sometimes finding things is a challenge. We are actually toying with the idea of turning the attic into a finished room. But then we remember that this is supposed to be a temporary home, right? So how much do we really want to invest? Converting the attic would require some kind of staircase (right now it has a pull-down ladder) and plenty of expense, even if we did it ourselves.

4) We are dealing with a couple contractors right now. I remember back when we renovated our house in Texas...I said I'd never deal with another contractor again. Our GC hasn't been an issue yet; he's a friend from our last church. But getting the electrician to come back and finish the job has been a challenge. We'd kinda like to plug some things in in the living room..... Soon..... I know electrical work isn't exactly something we can do ourselves. We didn't have much choice. But honestly! This is why we decided to become do-it-yourselfers in the first place!

5) We have no time to paint the main living areas of the house. This has been a huge hold-up for us. I'd love to hang some pictures, get the curtains up, and just generally feel "done" with the living areas. The kitchen is hopefully getting done this weekend. Our GC is putting in a new countertop. He's going to help with tearing out the base cabinets and flooring. But the painting! We just can't seem to get it done! And it's REALLY holding up my feelings of finally getting settled.

------------------------
But finally, let me close with something that makes me smile just thinking about it! :) We were evaluating the work in the kitchen with our GC one night and he noticed that the kitchen flooring was oddly high. We pulled up the linoleum, 2 layers of plywood, another beautiful avocado green linoleum, and a layer that appears to be vinyl tile, and discovered that the original hardwood floors appear to be intact! They will need to be refinished, but how cool is that?? We also know the hardwoods extend into the master bedroom, which is the only room in the house with carpeting.

We have also found part of our chimney! That sounds strange, doesn't it? Well, we knew our house once had a wood-burning fireplace that has been converted to gas. Ugh. I don't like gas fireplaces. But the house doesn't have an exterior chimney, and nothing in the attic. Scott was poking around in Emma's closet this weekend, which backs up against the living room and the fireplace. He needs a place to hang our tv over the fireplace. (Yay. I'm so looking forward to having a huge flat screen tv hung over the fireplace again. I can hardly contain my joy.) Anyways. Back there behind some plywood nailed up in Emma's closet is none other than a partial chimney! Now, it's a bit torn apart, mind you. But it's there, and it's a start. So now I just have to convince Scott that this really IS a project we need to tackle sometime!

Aaaahhh, another project on the list.....

Random

2009-09-24T22:22:00.003-04:00

I don't know where these pictures came from. They were just on my camera. Apparently this is what happens when two little girls are left home with Daddy for the evening. And Daddy is working on something for grad school.

Last Week's Purchases

2009-09-21T22:40:00.004-04:00

I think I've become a plant junkie. Last week, while perusing Craigslist, I came across yet more plants I just cannot live without. Pictured here, standing proudly outside my hotel room with my other plant purchases that I couldn't pass up at the farmer's market LAST weekend, are a small fig tree and three banana trees. Yep, that's right. Bananas. They're naturalized so they will grow here.

While househunting we visited a house that had a mature fig tree in the back yard, covered with hundreds of figs. They were fantastic. Jenna walked away with figs stuffed in her mouth and both hands. We didn't buy that house. I would have bought it just for the tree, but alas, there are three (well, two since Jen was with me on this one) other people to consider when purchasing a house.

So I'm going to grow my own.

Also last week the girls and I went apple-picking with some homeschooling friends. I don't know how much fun everyone else had, but I came away with 65 lbs. of Stayman Winesap apples!! "That's a LOT of apples!" Scott said when he saw my pickings. I think he was making fun of me. I think he's STILL making fun of me. Last night I packed six apple pies into the freezer to bake later in the winter...he won't be making fun of me then....but I still have, um, a LOT of apples left. I'm also going to make applesauce with them, and might even try dehydrating a few for snacks. Never done that before but my toaster oven also has a dehydrator setting that I didn't know about until recently. That must, of course, wait until we move to the house next week.

This photo doesn't do them justice. There are a LOT of apples in those bags! I think still got about 50 lbs. left. Mmmmmmm!

Peace and Quiet (and some reflection on how the school year is going....)

2009-09-15T10:23:00.004-04:00

Today I'm being reminded of what it was like to homeschool just one child. The suite is so peaceful! Jenna is taking a science class with other second and third grade homeschoolers. It's the first time since preschool that she's not been home with me, or not been out at something with Emma and she was a little nervous. But Emma took this science class when she was in second grade and has spent the last two weeks talking it up to her sister, telling her all the fun things she's going to do this year. Still, this morning she was more than a little apprehensive. But we've still got an hour to go and Emma is working on a typing lesson:

It's really something how quiet it is! I didn't realize how much noise Jenna makes :) I love that noise, honestly, but I see Emma getting lots of work done on Tuesday mornings now that science class has started!

We started an experimental year-round school schedule this summer. Our '08-'09 year ended mid-May and we took 7 weeks off before starting the new year. We officially started on July 5th. Our calendar is going to be 3 weeks of work, 1 week off.

So far we haven't exaclty kept the new schedule as planned, except for the first 3 weeks and our 2 week vacation which was planned. When we got home we got in another week of schoolwork but then had kind of a crazy few weeks with a reunion in New Jersey and then packing out the house.

Now we're back on track and looking forward to our official break in two weeks!

Homesteading DVD Bundle Giveaway

2009-09-14T22:58:00.003-04:00

Run on over to www.homesteadoriginals.com and enter to win a 3-DVD set on canning, gardening and herbs! Contest ends 9/25 so visit soon.

Saturday Market

2009-09-12T22:59:00.007-04:00

This morning was the first in a looooong time that we've been free to do whatever we wanted to do. Scott had a paper to work on for school so the girls and I decided to head out to the farmer's market in Camden.

And I finally got my photos loaded onto my *new netbook* so I've made a slide show! (I love my new netbook...maybe because it's cool, maybe because I can actually see images on the screen unlike my old one that had developed a tic and would sometimes go all hazy on me...)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Forever and a Day

2009-09-04T21:36:00.002-04:00

It seems like forever since I've posted here! We have had such a busy few months, and I guess it's about time to blog a little about it.

For starters, we sold our house in Lugoff. We had only about a month from the time we accepted the offer until closing, and during that time we had two long-planned vacations. We had a bit of a rush to pack out the house and find a new home in Camden.

We quickly found a place, part of our "long-term plan" as we are now calling it (details below). A very cute, old historic house in Camden.

Our vacations were lots of fun! We spent a week in the Adirondacks at Camp of the Woods, our seventh year! It was quite possibly the best year we've had there, with beautiful weather an good company. The kids are getting older and more independent. Camp is one of the few places left where kids can run free and wild without worrying of there whereabouts.

We followed up Camp with a few days in Vermont, then returned home for a week of packing. Then it was off for a four-day weekend in New Jersey and Scott's high school youth group reunion. The girls got to enjoy the boardwalk for the first time.

Here's where the fun began. Well, fun is really not the word for it. Between our NY/VT trip and the reunion we came home to find the inspection on the house we were to close on in TWO WEEKS did not go well. We had really no choice but to back out. We began to look again for a small house but time was so short that there was no way we'd be closing on it at the same time as we were closing on the house we were selling.

The best we could do was find a short-term living arrangement, a.k.a. a hotel. We made an offer on a second house and it looked like it was going well until the seller began having problems and we again felt it was not wise to continue with that particular house.

We're now finishing Week 2 at the Quality Inn. We made an offer on a third house, the inspection went okay, and now we are just waiting to find out if the seller will fix a few things that need fixing under the house. The hotel is pretty nice, we have two rooms and a pool that the girls have been swimming in every day. We are continuing to do school, which we call "homeless-schooling" and things are going pretty well.

So now for our Long-Term Plan:

Our goal right now is to find a piece of land with no restrictions and build a house. We don't want neighbors. We do want chickens and maybe a couple of "adopted" horses (a program through the girls' riding school) for a few months each year. But land here is expensive and hard to find. We would like to stay within a specified area which will keep us close to Camden and also within a reasonable driving distance of Scott's work in Sumter.

We also believe that God doesn't want us to have a big mortgage again. We feel we should save as much as possible before we start to build a house. And then we should pay as much in cash as possible, building over time as we can afford it.

With this in mind, we feel that if we are following God's leading here, that we will eventually find the perfect piece of land to settle down. The house we are currently hoping to buy will allow us to have a mortgage that is half of what we were paying. When we eventually move out we hope to use it as a rental property.

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So, that's pretty much where we are right now! We need and appreciate lots of prayer as we continue to live in the hotel until we can close on this "transition" house. Hopefully I'll be posting some Home Sweet Home pictures soon!

Giveaway

2009-07-06T09:00:00.003-04:00

Hey! They're giving away a great rug over at Econobusters! You can enter at this link. Econobusters is a fabulous site to get frugal ideas and tips. Check it out!

Too Funny...

2009-06-09T23:21:00.003-04:00

Jenna loves gymnastics. It's her "thing." And she's REALLY good at it! Well, most of the time...

The Girls' Garden

2009-06-09T20:42:00.003-04:00

A friend commented one day on our lovely "crop circles" in the back yard. Two were the result of an inflatable 12' pool which we moved from one location to another the past 2 years. The grass never fully recovered, even after 2 years! One was worse than the other so Emma and I set to work digging up a few of the bigger weeds and putting in a small fence. Each of the girls has 2 quarters to tend.

Jenna's cucumber plant produced our first cucumber. It was delicious and more are on the way!

This is supposedly a cantaloupe. We also planted watermelons. I'm betting on watermelon but I suppose I could be wrong. Emma was in charge of labelling the plants in their garden.....

We have lots of toads around lately and this little guy has taken up residence in a very safe and pleasant place in the yard! I kinda think this photo makes it look like he's looking out of some sort of botanical prison.....

More Garden Pics

2009-06-09T20:26:00.002-04:00

I'm finally getting a chance to sit down tonight and post some more photos of my small (but still lovely!) garden. It's only 3 rows this year because, due to our hopeful move sometime this year, I began my garden in containers and this is all I started with.

My bush-type tomatoes are already quite big. Still green, but most of the tomatoes are already fist-size and I'm thinking of frying them up as they are!

This is probably the smallest watermelon I've ever seen! It's less than an inch across, very cute. There's a chance it's a cantaloupe, but I'm going with watermelon. Remind me to label things next year.

I dug up some of my favorite flowers this spring that were planted out front. When we listed the house we decided to dig up the perennials and put in some azalea bushes to make it look a little fuller. Not wanting to waste these beautiful plants, I've stuck them in pots on the deck waiting for a new, permanent home. There are also 5 peonies which I didn't expect to bloom this year, being transplanted and all. I did get one bloom from one plant but it quickly was blown over in a wind storm and we never really got to enjoy it. However, it seems we missed one peony out front and it surprised us after the azaleas faded, with tons of huge pink blooms! I never thought to take a photo unfortunately. It will be dug up in the fall.

Garden Update

2009-06-07T18:24:00.008-04:00

I've been meaning to write again about my garden but the time has gotten away from me. Today when we got home from the pool I went to see how much weeding the girls and I will have to do this week (immense seems to be a fitting word here) and imagine my surprise when I actually found some useable veggies! Here they are:

Despite the weeds our gardens are actually doing quite well. I've got an entire row of tomatoes because I'm looking forward to canning them this fall if we don't eat them all first.

There's also a row of broccoli/cauliflower but I can't tell which is which since replanting them from pots. I figure I'll know when they start to grow!

In the middle is my "viney" stuff. Watermelon, cucumber, cantaloupe and zucchini. With a green pepper coming along at the end.

We're off for a walk to our new convenience store. I'm being summoned by the family. More later!

Weekend Wonders

2009-06-01T17:07:00.004-04:00

If you've been over to Econobusters.com you might have noticed their "Weekend Wonders" feature. I like seeing what others are doing with the stuff they find at thrift shops and yard sales! This weekend I actually have my own to share.

Since we homeschool, I've been in search of the perfect work surface for the girls for about 3 years now. Old school desks would be great but we just couldn't afford new and couldn't find any used.

I found the desk on the right a couple of weeks ago for Jenna at a thrift shop for
$7. Not a tremendous deal, considering that I'm going to have to replace the top eventually since it's pretty "rugged" underneath, but a deal nonetheless. I took it home, spray painted it and removed the rust from the legs with steel wool. Looked great!

Then Emma wanted one. I figured I had the whole month of June to scour the local thrifties for one, what a pain. After seeing my folks off at the airport on Saturday we decided to take the long way home (local roads) and came across a great flea market in Lexington (The Barnyard). Near the back there was a homeschooling family selling not only the desk on the left, but also a bunch of gr. 4 Abeka books which we needed! I got the desk for $10 which I think was right on. It was originally tan, in pretty good shape and needed really no work except a good cleaning and a coat of paint.

So, for $17, a couple of cans of Krylon and some new bolts, we've got 2 new school desks for about half of what we would have paid for just one new desk!

And that, folks, is my Weekend Wonder!

Too Funny Tuesday

2009-04-14T01:26:00.002-04:00

The folks over at www.answersingenesis.org have a comic strip called "After Eden." I thought this one was pretty funny. Enjoy!

Working In The Garden

2009-04-12T17:47:00.006-04:00

Happy Easter! I'm so glad Jesus died for me and I hope you are, too!

Today we sent Scott off to Ohio for a week so we could get some work done around this place. Not really, we'll miss him terribly while he's gone and we are happy it's just for a week. I had hoped to all go with him but the girls had obligations here this week which couldn't be missed. Sooooo......

After church and lunch today I decided to work on my garden. I've been gardening in containers for a few months now because our house is on the market. However, we're thinking that selling right now might not happen any time soon, which we're very much okay with, so I decided my plants need a real home in the ground. I can plant more this way. Nothing spectacular, we might sell the house after all and I don't want to leave too much behind, but just enough to see if we like this whole gardening thing.

Anyways, it began with Jenna helping me. She gets bored quickly so I didn't expect her to last long. Soon I sent her in to the shower. She then became the Official Garden Photographer. Then Emma joined me. Emma was a spectacular gardener! Who woulda thought?? She was out there with me for about 3 hours, mastered the Claw tool (well, almost) and pulled her share of weeds. The down-side of gardening with Emma? She TALKED FOR 3 HOURS. No breaks. Three hours straight. My ears hurt. Luckily most of what Emma says doesn't require a response. But, Oh My!

I thought I'd post some pictures for your viewing enjoyment. The little bit of weeds you see in the corner is all we have left to clear tomorrow and then I can start tilling it up and planting. The girls were so excited about gardening that I've decided to give them one of our "crop circles" to make into a garden of their own. These "crop circles" are the visible reminders that we will never again have an above-ground pool in our yard. There are two of these lovelies. We didn't have a pool here last year. Yet we have the markings it left behind. Nothing seems to grow in them. Eh.

Tori is thrilled with the help we gave her. She now has much less digging to do to get right to the dirt. None of that pesky grass to slow a girl down.....

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Video of Jenna and Poco Trotting

2009-04-05T23:16:00.002-04:00

Video of Emma and Socks Trotting

2009-04-05T21:53:00.002-04:00

A Video Just Because....

2009-04-05T15:10:00.004-04:00

Here's another video I've wanted to share for a while. This is from April 2008 when we had just gotten Tori. Notice that the cat (Jake) is bigger than the dog. Jake actually could take Tori down back then. Not so much now, but this video was so funny! The two of them would play like this for hours!

Dancing the Night Away

2009-04-05T12:30:00.005-04:00

Last night our homeschool co-op hosted a family square dance. It was really fun! We weren't able to go last year and honestly, it IS square dancing, so I really didn't know what to expect. But we all had fun! There were a few flashbacks to fourth grade PE class.....but our homeschooling friends and their kids are great and it wasn't so bad being laughed at while we were laughing at them, too. Enjoy the video!

T.G.I.F.

2009-04-03T22:25:00.006-04:00

I'm so glad this week is over! I really, really am.

Shall we start with last night when the Tooth Fairy FORGOT TO COME?? Or maybe we should talk about tonight, when said Tooth Fairy was on the job and tickled Jenna's memory so she would replace the tooth under her pillow, only to discover that the Tooth Fairy's husband had THROWN THE TOOTH AWAY! Worry not, it was recovered but only after much searching and maybe a few unkind words.

We did, however, get completely caught up with our schoolwork, which we've been behind on since January and has been causing much stress to the Tooth Fairy -- er, I mean, MOM. It felt like an extra-long version of a normal week, except for the fact that ALL of our weeks have felt like this for a few months now.

On a lighter note, I took some pictures of the girls at their riding lesson this week. I'm really proud of them. If I figure out how to make the video thingy work here I'll post one of those, too. But for now, here's a slideshow:

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We also had Hiking Club today and went to Peachtree Rock nature preserve. Here is a slide show from our outing:

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Here's what Jenna did this morning--she made a "watch" out of Wiki Stix, complete with "hands" made from Ellos.....

Ballet

2009-03-28T13:44:00.003-04:00

Emma's ballet school will be performing The Proud Princess this May. Emma's class will be servants. She and her costume are fantastic, don't you think?

It's Party Time!

2009-03-24T22:35:00.003-04:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Pinata

2009-03-20T02:19:00.005-04:00

Emma's birthday was yesterday but her party's not till Sunday. And amazingly enough, EVERY child we invited is actually coming! I didn't know that ever happened. Maybe it's just never happened to us. Anyways.

I had the pig-themed party all planned out till 2 weeks ago when Emma saw a friend's piggy pinata they were making. Suddenly my carefully laid "pinata-free" plans had to be altered. Now, I know I could have just said, "No, we aren't doing a pinata this year." But the friend's piggy was sooo cute. I decided to try my hand at one, too. I mean, hey, what's the worst that could happen--we wouldn't have one at the party, right?

So, here it is 2:30 in the morning and I'm finally done! I had to work late on it tonight because we are going to Charlotte for MY birthday (yes, I had one in there somewhere, too) and thought it unwise to leave it till the night before when I'm also trying to make a pig-shaped cake. Hmm. I think it's pretty cute, if I do say so myself! Needs a bit of fluffing, especially in the face, and I can't decide how to add a mouth. But overall it turned out pretty good! I'm not sure I'm going to let Scott cut a huge hole in it's side and fill it with candy, but maybe if I don't watch . . . .

Birthday Girl

2009-03-18T09:29:00.000-04:00

Science

2009-03-18T09:18:00.004-04:00

We've been reading about birds in science this week. I've found some cute bird crafts that, if we can get to them (AND get them to work!), I'll post later. But for now we followed a recipe in the teacher's manual and made robin's nests. They don't taste very good; Emma's the only one who likes them. But aren't they CUTE??

Long Time, As Always

2009-02-08T22:49:00.003-05:00

Yep, it's been a month since I last posted. I've been busy on Facebook. That's no excuse though!

The girls have been sick this weekend. Jenna actually has been sick most of the week. She's on an antibiotic and now Emma is sick. I am tempted to get a surgical mask for Jen. Either that or maybe use duct tape to hold her hand over her mouth.....

The girls started riding lessons on Wednesday with some other homeschoolers. So cool! Their teacher is awesome. I thought it would be just another plain old lesson, but the teacher is actually teaching them about the horse! And I mean everything about horses. Like, why they do what they do, why we have to do what we have to do when we are around them, neat stuff! The kids are learning about tack and the parts of the horse. By the end they will have earned their Level 1 Horsemanship certification.

This weekend we have had the most amazing spring weather. It has actually been cold here lately. But today....open-window weather :) We spent the weekend getting the house ready for our realtor to come today with a photographer. Now we have a sign in the front yard and tomorrow y'all can search www.realtor.com and see the virtual tour! I love how clean the house is. Not like it normally isn't, but I even vacuumed the baseboards today. And we have been de-cluttering and putting some things in storage so the house just looks clean. I painted the shutters and front door, and Scott planted a bunch of azalea bushes out front. I never got around to taking a picture of the front of the house today, we were so busy, so I'll do it tomorrow. It feels great to have everything looking ship-shape!

We looked at 6 places in Camden last Sunday and this week we are going to see a few more. The list is long because we have no idea what we're looking for. I would love to live in town, be able to walk to the park and church and the library and all the cute cafes and antique shops. But then I think I'd rather live out of town, have a few acres where the girls could explore and run around freely. We would also like to stay in a particular area of town because the whole point of moving is to get closer to Scott's work. I think we will probably just all know it when we find the perfect place. So far our #1 place has a swimming pool (above-ground, but still "built-in" as it is attached to the deck) and hot tub. The house itself would be an even trade for what we have now. It even has pretty much the same floorplan.

So anyways, Step One is over. The house is on the market. Step Two: find a new one and sell the old one!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-01-07T02:10:00.002-05:00

Sugar-on-Snow and Other Good Things

2009-01-03T00:25:00.009-05:00

I really need to learn how to add a slide show in a post! Anyways, we're in Vermont this week having fun with my family. I thought I'd share a few shots from our visit:

But before we start, here's what Tori got for Christmas. She was overjoyed.

And now:

The girls have been enjoying the FREEZING cold snow

Jenna had a "snack"

We celebrated New Year's Eve complete with Christmas crackers and paper crowns -- a throwback to our time in England (Emma really cut loose over fondue and let her crown slip a little)

Tonight we all enjoyed a traditional New England treat, sugar-on-snow. If you've never partaken of this particular delicacy, it's made by boiling Pure, Real, From-The-Tree maple syrup and then drizzling it over fresh, clean (that's the key, folks) snow. It hardens instantly to a taffy consistency and you scoop it off the snow with a fork and eat it....Yum! Every spring when I was growing up our rural neighborhood would get together during sugaring season and make this at a sugar-on-snow party.

Scott fills the bowls with snow (no, he didn't collect it with the snowblower)Ann boils the syrupDrizzling the syrup on the clean snow, sense the excitement....Yum!

Our Day

2008-12-16T23:55:00.002-05:00

I haven't posted in a few days and I really am trying to get better about putting something up here more regularly. So, since there's not much to report, I'll just tell about my day!

First, the girls checked out a new dentist. It's called Kool Smiles and is apparently a chain. Pretty good. Emma has 3 cavities but doesn't seem to care. She says fillings don't really hurt (but apparently brushing your back teeth does which is why she HASN'T BEEN!!!). So we told her that if she doesn't start letting us help her brush better, she's going to forego allowance from now on to help pay for her fillings! She wasn't too keen on that.

Jenna needs to stop sucking her thumb. The dentist recommended that if she doesn't stop sucking it soon that we should take her to the orthodontist this summer when she turns 7 and have her fitted for this special plate that fits in the roof of her mouth and forces her to stop. She also is not a happy camper. At least she didn't have any cavities.

Oh, and I'm 38 and have only had 3 fillings in MY ENTIRE LIFE.

Let's see....what else did we do today? We went to see a house in Camden. It's kind of the plan to eventually move to Camden since it's more centrally located to pretty much everything we do and right now we're on the far side of the moon. Or at least it feels that way some days when I have to drive there two or three times. This house is right across the street from some of our very good friends who homeschool and have kids close to the girls' ages. But there's always a hitch. We haven't listed our current home. Haven't even decided if we're going to use the same realtor we used when we bought it. And this other home is older and would need a bit of renovation which means if we don't make a profit on this place we can't renovate that one. So after Christmas we'll probably start looking a little more seriously, maybe get ours on the market, etc. Moving is such a pain.

The highlight of my day was receiving my new curriculum!! We're partially switching mid-year. Sonlight's just not working for us all the way. A friend turned me on to My Father's World and I did the research and really think this is where we're heading next year, as well. Things always change, though, and in the last few years I've learned to never say "this is the one." MFW seems a little different. The entire curriculum is based on an historical view of the bible. Which means--there's a bible lesson/theme for the year which ties in with the history/social studies which ties in with the science which ties in with, well, everything else. It's really kinda cool.

But it's hard to switch mid-year. We've been doing world history and now we are going to get into American history. It means we'll be doing some extra reading through the summer to get caught up, but I'm hoping to double up on some of the lessons and not have quite as much to do at the end of the year.

So I guess that's pretty much it for today. I'm off to bed!

Ballet

2008-12-10T20:39:00.002-05:00

Today we joined some fellow homeschoolers at the Columbia City Ballet for their production of "Hansel and Gretel." Several times a year the CCB hosts a school version (about 40 minutes long) of their longer ballets and include some educational elements, including a time at the end when the dancers come back on stage and demonstrate various steps and techniques. We are never disappointed!

After this morning's performance we decided we needed to make a candy house like the witch's house in the fairytale. Well, we didn't think it through very well and forgot to make pointed end sections that would support the roof. So we made kind of a "trailer park" version instead.

Everything was going fine......

Until.......well, the roof started to cave in and then.....

Well, Jenna "took advantage of the situation...."

One More Day

2008-11-20T15:55:00.002-05:00

I think I'm headed for a record number of posts this month. Funny, since I thought I'd be writing almost daily but some months I've gone for weeks without a word!

Anyways, Scott comes home from Qatar tomorrow!!! We are all very excited. The girls have even voluntarily doubled up on their schoolwork today just so they can be sure to have it all done before we go pick him up. They are still slaving away in there and it's almost 4:00pm!

I've joined Facebook, for anyone who might have a few extra hours on their hands and would like to go try and figure the whole thing out. I joined earlier in the week and old friends are just coming out of the woodwork. College friends, Air Force friends, it seems like everyone is there. I'm still trying to track down a few, but some last names have probably been changed, etc., so I'm hoping to just find them by accident.

I don't really like it in general. Probably because it's too much to figure out how to use it effectively. But it sure is neat to touch base with people, some of whom I haven't talked to in 20 years!

Oh, Jenna just finished with her last subject so I'm going to release her from servitude and work with Emma to get hers done. Can't wait till tomorrow!!

The Sound of Music

2008-11-14T00:32:00.002-05:00

We have had such a great evening out!

Our homeschool co-op here has a monthly club day for the kids. There is boy's club for the boys and the girls are in Beautiful Girlhood club. Every year the girls club learns all about a particular historical woman. Last year it was a Colonial girl named Priscilla who came here on the Mayflower. This year they are studying Maria Von Trapp. So last weekend after Scott left we did our usual we-miss-daddy-so-we're-gonna-have-junk-food-and-watch-movies night and rented the Sound of Music since the girls had never seen it.

They were mesmerized! I have to say, I was too, since it's been...well, maybe 30 years since I've seen it?

Well, tonight Elizabeth Von Trapp, daughter of Werner (a.k.a. "Kurt" in the movie), granddaughter of Maria, performed a concert in Bishopville, a town about 20 minutes from us. A rather large group of girls and moms got together and attended. It was such a nice concert! Elizabeth performs on guitar with a cellist and the music was just simply beautiful.

After the performance we were standing around waiting for her to have a picture taken with our group. The mom who organized our "field trip" somehow mentioned to Elizabeth that I grew up in Vermont, where she still lives, and Elizabeth invited me to email her the next time we will be in Vermont and she will give us a personal tour of their family lodge. How cool is that?

I didn't bring my camera but I have asked some other moms if they would forward me a copy of the group photo that was taken. I'll post it as soon as I can.

My American Girls

2008-11-14T00:11:00.003-05:00

A couple of months ago I promised the girls that while Scott is away this month I would take them to the American Girl doll store in Atlanta. They have a little restaurant in the store and a hair salon for the dolls to get their hair styled. So this week we packed up the dog and headed west.

Felicity got a ponytail flip.

Emma kept a close eye on Elizabeth as she got a single side braid.

Doesn't Elizabeth look thrilled?

Jenna was very pleased with the final product.

After a long day of beauty treatments we took the poor dog (who had waited very patiently in the car this whole time since we couldn't check in when we arrived) to the hotel and Emma took a short nap. She had been sick over the weekend and all that activity took it's toll. Then we headed back to the store for dinner at the Bistro. The food's not much to write home about but the experience was worth it. They each got a special clip-on high chair for their dolls to sit at the table with us.

Tooth Fairies

2008-11-14T00:02:00.002-05:00

When Emma lost her first tooth (and all subsequent losses as well...) she acted as if her head were being severed. So it was quite a surprise the other day when we were driving along and Jenna announced that one of her two very loose bottom teeth had just come out. It was just announced, "Um, mom? My tooth came out." And she placed it in my outstretched hand for safe-keeping.

Fifteen minutes later, "Um, mom? Here's my other tooth."

Hiking Club

2008-11-07T18:06:00.002-05:00

This year I have volunteered to facilitate a hiking club for our homeschool group. We choose a different park to hike at each month. This month Scott couldn't be here because he is in Qatar again, but he took a couple of hours last week and designed a 3-team scavenger hunt for kids to follow. At the end I made everyone trail mix and gave a prize of free kids' buffet coupons from CiCi's Pizza (we love CiCi's!).

The day was spectacular. Couldn't have asked for better weather. We had 32 kids ranging from preschool to jr. high. Here are a couple of the pictures I captured of the beautiful day--

Jenna loves to jump. REALLY loves to jump...

Emma and Jenna in front of a gorgeous tree...

The same tree, different angle, different color!

Math Games

2008-11-07T18:00:00.003-05:00

The other night I was watching "Kids By The Dozen" on TLC. It's a new show that features a different family each week, all of which have a large amount of children. This week's family also homeschools, and I noticed one of their kids doing a math game that looked like something the girls would like. I made my own yesterday while the girls did their schoolwork, and then Emma tried out the multiplication version (I also made adding and subtracting).

The main game sheet has blocks with answers written in. Little flashcards have the problems written out and the player has to match them up.

School Projects

2008-11-07T17:40:00.005-05:00

This year we are studying the first half of world history. A few weeks ago we were studying ancient Greece so we made frescoes---

Last week we started studying ancient Egypt. Yesterday we made Egyptian Paddle Dolls, apparently a popular toy for children living in Egypt during bible times. The dolls have yarn hair with beads tied on. The Egyptians made theirs of wood. If only Scott were home, we could have made them with the jigsaw......

Revolutionary War Days

2008-11-07T17:29:00.003-05:00

The town next door to us is Camden. It's a cute little historic town and they have a Revolutionary War site which hosts Revolutionary War Days and a reinactment every year. We met some friends there and the kids all wore Colonial costumes.

Jenna and Ben

Jenna

Emma, Ben and Jenna

Jenna again

Jenna, Ben, Faith, and Emma

New Stuff, Halloween

2008-11-07T17:13:00.003-05:00

It's been a while since I've blogged! Lots of things happening, as usual since it's autumn, so I will put everything in separate posts to make it a little more understandable.

Let's start with Halloween. I mentioned earlier that I was making the girls' costumes this year. Emma was a bunny and Jenna was her carrot.

Emma carved her own pumpkin this year. She chose a white Ghost Pumpkin which we thought was a little weird but she did a great job and wouldn't let us help her at all. It looked kinda neat, all whitish green. Unfortunately I didn't bother taking a picture of the finished product.

Carrot Top

Hippity Hop

We suggested the girls go up to each door together since their costumes went together. At one house a lady commented on them and Jenna said, "Yeah, we're sisters. Bunny--Carrot...makes sense." She's such a little imp!

State Fair

2008-10-16T21:12:00.007-04:00

Yesterday we took a field trip to the state fair in Columbia. The girls both had entries in the competitive exhibits and were so excited to find out that they both won first place ribbons and $8 each! We will pick up Emma's quilt next week and I'll post a better picture then. It's absolutely beautiful! She's quite talented at sewing and I was really proud of the hard work she put into this quilt over the past month....

Jenna made the most delicious peanut butter cookies ever! We even experimented with several different recipes and did an "official" taste test. We've all decided that the number one ingredient needs to be butter. I'm really not sure how the judges decided whose cookies were best, but hey, Jen's won a blue ribbon and that's enough for us!

I know there are lots of reasons to attend a state fair....the exhibits, animals, rides, games....But Jenna and I go for the midway food and the best of all...the baby duck show! In the chicken barn is a display where you can watch chicks hatch (sooooo cool), chicks ride a ferris wheel (their food is in the little ferris wheel seats so when they climb on to eat they get a little ride) and--best of all--the baby ducks that have to balance at the top of a water slide to eat and if they lose their balance they slide down and have to climb back up to the top. It's our favorite part of the fair.

The Rhythm Of Life

2008-09-24T23:19:00.003-04:00

We've been having some really good days this week in school and I thought I should write about it since some of my recent posts have been....ummm....unhappy.

Last week I was so sick. I haven't been sick like this in a couple of years. Bronchitis. When we lived in England I had it 5 times, probably because of the damp weather. I'd get a cold and two weeks later I made a trip to the clinic for antibiotics. It would drag on for weeks, sometimes months. I think since moving back to the States ('04) I was only sick like that once. But Emma picked up a cold at Camp of the Woods this summer and we have all just been passing it around for the last 5 weeks.

So this week the Girls have it. We're filling up trash cans with Kleenex faster than we can empty them. I finally taught Emma how to actually blow her nose (unlike the slight puff of air, followed by a wipe of the tissue, followed by a huge, disgusting sniff which makes Momma want to barf, followed by another tissue being extracted from the almost-empty box). She thinks this is hysterical. SO MUCH SNOT comes out!! Isn't that the funniest thing in the world??!!??

So anyways, I love it when Emma's sick. She's so still! We get so much done! On the other hand, I hate it when Jenna's sick. She turns into (okay, so she's already there most of the time) a whiny, complaining sick kid who really just needs to be put back to bed but would never do that and deprive me of the joy of listening to her whine for 14 hours before Scott throws her back into bed.

Surprisingly enough, we have been able to get all of our work done each day, plus we have made up the things we put off last week when I was sick. We have been getting up late, I've baked in the morning after breakfast, we haven't rushed at all. It's been really kind of relaxing. I don't know if it will last but for now I think we might actually be finding our homeschooling routine. Kind of a relief after the turmoil of last spring when we never really recovered from having 2 very long breaks in December and January. We lost our rhythm and never found it again.

So glad to have found our rhythm of life again!

In Mourning

2008-09-21T20:58:00.002-04:00

Our hamster, Spot, died today. I think he had an infection. He's been sick on and off for a while now. Even though we have only had him for a little over a year, we are still very sad. Spot was funny. We loved him.

We had a little funeral for him after church this afternoon. Scott dug a hole. I found a box. Jenna cried. Emma wore black. She actually went into her room and changed into a black dress and even a black headband and appeared with a special shallow box with a blanket inside in which to transport the "casket." We buried Spot under a magnolia tree and made him a marker from a special stone that sparkles. We're hoping the dog doesn't dig him up.

Fruits (and a few Nuts)

2008-09-17T18:57:00.002-04:00

My last post has actually scored me a phone call from a friend making sure she hadn't made me feel rejected! :) I wish I could have been specific, maybe I shouldn't have posted it at all, but the whole purpose of this blog is to write about my thoughts, even the not-so-great ones.

Anyways, the other day Jenna and I were talking about Halloween. Costumes, to be specific. Here's a snippet:

"What do you want to be this year?"
"A pineapple."
"Um, I'm not sure I can make you a pineapple costume."
"Okay, then an apple."
"I think that's out, too."
"A pear?"
"How about your Colonial girl outfit?"
"No! I want to be a fruit!"

So later that day I asked Emma the same thing. She wants to be a ballerina bunny. She wants to carry a basket of carrots. Sooooo...... (you can see where this is going, right?)

Jenna's going to dress up like a carrot.

Where Am I?

2008-09-15T00:54:00.004-04:00

I don't know how many people keep up with my blog. I started it because I thought I'd be writing a lot, keeping family and friends posted on our life. Sorry if it hasn't been very exciting. I seem to have been going through a funk lately.

Maybe part of it is that summer was coming to an end and we were contemplating what God had in store for our homeschool this year. Yeah, I guess that's been a big thing lately. Emma has begun a couple of new therapies and it seems to be really making a difference. I'm so proud of the progress she is making daily in school. But there is so much to do sometimes that it is overwhelming.

Life isn't always good. Sometimes it's just surviving. Unless you are living life with me daily, it's impossible to know my every thought, every motive, the reasons I handle things in the best ways I know how.

I've realized that some issues I have been trying to deal with are not mine to worry about at all. I read an e-devotion the other day that put things into perspective. Basically I have been feeling like no matter what I do or how my life changes spiritually, those who have known me the longest will always see me as I used to be. Maybe it's the old "first impressions" thing. But doesn't it bug you when you can't escape another person's impression of how you are, even if you have worked really hard to change something in your life and been forgiven by the only One who really matters? I remember a poster I used to have that said "Do something good, no one remembers; do something bad, no one forgets."

It's hard to be rejected, especially when it feels unjust. I end up feeling rejected and hurt. And I have taken this rejection for so many years that it's become my life when I am with these people, for weeks before (the anticipation of things to come) and after (the aftermath and dealing with my broken heart) spending time with them. Sometimes I don't even know I've done something wrong until everyone's gone and I hear second-hand that I did something wrong. I can't go back and fix it. I can't explain my choices or apologize for my mistakes because the moment has passed, hard feelings safely packed up, without me ever knowing I did anything wrong.

But now I feel like maybe I can break free. 1 Thessalonians 2:4 says, "We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts." I'm so glad that God knows my heart. I am tired of trying to convince "others" of my worth. My approval comes from God and He has not rejected me. I can love my husband and children in the way He directs without feeling that someone, somewhere, is disappointed in me. How freeing that is!

I'm not saying it's easy to get over the feelings that people I had hoped I could trust and confide in have chosen to be critical of me. But I know now that my worth is measured by my obedience to God and that He will bless my family if I continue to follow Him.

Desk....

2008-09-07T22:57:00.001-04:00

Desk for Sale--- there is actually a third drawer there at the bottom that I couldn't get in the picture. Ignore the dust and stickers (which will be removed a.s.a.p.)

Time Flies

2008-08-29T21:11:00.004-04:00

Okay, it's been 21 (TWENTY-ONE) days since I last posted, wow! We've been on vacation so I've got a good excuse. Then, when we got home we all got sick. One of the best "perks" of homeschooling is that we haven't really been sick for a year. I guess I should have sent the girls with surgical masks to chapel at Camp of the Woods this year. Next year. Aaahhhh, I can just hear the screams of mortification when I present them to the girls....

Anyways, I do have some pictures to post but not a lot of time to do it, and I thought I should at least write, and maybe post one or two.

Thus, I give you this--

And the Marshmallow Girls--

The Marshmallow Girls' Ringleader--

And saving the best for last--

Paint

2008-08-08T11:14:00.003-04:00

We recently painted the living areas of our house. It's made such a big difference! I thought I'd share some photos here--

Daily News

2008-08-07T08:55:00.004-04:00

Jenna "borrowed" my camera the other day and this is the result.....

Self Portrait

Tori is attending puppy school this summer. Her teacher recommended we keep updated photos of her in case she gets lost. Tori has some very unique features, including two different colored eyes and only one floppy ear. I set about to take them today and here are the results. Okay, it really took about 25 tries to get something worth keeping, but I thought these were particularly, um, helpful?

What We're Doing, and Funny Things Kids Say

2008-08-05T09:43:00.005-04:00

Lately things here have just been "odds and ends." Five more days till vacation. Scott's parents came to visit last Wednesday and just left yesterday. We got our "new" car...a 2005 Toyota Sequoia. Can't wait to drive it to Vermont this weekend! Lots of space to spread out and hopefully the kids will enjoy some "alone-time" since they can sit in separate rows. Emma is seeing a new doctor and is starting to hopefully get some help with various learning disabilities that have been plaguing us for a long time. Yesterday she had a lengthy evaluation with the new doc and tomorrow she has three more evals, two of which are related to language processing. Yay! We've been waiting a long time for that!
____________

Jenna has kind of an odd sense of humor for a 6-year-old. At least we think so. This morning she comes and sits quietly on the couch in the kitchen next to me while I'm reading my bible and is playing with some of the multitude of tiny bits of toys she is always carrying around. After a few minutes she produces a lid from a vending machine, full of Smarties candies and topped with a plastic ninja that she is pretending is a baby. And then she says, "Look, kid's meal."

Okay, maybe it's just me, but I just really think that's funny! Get it? Kid's Meal? A meal with a KID on top?

Highest Bidder

2008-08-01T21:48:00.003-04:00

Tonight we went to an auction. We were selling a Hoosier cabinet and thought we'd go even though we didn't need to be there. It was fun! Scott's parents are visiting for a few days so we took them with us. Well, Scott wouldn't let me bid on anything (I guess that would defeat the purpose of trying to make some money....) but the girls found a box of lovely plastic horses that they wanted to bid on with their allowances.

Jenna tried guarding them so no one else would see them on the shelf. We waited and waited and waited some more for these darned horses to come up and finally they did. The girls won them without any competition at all and proudly carried them out together with lots of smiling onlookers. It was really cute! They ended up not even having to pay for them thanks to the generosity of their wonderful Grandpop.

15 bucks worth of toy horses

Road Hazards

2008-07-24T23:22:00.002-04:00

Have you ever prayed for something you think is kind of ridiculous? Maybe something you really aren't seriously praying about, more like joking with God?

We traded our minivan in for a more fuel-efficient car in December. We got an 8-year-old Taurus and promptly put on 20,000 miles. Yes, in 7 months. We got a good deal with our trade-in but had to buy new tires and fix the transmission recently. With an old car there are always little things that will go wrong and this car was no exception. Over the past month or so I kind of started hating this car. Actually, the #1 thing that was wrong was that the girls couldn't seem to sit next to eachother without fighting and I was missing my third row of seats.

So I started praying that God would take it to heaven. Preferrably without me in it, but take it nonetheless. It wasn't really a "serious" prayer BUT HE DID! About a week ago I was on my way to pick Emma up from theater camp and someone ran directly into the side of my car! We were in the parking lot so it was pretty low-speed, and I was the only one in the car and wasn't hurt except for a bump on the head, what a blessing I hadn't picked Emma up yet.

Yesterday our insurance company called to say the car is a total loss (YAY!) and that the inspector determined I am not at fault so the deductible is waived. Today they called to tell me how much they are paying me for it--about $80 less than we paid 7 months and 20,000 miles ago! It's pretty amazing since we didn't anticipate the value being that great. Well, it's not a lot, but it's a nice down payment on another car! I'm not too excited about having a car payment again since we've owned both of our cars outright for well over a year now, but we will be getting something with side airbags again.

Not that I enjoy the prospect of car shopping with the girls, but oh, that new car smell.....

Summer Camp

2008-07-19T10:37:00.006-04:00

We've just finished a week of summer day camps and the girls had so much fun! Here are some cute pictures from Jenna's riding camp. I bought her cowboy boots and can barely get her to take them off at night. She has decided that she wants to take riding lessons this fall as her PE.

Emma attended theater camp at the Fine Arts Center. I wasn't sure what to expect, but every day she came home and told us how much fun she was having. At the end of the week the kids put on a play for the parents. It was great! The teachers were so impressive. It wasn't just glorified babysitting like some camps turn out to be....the kids actually came up with the idea for their play, determined their own characters, designed their own costumes and then performed a really great play! Emma is in the first part with other sea creatures. Last year we went to that movie about prehistoric sea creatures and ever since then she's been fascinated with one particular one nicknamed "Dolly." The play is about 10 minutes long and I can't seem to get it loaded here. I'm going to try to cut it down a bit to just the parts Emma is in and then re-post it later. Check back soon!

Yay, School!!

2008-07-09T14:19:00.003-04:00

Okay, maybe we're not exactly shouting "YAY!" here but my new '08-09 curriculum arrived yesterday and I've been distracted from life ever since. It's beautiful. It's new. It has that new-book smell. Fantastic.

The girls did get slightly excited when it arrived. Then they realized what was inside those white boxes glistening in the sun. They did enjoy the fact that Sonlight has printed the outline of a castle on the inside of the largest box. Once I get done sniffing the books maybe I'll get around to cutting it out for them.....

I'm so excited about this coming year. It will be the first "official" year as a homeschooling family. Yes, I know, we've done this for the past 2 years. How can this be? Well, the first year was just Emma and really it was just the 2nd semester. The first half of that year she went to public school. And even then, we were in the process of moving and school kind of got shoved to the back burner and worked out when we had time. Which kind of meant it didn't. Then last year we didn't plan on homeschooling at all until things at the Christian school didn't work out. I really wasn't very prepared. We muddled through but I wish I had been able to do a better job, been ready for the year more than 2 weeks in advance, maybe.

So here we are! We have an official curriculum that I believe will work for all of us. We have shiny new books that appear to be glowing on the table upstairs. I have a massive instructor's guide just waiting to impart knowledge to my children. I found a very nice drafting table at a thrift shop one day for $12. Scott drilled holes in it to fit 4 pencil cups and it's ready for the first enthusiastic student to sit down at it and draw or write something. Last year's work has been packed up and neatly added to the girls' stacks of boxes in the attic that go back to their very first drawings. We Are Ready.

Now if we can only get through the next 7 weeks of summer vacation--

Getting Sidetracked....

2008-06-26T09:24:00.002-04:00

Did you know that Dalton Stevens is king of the buttons? That's right! We didn't know it, either, until we stumbled upon The Button Museum in Bishopville late yesterday afternoon.

Emma had an appointment in Hartsville yesterday and since Scott had the day off, we all went to the appointment. There are three ways to get to Hartsville and I wanted to check them all out. So we went home via a new route that we'd never driven before (Rt. 34). We're just driving along, enjoying the great nothingness that is so much of South Carolina, when we saw a sign to The Button Museum. Not one to miss out on a great learning experience for the children (a "button education," if you will...) we took a chance and checked it out.

Okay, it's not exactly much to speak of. It's a room in an out-building on Mr. Stevens' property. But, WOW! There are a lot of buttons in there! Mr. Stevens was there and showed us several videos of himself appearing on Johnny Carson and Geraldo Rivera, and numerous magazine articles about himself.

Mr. Stevens suffers from insomnia and to occupy his time he started sewing buttons on his clothes. More than 16 thousand buttons later, he now has a buttoned car, hearse, 2 coffins, a toilet and much more. He even has a website if you feel so inclined to visit: www.scbuttonking.com. If you really feel moved you can purchase a cd of his button tunes for $12. I'm not sure we're at that level quite yet, but we were impressed!

Um, Today again...

2008-06-22T13:38:00.002-04:00

Wow, it's been a while since I last posted! I guess we've been busy the past week and a half!

Yesterday and Friday we attended the SC Home Educator's Assoc. homeschool convention. It was great! The timing couldn't have been more perfect--school has been out for a few weeks so I've had a chance to relax a bit and feel like I might be able to do this again next year. I'm just starting to think about curriculum. And I need to be inspired.

I definitely was! The workshops were great. I even got an idea for a potential co-op to organize next year. It was nice to be around hundreds of other parents that have the same desires for their own families. It was also really great that Scott got to attend the whole thing with me. The girls attended the children's program both days so Scott and I could attend workshops and not have to worry about what they are doing the whole time. They both had such a great time. I was really impressed with the people who ran the kids' program. Very professional!

It's exciting to get ready for next year and figure out what we will be learning about. It's also exciting to see how the girls have changed over the past year and to think of how they will grow even more this year.

Today

2008-06-11T03:44:00.003-04:00

It's the wee hours of the morning and I just finished a really good book, The Bright Side Of Disaster, by Katherine Center. I'm thinking about the days we've had lately and there was a great sentence at the end of the book--

"she'd be telling me not to let one wrong thing ruin everything else."

I have to remember to tell that to the girls when they wake up in the morning. It just seems fitting.

Baking Bread

2008-06-09T22:00:00.004-04:00

I've got the most fantastic bread recipe. It takes a couple of days overall so you have to to some calculations on the timing. Actually, I've left mine sitting a little longer than recommended with no dire results. I highlighted the various times below. The outside is nice and crispy and the inside is really soft and chewy. Sooooo good!

I thought I would share the recipe here:

No-Knead Bread

Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery; printed in the NY Times.

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting

1/4 tsp. instant yeast

1 1/4 tsp. salt

1 5/8 cups water

cornmeal or wheat bran as needed for dusting

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add water and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature.

2. Dough is ready when its' surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously (don't be shy here...) coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam-side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam-side up. It may look like a mess but that is okay. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes; then remove lid and bake another 15-30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1 1/2 lb. loaf.

And here's the finished product!

VBS

2008-06-07T08:13:00.003-04:00

Well, my summer vacation officially starts TODAY! For everyone else it started a week ago, but I for some reason volunteered to do crafts for Vacation Bible School. Not like that's a bad thing, but...well, remember 2006 when we were selling a house, moving to an apartment, packing for vacation (which we had to for the day VBS ended) and doing VBS all during the same 5-day period? Okay, maybe it wasn't that bad this year, but still. Scott was away for 3 weeks and I was trying to finish up our school year and our church hosts VBS the week after school gets out here. It was a little stressful getting ready for it!

But today is fun day at VBS where the kids play in the water and we eat together. I think there's a bible story in there somewhere, too, but overall it's low-key. I don't have to prepare a craft. Instead, Jenna and I are going to the farmer's market (Emma was at a friend's house overnight), then I'm dropping Jenna off at church, doing my cleaning and then I think I'll go junking! There are quite a few thrift stores in Camden plus a flea market on Saturday mornings.

I'm so excited to wake up next week with nothing on the agenda! Well, actually I've got a list of about 40 things that I want to accomplish this summer, but somehow that stuff makes it seem like a real vacation!

School's Out!

2008-05-30T16:48:00.003-04:00

Today was our last "official" day of school. We've actually been done for a couple of weeks now but needed some filler to get our 180 days that South Carolina requires. This week Jenna did a unit on the solar system. I thought I'd post the lapbook she made since it turned out so fantastic. The first 3 pictures are of the cover, inside left and inside right. Pictures 4 and 5 are of a wall poster she made of the solar system. We splattered white paint on black paper and then each day she added planets, asteroids and comets.

The Smell of Summer

2008-05-25T00:22:00.017-04:00

Can't you smell it? I can. It's the smell of the cool woods as we drive the back roads with our windows down. The smell of salty air and hot sand at the shore. The smell of warm kids fresh from the shower where that same hot sand has been washed away, leaving beautiful, soft, tan skin. The smell of the cool night air riding home in the car after a long day with best friends .

Have I mentioned how much I love living in South Carolina? No? I'm sure I have. I know I've said it to Scott probably a million times. I can't imagine anywhere else feeling quite as much like home. There just seems to be a comfort here that I haven't found anywhere else we've lived and I am continually blessed by the people we meet here and how I see our family being accepted. We fit, and that's nice.

Yes, there actually is a point to all of this. We went to the beach. It's certainly not the first time we have gone to the coast since living here. But it was nice and fun. Scott is away. We took the day off school on Wednesday (homeschoolers can do that, you know....it's a perk) and went to visit our pastor's family at Myrtle Beach. They are staying at a campground and we didn't have to drive miles to reach the beach, fight with traffic or other bodies, lug our belongings miles over the dunes. They have a golf cart. Our kids get along famously. Other than an annoying sinus headache that's been clinging to my forehead for a few weeks now, it was a beautiful day.

And with that, I'm going to go snuggle with my little sunwashed babies while I still can.

Mr. Nobody

2008-05-19T22:25:00.003-04:00

I don't know who wrote this, it was in one of Emma's school books. I think I might have it blown up to poster size and have the kids memorize it....

Mr. Nobody

I know a funny little man

As quiet as a mouse

Who does the mischief that is done

In everybody's house.

No one ever sees his face--

And yet we all agree

That every plate we break was cracked

By Mr. Nobody.

It's he who always tears our books,

Who leaves the door ajar;

He pulls the buttons from our shirts

And scatters pins afar.

That squeaking door will always squeak.

But why? Oh, don't you see?

We leave the oiling to be done

By Mr. Nobody.

He puts damp wood upon the fire

And makes us greater toil;

His are the feet that bring in mud

And all the carpets soil.

The papers always are mislaid--

Who had them last but he?

There's no one tosses them about

But Mr. Nobody.

The finger marks upon the door

By none of us are made;

We never leave the blinds unclosed

To let the curtains fade;

The paint we never spill;

The shoes that lying round you see

Are not our shoes--they all belong

To Mr. Nobody.

Thought Storage

2008-05-17T21:47:00.002-04:00

You know how it is when something just comes to you and you say, "Wow, why didn't I think of that before?" I had one of those moments tonight.

Emma struggles with falling asleep. It's part of her disability. Every night it takes her about 2 hours, sometimes more, to actually fall asleep after being put to bed. She just thinks and thinks and thinks. Sometimes her thoughts lead her to playing with stuffies and such in the dark. It really has been effecting the family.

So we started giving her time in bed to read each night. That quiet time helped a bit for a while. Her bedtime routine is consistent for the most part. But it's still an issue, staying up later and later. The other night it was 1am when I told her I had finally had enough.

Tonight something new came to me. She needs a place to store her thoughts! During the day Emma will sometimes write a thought down that is distracting her from the work she needs to be doing. That way she can look at the list and worry about it later. At night in the dark she can't exactly write something down. What to do? Well, Emma just happens to be a very literal, visual person. So I gave her a dresser. It's in her brain!

Emma closed her eyes and imagined a dresser full of drawers. She chose to start with the bottom drawer and told me some thoughts she was putting in it. She was concerned about filling it up and running out of room but I assured her that thoughts don't really take up space, kind of like air, and she really got it! I told her that after I turn out the lights she needs to lay there and put all of her thoughts in the dresser. Then tomorrow morning she can take them all out and do something about them.

It's so exciting to think that maybe something like this could help!

Super Mom

2008-05-16T00:18:00.004-04:00

That's me! Super Mom. Let me indulge myself for a few moments. This is Jenna's new bed. She got it for Christmas from Nana and Papa. It came yesterday. Yes, it IS May 15th...... we don't like to talk about the length of time this doggone bed was on backorder.

The point is, it's here now, and I, Ann, single-handedly built it. Scott is in Qatar. The only help I had was from our friends, Patrick and his son, Eric, who helped me get the desk and drawer sections into the house since the delivery guy would only put it in the garage!

It actually didn't take as long as I thought it would, but it's massive. The photos don't do it justice. I'm not too keen on the position Jenna chose in her room but it can always be moved after Scott gets home. In the meantime I had to tape a throw pillow to the bottom of the ladder to stop all the toe-stubbing that occurred between 11:45pm and 12:02am. Everyone is in bed now so hopefully our toes are safe for the rest of the night.

Beauty is only gum deep

2008-05-15T21:01:00.002-04:00

Emma's been losing teeth left and, um, right lately. Literally. She kind of looks like a ridiculous rabbit-girl right now. The mask doesn't help. Oh, and the most ridiculous part is that a couple of nights ago when she lost the left one the tooth fairy had to borrow money from Jenna. AND I think she's going to have to do it again tonight....the tooth fairy needed to go to the ATM today but never got there. Too busy putting together Jenna's bed and watching Speed Racer (Go, Speed Racer, Go!!) The bed is currently a work in progress but here's our very own Rabbit Girl.

Monkey Munch

2008-05-13T22:44:00.001-04:00

I'm kind of into a show on TLC called "Jon and Kate Plus 8." If you haven't seen it, it's about this couple who had twins and then sextuplets! I'm not sure if I watch it because it's interesting, it's a "car accident" or if it just makes me feel better about my own family...no matter what the reason, I'm pretty much obsessed.

Anyways, a few nights ago there was an episode that had a recipe for Monkey Munch. Sounded pretty good, got the recipe online, it's amazing. Thought I'd share it:

Ingredients
 9 cups Chex cereal (any variety)
 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
 1/2 cup peanut butter
 1/4 cup butter or margarine
 1 teaspoon vanilla
 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions
Put chex in a large bowl and put aside.

Place chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter into a quart-sized microwavable bowl.

Stir the ingredients together.

Microwave the mixture uncovered for a minute on "high." Stir the mix again and continue to zap in thirty second intervals until it mixes smoothly.

Add the vanilla and stir.

Pour over the cereal while stirring.

Put combination into a 2-gallon, Ziploc freezer bag.

Add powdered sugar, seal the bag and shake until distributed.

Spread Monkey Munch out on wax paper to cool and dry.

Keep refrigerated in an airtight container for storage.

Being Blessed

2008-05-09T10:35:00.005-04:00

In my last post I said I've realized some things lately.

One big one has been school. Because we homeschool, I have made a commitment to myself, my kids and the state. We South Carolinians agree to teach the equivalent of 4 hours a day, 180 days a year. This is not hard. But we have had a crazy year. We changed one child's curriculum half way through the year. We spent hundreds of hours at therapist and doctor appointments. It's been very taxing.

Because of this I've been questioning my childrens' preparedness for their upcoming grades. Did I do enough? Will they be ready? Did I miss something critical?

On Wednesday I was blessed. We go to storytime every Wednesday and then all the homeschoolers go have a picnic at the playground afterwards. This time I finally brought up my anxiety over all of the things I've been thinking about. Most of us have not been homeschooling very long. But this week there was a veteran homeschool mom there. She's got 2 high schoolers and now a kindergartener. It was such a blessing to hear what she had to say. She reassured me that in kindergarten it doesn't matter much as long as they can read a bit, write a bit and do some math. She also reassured me that Emma is most likely on track. There are parents who do more than me. There are parents who do less than me. It all evens out in the end.

I have also decided that threatening public school on my kids does not provide the reassurance and securety they need. Yes, there might be a time when they will need to re-enter the public school. But that time is not now. They need to know that they are secure at home where they belong. Especially Emma. So the other day I told her that. She genuinely smiled for the first time in a long time. She has a beautiful smile!

I am always amazed how God has put this group of women in my life. My year has changed dramatically, including the group of friends I have found. Every time I am with them I feel refreshed and encouraged. Totally blessed!

Friday

2008-05-09T10:27:00.003-04:00

Okay, so I did recover after my earlier posting outburst earlier this week. It's Friday and things are looking up. We still have the same issues with kiddos brains maybe not working quite as properly as they should, but we've had a long talk about helping out around the house and remembering from day to day what goes on around here since it's a pretty consistent routine.

But as for my mental state, yes, I am OK. Don't call the loony bin quite yet.

I got my hair cut. I don't think I like it, but I'm a whole lot cooler. That probably helped. I remember how hot it was in Texas. Hot. But here it's Hot and Humid. And it's barely May. It's been like this for almost 2 months. So short hair is good for right now. Actually, I'm kind of realizing that I just have the wrong hair type. It's kind of hard to manage. Long or short. Just kind of annoying overall. And maybe I have an unusually large head?

I've come to terms this week with the fact that a diet right now is just simply stressing me out. I need to lose a lot of weight but I have trouble focusing on too many things at once. So the other day I decided that the diet is just going to have to wait for 3 weeks till school is done and Scott is home from Qatar.

Yearbook

2008-05-06T22:22:00.004-04:00

Our homeschool association publishes a yearbook. Each family is responsible for making their own page. I've posted our page on our old website at http://www.4strobels.com/. Please take a look when you have a chance!

p.s. This page loads slowly. It's best viewed by zooming to 50%.

Ann and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

2008-05-06T19:43:00.003-04:00

This is going to be long. Just thought I'd warn you. And it might not all make sense.

Do you ever just have one of "Those" days? I guess everyone does. I've had several in a row. It's becoming a pattern. But today seemed to be particularly bad. I could hear my own voice and I knew it actually was my own voice but it so much sounded like it must be coming from the Wicked Witch of the West. What is that sound?? And it pretty much just went on like that all day.

I've gotten to a point in the school year that I really do think the children should be at least semi-aware of some kind of routine at our house. But No. That is just not how it is. No. It is much different. Most mornings Jenna wakes up around 7. No problem. I really should be getting up around that time myself. Emma sometimes slithers out of bed at around 9. Still not a problem. But after 8 months of homeschool they still become unbelievably distraught with any and all changes during the day.

We give a 5-minute warning for big events that require getting into the car (like the 5-minute drive to deliver Emma to science class). I think it's worked twice in the past year. The other times, when we say it's time to go, a fit of screams and running frantically in all directions occurs.

I finally got tired tonight of cleaning up wet washcloths from the sink or asking someone to come back and hang them up so I took them away altogether. They will spend the rest of the week figuring out how to produce a clean face each morning. I wish them the best of luck.

This week we've decided that we're tired of buying Pull-Ups for Jenna to sleep in at night and that, at almost 6 years old, she might think to get up in the middle of the night if the urge to pee presents itself. We came to this decision the other night when the bathroom was occupied (one of our two...) and she decided it was easier to go get a Pull-Up than to trot down to the other bathroom. Now Jenna is getting up at about 5am to tell me she's wet the bed for the second--no, make that third--time that night. Every night. The cost of laundry soap is soon going to equal the price of a package of Pull-Ups!

As if this potty training endeavor is not enough to drive us screaming over the nearest proverbial edge, Emma's trying a new medication. For the most part it's great. That is, except for the HOUR when a giant neurotic cloud descends upon our home.

Oh, and I have a cold. It's simply amazing that NiQuil and DayQuil have somehow managed to bottle a liquid version of the Dark Lord himself. I mean, really! Is there some test panel somewhere of maniacs that actually LIKE the flavor of fermented rotting cherries? Isn't that kind of the joke--when something tastes bad it's compared to cherry cough syrup?

I couldn't even bring myself to cook dinner tonight. Emma suggested La Fiesta and that sounded pretty good. We had gymnastics nearby so Scott met us there separately. It didn't help. Because before the meal ended Scott asked me to leave. In a nice way, but still....

You might think that made things better but surprisingly it didn't. But Jenna's going to bed in a minute and Scott and Emma are babysitting our pastor's kids tonight so I'm going to get in bed and read. That is, after I down two tablespoons of liquified Satan.

The Last Month Of School

2008-05-04T21:17:00.003-04:00

It's finally arrived. Our last month of SCHOOL. I can't wait. I don't remember ever being this excited about school being out when I was younger. But as a parent...a teaching parent....the idea of not having to worry about what the week holds--well, it's just plain exciting!

I think the kids are also looking forward to the end. We're using a curriculum that I don't particularly care for but it's getting the job done so we're sticking it out. But some mornings as I'm tearing out Jenna's worksheets from the workbooks I think I hear a *ping* in the back of my head. So close to exploding.

Actually, if it weren't for the requisite 180 days, Jenna's pretty much done with kindergarten. She can add, subtract, read and write. She has a basic understanding of the world around her through nature and geography. I'm ready to move her into something more advanced. I'd like to see if she can keep a journal and read some more complex books but I have a need to keep a schedule and those are things I'm waiting for "summer" to start working on.

In the meantime, we persevere. We continue to learn our special sounds and blends. We drill flashcards. We practice our neatest handwriting.

For Emma it's a different song. Her song is sometimes slightly off key. Still beautiful but maybe it's a minor key I'm hearing? She'll finish second grade math this summer and start a journal and participate in the Barnes and Noble summer reading program which will, in the end, earn her a free book. But for now? It's the usual rush to appointments and science class and gymnastics.

I especially struggle some days when I've got a mountain of dirty dishes and a floor that hasn't been swept or vacuumed in 2 weeks because our bible study is meeting at someone else's house this month. And our neighborhood yard sale is next weekend so that's going to take up many evening hours this week, pricing everything so we don't have to do it at 10:00pm on Friday night like other years. And Scott goes back to Qatar for 2 weeks on the 12th. I'm wondering if my parents might take us in for those 2 weeks but we'd probably have to bring 2 cats and a puppy so that's out. Next Time.

I'm anticipating Summer. Jenna is going to horseback riding camp in July and at the same time Emma is attending theater camp. I'm hoping they'll both spend a week at gymnastics camp, too, but those plans are still in the works because the other two were more expensive than I had expected. Scott's mom and stepdad are coming for a visit, and we're making our annual pilgrimage to Camp of the Woods in August.

I suppose it's normal to be eager for the school year to come to a close so we can get on with our summer plans. I'm still counting down the days, though!

Recent Happenings

2008-04-28T19:28:00.007-04:00

Jenna entered Tori in a dog show here in Camden on April 19th and I thought I'd share the photos. It was a good first experience for both but I'm pretty sure Tori would disagree. Too many DOGS! Anyways, they were cute together and even though they didn't win anything it was fun to be there.

It's springtime here which means it's been kinda HOT. This weekend we set up the pool for the girls. While we were filling it Tori decided to go for a float. I'm not sure she likes the water but the little boat was a hit.

Tori

2008-04-05T19:34:00.006-04:00

Well, we finally broke down. I'm not talking breakdown in the automotive way. For those of you who know Scott and me well you know we are Cat People. At least we were until the other day when I had finally had it with telling Jenna to stop dragging the poor cat all over the house and she put her hands on her hips, looked me right in the eye and said, "Well, then GET ME A DOG."

Fate stuck it's fuzzy little nose in and we found ourselves tagging along yesterday with a friend who was going to look at some Sheltie puppies. They were all boys and Jenna really preferred one "without a bump on it's tummy" so we thought it best to hold out for a girl dog. Today we were at an animal fair at a school in Columbia and there was fate again, this time in the form of a local breeder's phone number. I called on the odd chance he had one more girl puppy left and now she is cuddled up with Scott and the girls reading a bedtime story in our closet.

Tori is absolutely adorable! We owned dogs when I was a kid but I just figured they're a lot of work and not for us. But Jenna REALLY needs a dog. Desperately. Emma, not so much, but she's walked Tori already tonight and pets her a bit. I can't believe there's a DOG living in my house!

Weekend Getaway

2008-03-31T11:52:00.012-04:00

This past Thursday night after bible study Scott and I were sitting on the couch thinking how we really haven't done a family weekend trip in a very long time. When would be a good time? No time like the present! So we chose Tybee Island, GA and off we went on Friday.

We had such a good time! Someone from our homeschool association had posted a list of field trip ideas that were mostly day- and weekend-type trips. The girls have been asking--pretty much since we put the pool away in NOVEMBER--to go to the beach and this weekend was going to be really beautiful so that looked like a good choice. And it was! It was in the '80's and sunny till about 4pm on Saturday when a storm started rolling in, but by then we were in the car looking for a place for dinner.

We also took a tour of the Tybee Island Light Station. The view from the top was beautiful looking out over the sea-- although I personally wouldn't know since I'm a little "distracted" by heights and by the time I got to the top I really couldn't go out the little door onto the 2-foot deep balcony that surrounds the tippy top.

I did get to relive the experience through the pictures Scott took...

Definitely the highlight of the day was sitting on the beach. There were dolphins playing in the water not too far from shore but unfortunately we couldn't catch them on film.

Spring Break

2008-03-26T23:42:00.004-04:00

It's spring break for the school kids here. We took an extra week off in January to visit Texas so we're doing schoolwork this week. It's been kind of a nice week, though. All of our regular activities were cancelled for the week (gymnastics, appointments, outside classes) so we're just hanging around the house.

Jenna's been sick for a few days now. She slept on the couch last night so I wouldn't have to go all the way to the other end of the house in the middle of the night if she needed me. So today I let her "stay home from school" which she thought was pretty cool. Basically that meant she got to sit on the couch all morning and watch tv while Emma worked. Then we went for a walk and she got to ride in the stroller. In her pajamas. She's been in them all day. Funny, she took them OFF to go to bed tonight.....

Easter 2008

2008-03-25T22:43:00.009-04:00

We had a really nice Easter Sunday and I thought I'd share some pictures of the girls "all dolled up" in their Easter dresses and matching dolls. We had a couple of dinner offers this year but decided to spend the entire weekend at home getting some long-overdue work done. Scott worked on the deck (we made some layout changes) and the girls got to just play all day without having to run out to do errands.

On Sunday we hid some eggs around the backyard and did a little hunt of our own. We even had time to go for a Sunday drive to a local state park to check things out. It was such a great day!

Looking Back

2008-03-24T22:59:00.012-04:00

I was just looking for an old picture. That, of course, led to browsing through the digital memories I've stored on my computer for the past 8 years. Thought I'd share a few.

Here's our beautiful Emma, Christmas 2005 at a cheerleading performance--

Isn't she gorgeous? And here's my little sugarbean, Jenna, getting ready for her first sleepover in January 2006 at her preschool. She was only 3 1/2 years old. She didn't last all night. Scott took the midnight run to pick her up. She was asleep within 30 seconds of plopping into her own bed--

And I can still remember the not-so-distant past when Jenna would fall asleep ANYWHERE...
like the middle of the hallway....did she just fall down asleep right there while she was WALKING??

And quite possibly the only shot of ME, (hey, wait...this is the picture I was originally looking for...) on a dinner cruise with Scott and the girls on Lake George in upstate New York. We spent the weekend camping with college friends and it pretty much rained the entire time. Bewteen the rain and the spidery bathroom...... well, this cruise was a lovely break from camp food and the night was absolutely gorgeous out on the lake. But this photo is a continual reminder of the 100 or so pounds I'd like to lose before this summer.

We have so many pictures that I can't share because there isn't room or time to list them all! Maybe eventually I'll figure out how to add a slideshow to the page. Till then these will have to do. I'll post more later :)

Colossians 3:23

2008-03-21T23:39:00.000-04:00

Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

My favorite verse.