MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We toned down quite a bit this year, but we did splurge for Scout. He has wanted a puppy for a long time now. So for Christmas AND birthday (his is December 28) we rescued an adorable Aussie Shepherd/Border Collie mix. At least that's what we think she is. She is smart, playful and loves to cuddle up in/on a lap. She is an awesome dog. We are so blessed.

Emma - 12 weeks old

Halloween

It was chilly, but beautiful. The prize-winning pumpkins (if there were prizes LOL).

From PinkOne:

And Scout (who gets major points for execution, but the idea was not original; he saw it in the local paper):

The trick-or-treaters--PinkOne as a Spider Princess (notice the pink candy bucket!), Scout as a Secret Service Agent, and our neighbor The Rabbi. They had a blast! I love our neighborhood on Halloween.

The Event That Stole October

The Family Fall Festival.

Yes, I guess I was pretty naive when I agreed to head up this event at our church. It was supposed to just take a few days to plan and then a few days to execute. RIGHT! God definitely had other plans for this event. It was exhausting, but so much fun to watch it all unfold. He just kept dropping all this cool stuff in my lap--ice cream, wood for a fire, petting farm volunteers, workers, bakers, chili makers, candy, beautiful weather (after over a week of nasty, cold, wet, damp, yuck!), boxes--everything we needed exactly when we needed it.

I must confess that I don't always see God at work around me. I mean yes, I see Him and I KNOW that He's always here, but real tangible God-work? Over and over proof? Unfortunately, not always. Maybe I'm just too busy and too unsure if it's really Him. But there was no denying that God was working in this event. It was so big and so amazing it could only be God. Things came together in a way that only He could have arranged. And it was so obvious to all around that God was at work in it all. I was so blessed to be in the middle of this. What a ride!


We had a petting farm--thanks 4-H Pirates!--a fire truck and police car with awesome firemen and policemen, a wagon ride...

...Games, Crafts, a Fun House, a Black Light Maze, a Box Maze, an Inflatable Obstacle Course (the kids LOVED this and stood in line a long time to play), a puppet show, bonfire (with the Senior High band to sing)...

We served 500 hot dogs, 700 scoops of ice cream, gallons of chili--oh yeah Chili Cook-Off was a blast! (Except for our pastors; apparently they were a little "indisposed" for a bit with the 17 different chilis they had to taste to choose a winner. :-( )

The crowd was way more than we expected--but everyone had a great time and we planted a lot of seeds that night. Friends and neighbors were invited and saw what a great church family we have. Hopefully, they'll want to hang out with us again soon.

And yes, I'm already thinking about NEXT year...

Masquerade Ball

Scout heard about a homeschool high school dance in the paper last year. He thought it sounded cool, but wasn't old enough to attend. I filed it away for later, but I really thought he'd forget about it. Dancing isn't his thing. I was proven wrong, when Scout started asking about the dance at the end of September. I tracked down the info, emailed the coordinator of the event and got the info. There was to be a Masquerade Ball at the end of October. He was very excited! (Yep, he really was! LOL)

Masquerade meant coming up with a costume--he did very well, I think.

He gathered some friends and I agreed to drive them all over to the dance. (It's about 50 minutes away.) We all met at one house so Moms could take pictures (of course LOL). They were a handsome/beautiful bunch.

They all had a blast and are planning to attend the next one--December's SnowBall. It seems to get increasingly difficult to find friends in the homeschool community as the kids get older. So I'm very thankful that the dance worked out so well and Scout--and all--had such a good time together.

Keeping myself CRAZY busy.

DH and I are coordinating the Family Fall Festival at our church. We've arranged for a hayride, petting farm (our 4-H club is donating their services), games, crafts, chili cook-off, dinner...the list seems endless at this point. It's gong to be a blast though!

Yesterday we got all the little pumpkins and gourds we need from a local farmer. It was a beautiful day--and I didn't take a single picture. (What's up with that?!?)

I'm sure I'll have pictures after-the-fact. (May take a few days to post them though; I'll probably sleep the day or so after the event. LOL)

Start of School

October 1 -- first day of school. (And I forgot to take the picture by the mailbox! Need to do that tomorrow!)
Scout is officially a freshman in high school (gasp!) and PinkOne is a seventh grader (yep, skipping 6th grade). We have a full schedule this year with more to come later I'm sure.

SCOUT
Math - Teaching Textbooks - Algebra I
LA - Apples Daily Spelling Drills ; writing & more writing. Currently working on an essay competition thru our library on local history.
History - Middle Ages 1180 - Columbus with Story of the World & Sonlight readers
Science - Apologia Physical Science & Science Club (twice a month group labs)
Bible - still reading through from the beginning (started last year) should wrap up early spring
Art - class once a month with group; sketching on own; possible study of classics with project for each
Physical Fitness - Boy Scout Personal Fitness badge

PINKONE
Math - Teaching Textbooks - Pre-Algebra
LA - Wordly Wise 6000; Writing Fabulous Sentences & Paragraphs; lapbook/unit studies
History - Middle Ages 1180 - Columbus with Story of the World & Sonlight readers
Science - Apologia General Science & Science Club (twice a month group labs)
Bible - still reading through from the beginning (started last year) should wrap up early spring
Art - class once a month with group; possible study of classics with project for each
Lots of dance!

A Fun Poster

I love freebies! I especially look forward to my Friday Freebie email from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. There's almost always a goodie or two we can use in our homeschool. And of course, there is always something fun from Maggie at Econobusters.com. She actually has a fun giveaway going at the moment for cute bible verse art from The Old Post Road. http://www.econobusters.com/?p=2442 If you head over there, you can enter until Sept. 10.

These paintings got me thinking about the calendar I always make for Grandmas for Christmas. Last year I didn't make one for my MIL because many of the kids have gotten older and I don't get photos from them. (We have 12 grandkids in that family, so it's always been easy to do a calendar with each kid getting a month.) But she's made several comments about missing that calendar, so I need to come up with a different idea.

I'm knocking around the idea of having the kids send me photos and/or art work for their month along with a bible verse chosen by them. I'd ask the adults this time around too; then I just might get enough stuff to fill the whole 12 months. Or I could just fill in the empty months with a pretty photo I've taken and a bible verse. Hmmm....need to ponder this a bit more.

137th Annual Country Fair

Another year, another fair down. We had a great time! The kids both did well in 4-H projects and Open Class projects. It was a typical fair in that it rained on us; seems to do that every year. But all in all we all had a blast. It was much more enjoyable for me with the kids older. They took responsibility for their projects and animals. All the bunnies won in one form or another. Top winners were Hannah and Princess.

The Petting Farm is the fundraising event for local 4-H and the kids both decided to work it. They had a great time handling the bunnies, chickens and baby chicks, ducks and baby pigmy goats. (The baby goats were just hours old when I shot the pictures.)

Proudest moment--LOL--Scout won the pie eating contest for his age group for the second year in a row!

Busy, Busy, Busy

It's been a whirlwind around here lately; what's new right? So here's an update of what we've been doing.

We participated in a Young Eagles event. (DH is a private pilot.) My kids love these events and fly every time. PinkOne and I helped at the registration desk (picnic table). Scout and DH helped everyone fill out their paperwork and just generally chat with the crowd. You can find more info here: www.youngeagles.org

We visited the zoo with our 4-H Club. What a great time! Everyone researched a different animal and then shared what they had learned at that location. I always enjoy those visits.

Of course all play and no work...so we helped Grandpa unload the last of the hay.

One of the wagons had been sitting in the barn for a week because of weather--read rain. It must have seemed like the perfect spot for Mama Kitten to have her babies because Scout found a nest of 3 kittens among several of the bales. At no more than a week old, they didn't even have their eyes open yet.

I was very thankful they were too young to leave Mama, or I probably would have caved and let one--or three--come home with us.

Once the wagon was unloaded, Scout and Grandma made a new nest of loose hay for them.

PinkOne prayed that night that Mama Kitten would find them quickly and move them. (Predators are a fact of life on the farm.)

We got the update yesterday from Uncle; Mama Kitten moved them to a new location--under the bench in the milk house--and they seem to be doing great.

Since the rain finally gave us a break, we decided to visit The Village with one of our favorite families Monday. It was a beautiful day and we all had a blast. We are hoping for one more trip with our friends before their year membership runs out. Our membership lasts through fall, so we will be visiting several more times.

Tonight is our Youth Picnic. We have been shopping for pop, meat and paper products. I'll be prepping onions, tomatoes, etc. this morning. DH boiled the brats last night so they should cook much faster this year. (Lesson learned.) 150 brats, 90 hamburgers & 60 hot dogs; I pray it's enough to feed all those teenagers and their families.

Eating Bon-Bons and Watching TV

That's what my DH says I'm going to be doing whenever I get some time home alone. RIGHT! Today my family headed for an airshow. While I enjoy the Blue Angels as much as the next Mom, I had things to do here.

My dear friend Dana brought a bucket of cucumbers to MNO (Mom's Nite Out) Thursday. I was so excited! So today I made Bread & Butter pickles with them. This family goes through a ton of these in a year. So I'll have to make another batch--or three. But that's okay, these are special Dana's-Own Homegrown Cucumber Pickles. THANKS, DANA!

That wasn't enough to keep me busy (my pickle recipe calls for the cukes and onions to sit for 3 hours before you process them), so I made a chocolate cake for the family reunion that is tomorrow afternoon. I got the recipe from The Pioneer Woman. Go check her out if you've never visited her before. (www.thepioneerwoman.com) She has some of the best recipes. (And her pictures are way better than mine.) But my The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever. looks so yummy! I really wanted to test a piece, but it's not my family's family reunion. It's hubby's family. If it was my family, they'd totally understand the little corner missing. But that probably wouldn't fly so well with DH's family. I'm resisting.

I scored a quart of sour cherries at the Farmer's Market this morning. So once the cake was in the oven, I pitted the cherries.

Not quite enough there for jam--bummer--but definitely enough for Sour Cherry Upside-Down Cake. Yeah! I LOVE this stuff! This recipe is from the Yarn Harlot. (www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/) She has a sour cherry tree outside her home and posted a funny--of course--story about it along with the cherry upside-down cake recipe. I wasn't a huge cherry fan until I tried this recipe.

Now when I flipped the cake out of the pan, a little bit stuck to the bottom. Oh yeah, I definitely scraped the pan clean. Just as a test. It's as good as I remembered it to be. I'll save the rest for my weary family. They will get home eventually. Apparently the traffic leaving the airshow is horrendous. But I'm told they had a great day. So did I.

Catching Up--Science Fair

The kids participated in a Science Fair for the first time this year. Our core homeschooling group held the fair with the criteria that the Human Body be the subject. We had a high school science teacher and an elementary school student teacher be our judges. They had to do the experiment, write a paper, create their presentation board, and present their project and answer questions for the judges. It was a great learning experience for them both.


Scout's question was "Does reaction time very between age groups?" I was impressed with the report Scout wrote. His writing has come a long way this year. He got Second Place by a mere 1.5 points.








PinkOne's question was "In optical illusions do different age groups see different things?". She worked really hard on her presentation board with die cut letters, etc. Her written report was pretty impressive too. In fact, she got First Place with a perfect score. Yep, beat the big brother on that one.

Catching Up--Recital

PinkOne did awesome. Grandparents and Daddy were equally impressed by the growth they saw in her. We all watched the show on Thursday. That weekend Scout and DH had a Boy Scout camping trip, so it was just us girls for her recital on Saturday. I got up, did some weeding in the garden and then woke up PinkOne for a lesiurely pancake and bacon breakfast. I was so wrong!!! I got a call from the other Class Mom on duty that day asking if we were okay at 10:45. I'd gotten the times messed up. PinkOne was scheduled for the 11am recital, NOT the 2pm recital. Her jazz group was the 4th dance in. Yeah, not a lot of time.



Now, it's a real production to get her ready. I grabbed all her costumes and makeup. PinkOne threw on her first costume and her hair in a ponytail. I raced to the high school. PinkOne ran through the doors while I parked. Apparently she made it just in time to run onstage--from the opposite side of the class--into her spot as they started.


Man! I NEVER want to live that one again! PinkOne showed great maturity and grace under pressure. She is growing up into a beautiful young lady.

Catching Up -- Scout's Service Troop Project

Scout had a blast. It was so good for him to do this project. He came back more confident and self-assured. It's so fun to watch him growing into the man he is meant to be.

It was quite the boost for him to spend time with other guys that love what he loves. Guys that are serious about Scouts and about serving others. Guys that take pride in doing so. Guys that love to have fun and be goofy.

I was so impressed watching them all. In fact, that first morning watching them all march off to their stations for the flag raisings I had trouble picking Scout.


We loved our time exploring the island. Scout wants to do the Service Troup again next year, and we want to spend some more time there too. I also had a blast with my new toy--the camera. So here are a couple of my favorite shots. (You knew that was coming.)





From the fort looking down to Main Street. That hill was a killer.




There were tulips everywhere. I must find these to plant this fall in my garden. I love this color!
DH, PinkOne and I toured the fort while Scout was on duty. After being a damp, foggy, cool morning the day turned gorgeous.

Scout on duty at the cannon.

The view from the top of the fort.

Final lowering of the flags for the troop.

It was a great week!

Moving Day

I'm moving over here from my old blog. I'm really frustrated with not being able to post many pictures on my old blog, so here I am. I'm not real tech-savy, but I'm hoping to move everything over here eventually.




PinkOne has been talking about donating her hair to Locks for Love for a while now. Recitals were over and she decided to go for it. Once Miss Patty assured PinkOne it will grow back quickly--about 1 inch a month--she was ready to go.




I think she looks awesome! Yes, I know she looks much older, thank you. I'm enjoying my denial ;-).