Long Time, No See

This blog has been dormant for a year.  Upload issues and laziness brought posts to a halt.  Dad has been asking me to get back to it for awhile now.  And since we no longer live in the same town as the grandpas and grandmas we love, I decided I should try to get back at this blogging thing.  So here we go! 

So, much has changed over the past year.  Our family basically started doing crazy things.  Things we said we would never want to do, when asked.  1. We moved to a town that is considered undesirable by many.  2. We started homeschooling.  A year ago I would have said "no thanks" to both of these.  Funny, how God changes your heart and mind sometimes.  I'm still, almost daily, wondering what on earth we have done.  But I know we are doing what we should be doing, both with the move and the schooling.  For this initial "back to blogging" post, I give you a peek into what a homeschool day really looks like.  This post describes a pretty typical day for us. The photos are completely out of sequence.  Dang it!  I tried to upload them in chronological order, but alas, they posted differently.  I will not let my posting frustration stop me from blogging, I will not let my posting frustration stop me from blogging, I will not let....

We do quite a few hands-on activities in science and social studies.  The girls love this, and often want to spend extra time on these things.  Given that, we usually do these subjects last so that they can take as much time on them as they would like.  Today, they were designing their own set of laws (code) on a paper "stele," similar to what Hammurabi did when he ruled Babylonia.

A perk of homeschool is that you can learn around the house.  Often reading, science and social studies take place on the couch, with a cozy blanket.

Same girl, same couch.  Only I took this picture right after she woke up. (Again, sorry for the out of order-ness of this post!  I am annoyed!)  I wake the girls up at 7:00.  Often they get up on their own.  Then I let them lounge around, get dressed, eat breakfast, lounge a bit more, before we get rolling at 8:00.  Since we started homeschooling, I don't recall a morning when either of them was sad or difficult to get out of bed!  Crazy, crazy, crazy!  They are up, happy, compliant, relaxed, and ready to get the day started.  Pure pleasantness.  It. Is. Awesome.

We have tons of storage in this house.  And the previous owner left us a bunch of plastic file boxes in the basement.  It's like God was preparing this house for us to homeschool, because we have a perfect spot and just enough bins for all our books in the kitchen, the center of our homeschool morning!  I get all the boxes out, first thing in the morning.  Then as we finish subjects we put them back in the cupboard.  It's helpful to be able to visibly see our progress each day, as we put boxes away.

More learning on the couch!  The girls do science and social studies together, with some minor modification to make the material suit both of their age/grade levels.  By the time we get to these subjects each day, the students are starting to get a little silly.

After we finish our "school" (around 11:30 a.m.!!!)  The girls usually finish up some household tasks while I make lunch.  Today, it was folding laundry.  I haven't folded a basket of laundry myself in a lllooonnnngggg time.  And they never complain.  Housework has become part of their routine.  Glorious!

Here is what my plans look like.  Not that you care, but anyway.  I thought planning would take a lot of time, but it's not that bad.  Usually I plan for the next week while the girls are doing some of their independent work.  And much of the curriculum is mapped out and predictable, from a planning standpoint.  It's been pretty doable.

Again, on the couch.  Only this time, it's 7:05 a.m.  Bennett just woke up and is using her "lounge time" to read her current school selection, The Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Huge book.  She is sucked in.  School before school starts, because she likes it.  How great is that!?

Homeschool does not come without small frustrations.  This one happens regularly.  I have a sweet little girl who spills things all the time.  She regularly spills her glass of water on something during school.  Even if the cup is no where near the school stuff, she will find a way to spill.  It's just the way it is.  Sometimes I stay calm.  Sometimes I blow my top a little.  Today I blew my top a little.

The same little girl is often a hilarious delight during the school day.  She is a little wiggly and needs a change of scenery to focus sometimes.  Her favorite spot for math is in the room behind this pocket door.

A good portion of our morning happens at the kitchen table.  Every morning we cover it with what the girls call "the giant shower cap."  Then we get busy!  I love having a raised view of the backyard as we work.  The natural light and big windows make it seem like we are not so "stuck" doing school.

At 8:00 a.m. I set the kitchen timer for 30 minutes.  Each of us then knocks out some household tasks that need to be done.  I cannot believe that the girls don't complain about this one bit!  It is incredible.  And it helps me to teach them without thinking about all the other things I cannot get finished or stay caught up on.

Here is Ains, working hard behind that pocket door.  It's a great spot for her.  Sometimes she goes up to work in her bedroom too.  It's been cool to see both girls figure out what works best for them.  They decide how to study their spelling words.  They decide what order they want to do their work and where.  I think it's one of the best things about homeschooling...learning to self-regulate.  We are six weeks into this "experiment" and it has been a better experience than I expected.  This post is long, so I'll leave it at that for now.  Hopefully, you'll be seeing more from our crew in the days ahead!

Ready Or Not, Here It Comes!

School is just around the corner.  We are sad and happy at the same time.  Sad to see summer end.  Sad to say goodbye to good friends who have moved and won't be at school this year.  But so happy to see what the new school year holds for the girls.  They both have great teachers again this year and friends in their classes.  Yay!

Here is Ainsley with her new teacher!

And here is Bennett with her new teacher!

 We have a family tradition after every evening school event.  We drive thru and get tacos.  Tonight it was "Meet the Teacher Tacos."  The next time we do this it will be "Parent-Teacher Tacos" on parent/teacher conference night.  Or, if Dad gets his way, we might drive thru for tacos on some other random evening when he deems "there is still time for one more bad decision."  That is one of his mottos.  The tacos were great, and we are ready for a new school year to begin!

A Special Number

Bennett became a violinist over the past school year.  She is really quite good for a beginner.  During summer lessons she learned to play "America the Beautiful" and decided she would enjoy playing it for family on the Fourth of July.  So here she is, in her Union soldier's cap and my little sailor jacket from kindergarten (circa 1983) performing her special number.

Email Correspondence

Bennett has a friend, Olivia, who moved away a few years ago.  They still keep in touch via email.  Every time I read one of the emails they have sent each other, I find it quite entertaining, and also amazing that their writing/typing skills are so good for their age.  Below I have pasted the content of an email Bennett sent to Olivia just this morning.  Enjoy!

"Hi, Olivia! How's your summer going? Mine's going great! I am sorry this reply to your last email is so late, but better late then never, right? So when did you guys get out of school (If you have gotten out yet, which I hope have!)? We got out on May 24. Now, if I remember correctly from your last email, you said you got the book "Who Could That Be At This Hour" by Lemony Snicket. I have that book too! I haven't gotten very far in reading it though. If you like/liked that/this book, then I have a recommendation for you, as far as a slightly new series. You may have already heard of it, but if not, it's called "The Secret Series" and the first book in the series is "The Name Of This Book Is Secret." I have read the whole thing, and it is pretty scary in a funny way, but after I read it I had trouble sleeping, because of it and some other scary books, and I made the mistake of starting book two, "If You Are Reading This, It's Too Late," and then I couldn't sleep at all, but, if you like to stick it out through these kind of books, I think you would like this series. I really did like book 1, and what I read of book 2 was pretty good, just really suspenseful. Anyway, if you ever read this series, there are a few tips I will give you just in case you do, not that I am purposely forcing you to, just if you need something new to read. So, let the tips begin! Tip 1: It is not a good idea under any circumstances, no matter how bored you are, to read this series before bed. It is a HORRIBLE idea, believe me! Tip 2: You should never read scary books such as these in a scary place, such as, an attic, a closet, a basement with no windows, on Halloween night ANYWHERE, alone at home, in the dark, which be very hard anyway, and under any scary or spooky circumstances, which I will not list, for the sake of both of us getting sleep the next month. Tip 3: You should always read this type of book in a happy place, under happy circumstances, for example, at a party if you are waiting for the pizza to arrive, or the hamburgers to be grilled, or at a picnic, not by a body of water though, no matter how peaceful and/or shallow. Maybe waiting for your new puppy or kitten to get home with your mom. You see, only under happy circumstances should this series be read. Well, I hope my advice helps you, and if it doesn't, I am terribly sorry for wasting the past minutes when you could have been reading these books without my tips in the way. I hope to hear from you soon!

                                        Bennett"

What Decade Is It?

Sometimes I forget it is the year 2013.  It's because my children enjoy things from past decades far more than they enjoy present-day entertainment.

They have been watching endless episodes of the Cosby Show.  We have a couple of "Best Of" dvds.  Money well spent.

They have been watching episodes of the Gummi Bears.  Thank you, YouTube.

Ainsley has really taken a liking to "The Prices" as we like to call it.  She saw a present-day episode while sitting at the car dealership, waiting for our vehicle to be repaired.  She became intrigued.  And again, thanks to YouTube, she is now enjoying more "Prices," only with her preferred host, Bob Barker.

Music of choice these days...Journey, "Don't Stop Believing."  Thank you, Spotify.  How do we survive without the internet?!?!?

And their other music of choice...Stevie Wonder (thanks to the Cosby episode where Stevie makes a guest appearance.)  So I am left wondering.  Is it the mid-80s, or what?  Sure seems like it to me and I am completely okay with that!  Those were golden years.

Summer Boredom Buster

The girls have found a great way to pass some of their time this summer!  They have been painting pistachio shells with nail polish.  As a mom, I totally love this activity.  They get to use nail polish without making a mess of their hands.  They can let the shells dry on a plate so they don't get smudge and get polish all over the place.  Ainsley pretends she is a nail artist in a salon.  Bennett pretends each of her shells has its own unique personality.  Tons of fun for both kids!  Moms of girls, I highly recommend!

Random Tee Jamboree 2013

We held the 2nd-annual Random Tee Jamboree this weekend.  It was a beautiful night at the park and we had tons of fun...so much so that I barely took pictures.  Most of the following are pictures my awesome friend took.  Thank you, Autumn!  We had 101 friends join us this year and therefore, there were 101 great shirts on display.  These pictures don't even scratch the surface!

Just a disclaimer: Our friend in the pink won "Best In Show" this year for her for-a-good-cause by slightly inappropriate shirt.  She had guts to wear this one to the party!

The old-school twirly swing thing was a huge hit again this year.  I believe we had 40+ kids at the party.  They had their fun shirts on, too!  A great bunch of kids!

Love the expression on his face.  I bet he was glad to be photographed!

These sweet girls' expressions were quite fitting for the evening!

Love this guy's shirt...one of our family's favs!

And his lovely wife had a great one, too!  

Bennett and Ainsley had a blast, although you'd never know it by the looks of this photo.  Ainsley is wearing a t-shirt I had as a kid.  Bennett chose to wear her beloved Michael Jackson tee.

Two of our super fun friends...Dan bought the sample sizing shirt from the print shop and wore it.  Hilarious!  Levi has his "Trophy Husband" shirt on.  Oh, boys.

More fellows from the party.  Hey, where are the pictures of all the moms?  Oh yeah.  They were chasing kids all over the playground and feeding people.  Although, these dad are representing well, doing a great job of taking care of the littlest ones.

And speaking of the little ones, this handsome young man had a great shirt in the slightly inappropriate category.  It was from a rodeo or a BBQ joint or something.  It said "I like PIG butts and I cannot lie" similar to a rap song from the late 80s/early 90s.  Pretty funny.  Thanks to all our friends, many who traveled a bit of a distance to hang out with us!  Our family loved every minute!  We'll do it again next year!

Fashions and Fix Ups

We are enjoying the summer down time over here.  Here is what has been going on.

Bennett has been making and playing with little kid-size sock dolls.  Here is The Prince and Repunzel.    She plays with them for hours.  Blows my mind.

The girls decided to create some funny fashions the other day.  What made it funnier was when they fell down and couldn't get back off the ground.  They were laughing and yelling, "I've fallen...and I can't get up!"  (Med-Alert commercial)

Ainsley love, love, loves to use tools.  She is a little repair woman and her Dad loves it.  She was working so hard to help him with a fairing he made for our vehicle.  

The girl is amazing with a...I don't know what this is.  A socket wrench?  I have no idea.

 Here is how she got the job done!  Who needs a step stool!?!

Cat Fight!

When your child buys a couple of posable siamese cats at a garage sale and your husband is a nut, bedtime goes something like this.  

Weekend Happenings

We are enjoying a lazy, do-what-you-want-to weekend over here!  Last night we got to celebrate a good friend's birthday with a cookout, trampoline time and the fire bowl.  The rest of our Friday and Saturday as involved the following...

A trip to Goodwill.  Bennett found some killer frames.

Ainsley did as well.  The girls would love if these styles would make a comeback.  Ainsley had to look up for the picture because the prescription in these was so strong it was making her eyes water.  Yikes!

Today we took the girls to an amazing auction in a nearby town.  It was probably the best auction I have ever been to.  TONS of amazing antiques and a huge, spunky crowd of bidders.  The above photo shows only a small portion of the furniture that was there.

Dad found something he'd have enjoyed buying.  There was a giant tub of old WWF wresting action figures.  Here he is with a couple of his favorites...Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Jimmy Superfly Snuka.

Bennett and Ainsley found something that would have been great for the prairie cabin.  A butter churn!

The property being auctioned off was an old, two-story, brick home built in 1867.  Part of the reason we went to this auction was to be able to see inside this house.  It needed a ton, and I mean A TON, of work, but it was so cool!  Above is the fireplace.

The house had a giant, super trashed, walk-up attic.  It would be a really neat room if someone fixed it up.

Ainsley's favorite room was this tiny bathroom at the end of the upstairs hallway.  You had to step up into it.  It was cute.  The girls were begging us to buy this house.  They obviously don't realize how unhandy and unmotivated we are when in comes to home improvement.  We're are hoping someone buys this place and fixes it up real nice.  Such a great old home.

On to other Saturday happenings...the peonies are finally blooming.  I love this time of year!  We clipped a few to enjoy indoors.

Ainsley helped Dad work on a small landscaping project this afternoon.  That girl loves to get her hands dirty and she's amazing with a torpedo level.  They need some fill dirt and some rock before they can finish, but they made good progress.