yesterday turned into quite a good day, it started off rough Doug's car wouldn't start so he took ours, and we canceled the pool party cause the water was very chilly from the storms the night before. So the kids were not in good moods int he morning,but I always tell them make the most of what we have. We have a ton of blessings all around us.So after lunch they went to get a snowball from Ms.Carol and found a bird with a hurt wing which of course Grace brought home , he is resting under a tree in the yard, and seems to be fine now.Of course he wondered a bit to close to Bandit- who is a retriever- and Bandit picked him up and brought him back to Grace, who screamed her head off,but its what a retriever does he didn;t hurt him just brought him back. After that excitement wore off Grace and Adam promptly climbed our huge pine tree and retrieved a huge nest out of the top of it, they where covered in pine sap which is a bear to get off. They smelled nice and fresh though.Madeline went to her friend- Alana's- house and rode skateboards. So after all the mopping in the morning the day turned out to be alright after all. Today after our school work is done we are taking a walk int he fields across the street.
Well our trip to the petting farm didn't last too long, we where rained out by a very heavy downpour pretty quickly. We did get to visit with Paula and Bridgett for a few minutes anyways though. It is always a pleasure to see her . It has been down pouring all day off and on and it is so icky,humid out,uggggh. I guess on the bright side we did get a lot of school done, we did math,phonics, handwriting , and Adam and Grace where dancing to some music. We also got a lot of housework done,hey why not. When the kids complain they are bored I have plenty of ways to entertain them -mop, broom, vacuum, laundry, math, research paper etc...We are waiting on daddy to get home he took his motorcycle to work today and its not the best hing in the rain so he stopped at a local pub and is waiting it out. Honestly its not him on the bike that worries me its the idiots in cars that pay no attention around them that worry me most.
today is the first day of school for the public school students int he area, which means during the day the neighborhood will be nice and quiet-YAY!I tell you what I donot miss the running all over for clothes and supplies and stuff I see these other parents doing. We get supplies and some times new shoes,but,not in the hectic frenzy of other families, we see. We don;thave a certain crayon we have to buy, or only the 8 pack of markers we get what we like and whats on sale usually.Though I do like the sales on glue, pencils and notebooks each year we stock up on those things. WE have also been getting surprise blessings of supplies, my mom works at an area private school and gets there toss outs sometimes. Friday she brought us 6 cases of large chart paper tablets, which where just getting thrown out. I shared them with Melinda and I will see if some of the other homeschoolers would like some of them. It seems so wasteful to just throw that out. And she also brought a huge box of apples they where just going ot throw out, cause they where the left overs from snack, my kids will eat them and it seems so wasteful to throw out good food when so many in the world are hungry.We are off to Adam's preschool group this morning at Chapel Hill Nursery and Farms- theres a petting farm in back which is a favorite of our families. Then we will come home to do math and reading. A nice relaxing fun school day. Tomorrow I was thinking of taking them to the movies to see Kung Fu Panda. at the $2.50 movies, it should be pretty quiet with most kids back in school..I Love this time of year:-)
we hosted a pirate themed swim day today, and Adam was the host he had a blast. We began with a treasure hunt that ended with a cooler full of goodies the kids dived up. Then we had lunch hotdogs, chips, veggies and cupcakes. Then of course we had a few sword fights, and some swashbuckling:-) Then it was fun in the pool. It was a fun,hot , tiring day everyone left about an hour ago and we had hot dogs for dinner . The kids are getting baths/showers so they can watch the new Cheetah Girl movie tonight.Shawn is in bed sound a sleep.
Grace certainly had her share of frog fun this evening, we found a nice size tad under our wading pool and he is in a little carrier under the slide, with leaves and stuff- just for the night he must be set free tomorrow, so he can eat.She also found a baby bullfrog- a big baby- at Ms.Carols when we went down for a snowball, he was a big boy. grace tried to hide him in her shirt to bring him home but he was let go- I hope- to return to his place under the drainpipe. We, really do like watching them and they are great mosquito catchers. This one however had some bite marks on his back -like a snake bite- so for tonight anyway he is not someones dinner:-) We have spent the larger part of the summer raising tadpoles from he little pond/ditch across the street int he farmers field, right now there are roughly 10 ready to be let go in the frog tank we have to move them into when they are not tadpoles anymore,it has been a very enjoyable learning experience for us to watch so many change before our eyes into frogs, and to have a hand and helping them at least survive to the frog stage:-)The lord always gives them something fun to learn about over the summer months- and we seem to end up with frogs alot-. And we did find freshwater pearls this year in some clams in the river that was very cool.
we had theater this morning at the park to practice for the upcoming play. And I decided the kids and I would leave early hit the MCD"S drive through ad get breakfast and have a picnic in the early morning at the pavilion before everyone arrived. It was a nice treat- though Adam was upset he could not chicken nuggets at 8am- . But once he had a hash brown and orange juice he seemed to be OK.we set and ate and watche the helicopters taking off from the airport across the river from us. It was pretty nice and a refreshing way to begin the day. Practice went well the kids a re really doing good with the lines and are now acting:-) Madeline is working on her narration part by adding feeling and expression into her speaking she did good today. I think the play will be very cute and fun.
we began our lessons today in science and we are doing Chemistry-Atoms and Molecules- we did the vinegar/baking soda experiment- the erupting base and acid test. It was fun. we will be doing some interesting stuff this year it is deep enough for Madeline and I will have do lab sheets- and easy enough for Adam to understand and participate. We will be doing the red cabbage base in a few weeks that should be fun.I am also planning to do plants/Botany with them as well. I have a few plants and things ordered from Rainbow Resources. To get started, we are going to try a Venus fly-trap that should be fun we can feed it ground beef-how cool is that-. I am also planning to do some things with magnets and static electric and maybe solar science. Stuff everyone can thrive and learn with.We will be reading a bio on Louis Pasture, and microbes, and some things on Alexander Graham Bell also.
AHH! It is a quiet morning so far:-)It is the time to reflect on the day and pray to the lord for strength for another day and thank him I am here to see another one, theres no guaranties in life. So each day is a new gift.I just pray for guidance in the coming school year the eyes to see each childs gifts and talents and help them discover who they are and who God wants them to be. and provisions for us this winter we really need it. Adam and Shaw are up in their room playing with trucks and giggling-I can hear them-.The girls are still sleeping. It is a nice crisp m orning the cool late summer air is blowing in the house and feels so fall like. We've had a very mild August ,which is a blessing on our electric bill. Cause Lord knows that's high enough. And we still don;t know how we are going to heat the house this year. Things are very tight, too tight, sometimes.Doug works round the clock and I have cut back as much as I can. It just seems things get tighter by the week. Something has to give. Of course if people who owe us money would pay us back we'd be good. and one of those is Doug's own brother who borrowed a lot of money promised to pay and we've not seen him since. Funny,huh?Pretty sad he can't even send us a little bit and make some sort of effort. We have 7 mouths to feed here- Bandit likes to eat too- and he has himself. I just Thank God everyday for my mom and stepdad and my dad and stepmom, who are helping as much as they can, they feed us and give the kids birthdays and fall clothes or whatever they need. WE could not do it without them. We will be doing our math and phonics today and reading lessons. I think we may get out some paints today-Adam loves to paint- and maybe do that. I was thinking of going for a brief hike int he fields and gathering interesting leaves and such and doing some rubbings today,-And Grace can find all the bugs she wants-.
Doug was home for the weekend and the kids where happy. He went back to work this morning and will be home again next Saturday. I know for me anyways it is so much quieter and calmer when he is gone. Saturday we had a cook-out bonfire with Mary and the kids next door they really had a nice time, roasting marsh mellows, swimming, and running all over the place. It was a good night. I know Madeline and Kristen are trying to enjoy each other all they can since Kristen goes back home next week,boy the time sure flies.But there Will be things to look forward to here . Apple-picking, and hayrides, and Halloween.Yesterday Doug came to church and saw the kids sing there VBS songs. Then we had turkey legs on the grill for diner and lite our fireplace outside and roasted marsh mellows and swam in the pool- which has finally cleared up. So it was a good weekend now its time to get back to schooling.I just now they will be so happy to hear that:-)
what do they say about them:-) We are doing a unit on the Olympics-cause its relevant now- and Madeline has expressed an intrest in the ancient Greeks, which wasn;t in my school plan for this year,but...Seeing how it is the birthplace of the Olympics it is a good tie in,. We will take the rest of the summer into September to do the Greeks. Then in October we can begin Elections/Government/Presidents, until the holidays. Needles to say this is a bit of an unplanned expense,but the things we need are on Rainbow Resources website and I added them to my wish list. Actually this could work really well, we are going to be doing some things with word roots-Classical Word Roots- for our vocabulary and most of our words are from Latin and Greek beginnings so it will be a good tie in to that as well. It is fun sometimes to let the children direct where our learning will go. We did get much from the Greeks there culture was much more advanced then people realize. So this can be fun and if we do a study of Galileo and Socrates we have science as well.
in the past week or two several new families have joined our home school group and they are all into doing animal rescue which is right up Madeline;s alley:-)One does American Bulldogs, one does Cocker Spaniels, another does guinea pigs- which made me smile- . We are very excited to meet some of these folks, we are animal people too- tough Doug isn't so much-and it will be interesting to talk to others involved in saving gods most innocents the ones who cannot talk for themselves. I just printed off the form for Madeline to volunteer at the Harford County Animal Shelter. I will go with her it is only 2 hours a month for 6 months,but I have a feeling we will be there more often then that. They have two guinea pigs that need homes something tells me they will be living with us very soon;-)
VBs was quite an adventure tonight. we had several huge storms blow through while we where there. Lightning hit the cross on the church steeple, what a BOOM that made.Everyone jumped event he grown-ups. And the drain clogged by the basement door so the supper room began to flood, luckily we where there to clear it out.There was hail- a lot of it too- and even RT.40 flooded, what a mess. But we had a great turn-out tonight, the kids had fun and it was a good night. WE where in a good place to weather out a storm.After all where better to be in the storms of life then with Jesus, who will hold us up through them and swim along beside us.
