April 4, 2008 Ready for racing 
July 26, 2007 Back to School
We have started back to school for year #13. Fun times ahead! Here's a picture of some of the fun times we've had during our break.
Now we have two karts....Charlie is in the red one, Harold in the yellow one. Notice how dry our field is! At least we haven't had to mow it much this summer.
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We had a great time! We took 52 pictures, but I'll only bore you with two of them. Here are the girls ready to get started:
 Joining together at the table are my Jess and Josefina; my d-i-l's Nellie and Samantha; her friend's Kirsten; and Addy, Jess & Samantha that came from Delaware to be here. My best friend's daugther drove 10 hours from Delaware to bring her four dolls to the party.
Only 8 of the girls could sit around the table. Two others were dressed and used as decoration and one is Nicki and she's still mint in her box, so she couldn't sit down at all!
Here are my two girls enjoying their party treats and their gifts of THEIR dolls.
I guess we'll never outgrow the little girls that live inside of us.
~Betsy
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Okay, so maybe it's been quite awhile since I've made an entry. I've changed my templete to my spring look again, although the dogwoods are NOT blooming yet. In fact, my pink flowering dogwood (as shown in my header) did NOT bloom at all last year! I certainly hope there is nothing wrong with it and it does bloom this spring. I really missed those beautiful blossoms.
Let's see if anything is new or newsworthy around here. We have 5 weeks of school left. We don't take 'spring break' so to speak, but we start our summer break in the spring!
Right now we are dog sitting for a couple from JBC who have gone to Mexico on a mission trip this week. Here's a picture of Nicky, their sweet 25 pound Shiz-Tsu:
Maybe we should open our home up for a pet service, huh? We seem to have dogs and cats in and out of here at different times. The visitors always cause a bit of stress on our two inside cats, but they always seem to snap out of it within minutes of the departure of the temporary housepet. Here's a picture of our Molly squeezing her 18 pound frame into a small picnic basket:
Something else we are doing around here, is getting our home ready for an American Girl doll spring birthday party. If you've read the AG books, you would have noticed that all the Historical girls have spring birthdays. So me, being the oldest of the American girls I know, decided we needed to celebrate the birthdays of our dolls all together. And I know a few 'girls' my age that still have their American Girl dolls (or just got some, like me).
We purchased the Totally Tropical birthday party set from AG on-line, although we only purchased the doll sized items (FYI: if you call AG customer service you can order 'replacement parts' of just about any set they sell..and buy only the pieces you need!)
Here's a picture of my Josefina getting ready for her Luau party that will be this Saturday:
The party set only includes service for eight dolls, and I believe 11 are coming! And that's just with inviting three friends. Okay, so maybe us four 'non-target age' American girls have more dolls than we need, but it's going to be a fun party with our 'girls'. I'll post a picture or two after the event.
Happy Spring! Betsy
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February 12, 2007 Regency Party
We had the wonderful privilege of attending a Regency era birthday party over the weekend. My hair seemed to be the best part of my outfit. Check out my dashing 1800's husband!
The boys looked great too, but I couldn't seem to capture a very good picture of them in their tail coats. You can read all about the party and see more pictures at Jen's blog or Maria's. We all had such a great time!
~Betsy
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January 10, 2007 My Birthday
Yesterday was my birthday, and lets just say that now I'm double my daughter-in-law's age, and leave it at that. Some of you caught on about my birthday and I appreciate all the comments I received yesterday. Especially all those joyful songs that were 'sung'.
Remember a while back when I posted about my Josefina doll? Well, the family decided she needed more things. I was so excited! I finally have a real American Girl doll and now she's got enough things to keep her happy (and me) for many years!
The first picture here is Josefina modeling her new Winter Accessories and the Heirloom Trunk to keep her things in that DH bought her. Also on the floor you will see her Picnic Lunch that DS bought for her.
The clothing hanging in her new trunk, I had already made for her, or that were given to her because she came totally nude (as you can see in that previous entry)
But also, DH bought Josefina this incredible set of clothing on an 'auction site' the night before, so it's not here yet, but here's a picture of what was all included in the auction:
 Lots of original Josefina American Girl clothing. Now, don't you agree that my poor little nude Josefina from three months ago, is now outfitted for life? A very happy birthday to me!
~Betsy
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November 13, 2006 Family Man Ministries
I have these great books from the Family Man Ministries. "Reminding Dads of What's Most Important"
   
We've read them, shared them with others, and read them again. The boys REALLY get a kick out of the cartoons' books. I hope you are enjoying them too, Letita! Let me know if you want to read either of the other two.
~Betsy
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November 2, 2006 Golf Course
Our boys have picked up a new hobby. Now they're so into golfing. Little Harold (age 8) has created a map, shown here, of the golf course he has designed AND BUILT around our house.
The scary thing is watching all those golf balls sail nearby the structures on our property. Many end up lost...which we then find with the power lawnmower when they are mowed over and hurled out at tremendous speeds enough to knock your head off. Ah, but the boys are enjoying themselves and the good thing is they actually keep the greens cut really well with our rotary push mower. See you at the tee!
~Betsy
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We arrived at NASCAR SpeedPark at 11 am (when they opened); we left at 9:15pm (just before closing). Lots of hours of fun racing, mini-golf, and games. The bumper boats were closed...something about water and the cool air? Oh, well...such a fun time was had by all.
~Betsy
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October 17, 2006 NASCAR SpeedPark
Have you ever been to NASCAR SpeedPark?
Our boys love this place. They can pretend they are big name NASCAR drivers while
remaining safely on a small track with a safe go-kart. Fun, Fun!
There are 4 locations in the US; Myrtle Beach SC, Sevierville TN, Concord Mills NC,
St. Louis Mills MO, and one in Canada; Vaughan Mills (Ontario).
NASCAR SpeedPark, Smoky Mountains features: - 8 action-packed tracks
- Thrill Zone 5 NEW Family Rides
- Kiddie rides
- Indoor climbing wall and playground
- NASCAR Silicon Motor Speedway Simulators
- State-of-the-art arcade
- Speed bumper boats
- NASCAR merchandise and apparel
- Snack bar
We are going on a Youth Group outing to NASCAR SpeedPark this weekend.
I'm sure we'll have beautiful fall weather in the Smoky Mountains.
~Betsy
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October 5, 2006 Homeschoolopoly
I was just reading about this in my Fall 2006 issue of TOS:
"This brand new game from veteran homeschoolers Greg & Pamela Berthume combines all of the fun and educational qualities of the old-fashioned family favorite board game and celebrates the best of homeschooling. Players learn all about grace and mercy while traversing HOMESCHOOLOPOLY. You start out at Home Sweet Homeschool and pass by squares like Public School Tax or Field Trip, and if you land on the right square you might get to purchase a Big Family Bus or a Cool As Can Be SUV! And of course, you'll want to try to avoid running into the Truancy Officer lying in wait to send a homeschooler to court! Don't worry, you can use your "HSLDA Member - GET OUT OF COURT FREE" card."
I think this looks like a great game and I plan on getting one for my family! Check out the website for more info!
~Betsy
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September 21, 2006 Blogger Picnic
Here's a picture from our Homeschoolbloggers' picnic today:
This isn't all of us. There were 10 blogger ladies, two husbands (including Geoff) and 31 kiddos (some of whom blog too, like Coie, Ryann, Luke, Paul, Levi, Julia and Sam) We had difficulty getting everyone in one spot for a photo. But in attendance at our Smoky Mountain Bloggers' Picnic II were: Me, Maria, Beverly, Jen, Dawn, Gena, Letitia, Annemarie, AmyBeth and Angie. What a fun time!
~Betsy
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September 19, 2006 Talk like a Pirate Day! |
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