We continue to adjust to our life down here in the south.  My, it gets hot and humid down here!  I don't believe it's really been any hotter than what it gets in Dayton, but it's the humidity and the number of days it's hot.  I'm looking forward to the fall, which, I understand, doesn't really get felt until November, but still, at least there is a weather change to look forward to.

A couple of weeks ago, Brett sent me on a trip back to Dayton and my friends.  While there, I attended the CHEO homeschool conference.  The conference was much smaller this year, due mostly, I think, to the competition created by the Cincinnati Homeschool Conference, but as I went with some very dear friends, I still enjoyed myself very much.  I concentrated on writing seminars, and l.d. seminars (focusing on the dyslexia aspect, which I'm almost positive Emma deals with to some extent).

I really enjoyed seeing all my dear friends.  I stayed the first night with my friend Melissa, and unfortunately, I wasn't thinking clearly enough to capture the moment with a photo, but I'll remember it in my heart instead.  The next night saw me at the conference with Jeni and Mary Beth, and the following nights I spent back in Dayton, with my friends Sue and Tim.

While there, I really enjoyed going to worship at SouthBrook.  The new theatre is completed now, and I was able to see the fruit of so much prayer and labor over the prior years.  I had a lump in my throat for much of the time, frankly, feeling a little sorry for myself that I was no longer directly a part of it, but I know God has a plan for me, and I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be at the moment.  Charlie talked on experiencing God in everyday moments, and I am now revisiting a much loved book, The Practice of the Presence of God by brother Lawrence.  It is an excellent reminder about how God is always with us.

Here I am with some of my "core" friends at church.  They are all such beautiful souls!

And here I am with my first friend that I made in Dayton, Sue.  We're drinking (for those of you who aren't tea conniseurs) blooming tea, although I can't remember the exact one.  We had a blast watching all the "petals" unfurl, and the tea was quite good!

Here's a close-up of the blooming tea.

 All good things come to an end, and at last I needed to head back south.  I had much to look forward to, though, in that my children were missing their mom and my husband was missing his wife!  I bought the kids some t-shirts at the convention, and they were very excited to put them on.

The very next weekend was Independence Day, and our family had special plans to attend our first ever Nascar race at Daytona Motor Speedway.  We had tickets for both the Friday and Saturday night races, but decided to do the smaller Busch race, to get a taste of the race life, since they didn't start until 8:00 p.m.  We all had a great time, and were ever so glad we took along hearing protection!

Here's Emma, very excited!  Our seats were almost directly across from Jr.'s pit.

And here's a photo of the pit area.

Oh, and lastly, here's a photo of me.  I just like this photo, and I like so few, that I figured I'd post it!

Lastly, I wanted to share a photo of my little sock blocker keychain that I knit for Melissa.  It was such a fun little project, and took next to no time at all!

I know it's been forever and a day since I've contributed to this blog.  It has never been far from my mind, and I have been hoping to find time to update, but that time never came.  I just decided this morning to forgo my chores to get this done.  It will clear such a load from my mind.

Our family is now settled in our new home.  It is absolutely beautiful, even though it is a tad bit smaller than our last one.  The kids have really enjoyed the beautiful weather down here in Florida.  One of the nicer amenities is the fact that we have a pool in our community, and we can swim pretty much every day of the year if we like.

This is a photo of the house, taken from the street.  Our lot is much smaller than we had in Ohio, but we do have a lovely view of a pond in the rear.

One of the benefits of living in such a warm climate, is we have a wealth of critters to catch around here.  That pleases the kids to no end.  So far, we caught many lizards, hatched out our tapole, and have even had a snake come visiting.

Sorry 'bout the fuzzy photo.  I really don't care for snakes in the least.  I decided this guy is a black racer snake.  He was very unhappy to be removed from our lanai.  He was coiled up and hissing at my husband, while he tried to extricate the snake from the premises.  Racers may be aggressive, but at least this little fellow wasn't poisonous like the cottonmouth that was killed in between our neighbor's house and our own!

This is one of the many little lizards that have been caught by the kids.  This fellow, unfortunately, lost his tail tip.  I think he's the only fellow so far to have that happen to him.  The kids typically let the lizards stay over for a couple of days, and then they release them back out into the wild.

And here's a photo of our little toad?  Or is it a frog?  The jury is still out.  This little guy hatched from a tadpole, and we quickly converted our aquarium into a terrarium.  So far, he's only been eating blood worms, because he is just so tiny!

With all these critters around, the kids have been doing a ton of reading on reptiles and amphibians.  We've pretty much exhausted the library's juvenile literature, and have invaded the adult books now.  They are becoming quite the little herpetologists!

This is a photo of Castillo de San Marcos, which is about a 20 minute drive from the house.  Believe it or not, we still haven't been able to manage to visit it!  I actually took this photo as the kids and I drove by it on the way to try out a Tae Kwon Do school.  It is gigantic, and I'm hoping that we'll visit it at some point in the near future.

 Life has been challenging for me.  I realize it is not easy to move at any time in one's life.  This time, has been particularly difficult for me for a number of different reasons.  This is the first time I've ever moved with children, which has had its own challenges.  Also, I am a shy person, who takes a long time to "warm up" to other people.  I also greatly miss my friends back in Ohio.  We have yet to find a church that I love, although we have found one that I think will work.  Also, our homeschooling has been further challenged by this unforseen move.

I can say, though, that with much work and sacrifice on all our parts, that we will be able to finish by the end of this month, and that is what I originally scheduled way back a year ago.  We are down to our last couple of weeks of history, and Oliver has already started on next year's math, while Jacob is on the last lesson for this year.  The things that I had to abandon were Latin, and I slowed way down on science.  I plan to just pick up the threads and continue with both this next year.

Challenges for the future include Emma's reading instruction.  She is not a natural reader, and struggles every step of the way.  I am contemplating purchasing either the Wilson method or Barton's reading program in the hopes that a focused, intense, O.G. method will succeed where other more traditional methods have failed.  She is a very bright girl who is frustrated that she just can't "get" it, but she is valliantly still trying, and I am doing everything I can to support her.  We may end up needing to test her for potential dyslexia, but before we even go that route, I am planning on just treating it that way.

Successes for this past year's curriculum included...

Biblioplan III:  This was an awesome, easy-to-implement program that all the kids enjoyed (Mom included)

Rod and Staff IV Grammar:  This is such a thorough grammar/writing program.  Jacob really knows his grammar with it!

The Fallacy Detective:  Wow!  I am so impressed at how Jacob has implemented the information in this small book to analyze his arguements, as well as the arguements of others to determine if there is a fallacy in them.  I can't wait to get the next book!

All About Spelling:  Oliver and I have hit upon a spelling program that is actually working for him!

Our failures, although not necessarily due to a "poor" curriculum would be

Latina Christiana:  We just couldn't keep up with it.  Still, it's a good curriculum, and I will pick it up again probably this next year.

Spelling Power:  It didn't work at all for Oliver, although Jacob continues to use it with success.

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons:  It just didn't work for Emma.

Now that I'm back on the page for blogging, I pray that I'll be able to keep it up more or less regularly, now.

Business seems to be the order of business around our household these days.  Preparing for the move and homeschooliing and settling into life in another state take up a ton of our time.  Of course, none of us were apparently too busy to get sick!  Emma came down with something suspiciously resembling the flu right after Easter.  Soon, Oliver got it, followed by Daddy and finally Jacob.  I so far seem to be the only one who is able to resist it.  I sure hope my strength holds out!  We down to less than 2 weeks before we close, and I frankly don't have the time to deal with one right now.

On Saturday (while my 3 men were languishing at home with this flu, but I didn't realize it at the time) I went to a spin-in at my lys, Knitwitz.  It was so much fun, and I really enjoyed seeing all the wonderful yarns everyone was creating.

Here's our happy little group.  I've never been around so many Majacraft in my life!  It was so much fun!

Here's one of my new fibery friends, Kris.  She has a nice business going where she dyes roving, blends it, and also spins it up for sale.  You can find her stuff on etsy here.  Anyway, she brought a ton of rovings and offered to mix the colors to create a custom blend.  What you see her holding is my new custom blend of bright pink, blue, and cornflower, along with tencile to create my new custom purple-pink roving.  Sweet!  I can hardly wait to spin it up!

While I've been enjoying my fiber addiction, the kids have been getting ready for their own competition, held at our new library.   There was a Lego construction contest held today.  All three kiddos competed, and believe me, they've been thinking about their design for weeks!  The competition was stiff, and none of them won a prize, but they all did so well, and were so creative that I couldn't help be pleased with them.  One of the best lessons a kid can learn is how to be a gracious loser.  All three were gracious, and even though Emma had a few tears, she did very well.  Oliver and Jacob also congratulated the other participants in the contest.  They can hardly wait to do another!

Here is Emma, working very hard on her house design.  See the concentration on her face as she struggles to get a piece "just so".

Oliver and Emma's stations were side-by-side.  They both worked very intently.  Oliver even wanted to help his sister when her pieces wouldn't obey her wishes, and I had to gently remind him that it was a competition.

Here's Jacob working on his version of something Star Wars-ish...  He was in good company, however.  I believe most of the other boys in his age range also chose general Star Wars themed items to design.

Happy girl...

and happy boy!

Here's Oliver being interviewed by a panel of three judges about his design entry.

The kids "rescued" 3 tadpoles from the lake in our back yard.

"Mommy, can we keep them for our very own?" pleaded the children.

"What are they?" I asked.

"We think they're tadpoles, and they're soooo cute!!!  Can we keep 'em?  Huh?"

"Ummmm.  What do they eat?"

"Do you think they'll eat the crickets the lizzies ate?" (said "lizzies are now liberated")

"Honey, I think the crickets might eat them.  I tell you what... let's research it, and we'll see..."

Enter...

Harry, Han, and Beans...

This one is Beans.  Don't ask me how they can tell.  They just can.

Luckily, I found an article on the care and feeding of tadpoles here.

I learned the dear critters love boiled lettuce.  I'm getting rather good at boiling leafy green vegetables, given I just boiled cabbage last week so my kids could enjoy sulfur smells at their finest!

Bon appetit!

We shall see if we can actually grow ourselves some frogs.  I have my doubts.  We've done fairly well with all our lizards, however, so I'm game to give it a go.  I'm open to suggestions for all you frog-philes out there!

** Later note... the tadpoles are still squirrming.  One of my friends recommended Pets in a Jar.  Great book.  I own it.  I also own Pet Bugs and several other great handbooks on nature.  Unfortunately, they are all packed up in Ohio!!! sigh.  And, unfortunately, the library system here is, shall we say, less than what I had back in Ohio??? 

For anyone who may be interested, here are a few photos of the home we're planning on buying (as long as all goes well, that is!).  We're getting excited, and closing isn't far off now!

Here's a photo of the outside.  Pardon the poor quality of the photo.  I actually took it from our van as we drove by!

And here's a photo of the kitchen!  It's not quite as bit as the kitchen in Ohio, but it does have higher cabinets, which will be nice for storing our china and other off season items.  It has wood floors (mercy, I hope the children will be careful with them!, and granite countertops which are lovely).  My favorite feature that that it actually has a true walk-in pantry.  I've always kind of fantasized about having one!

Tomorrow we have the inspection on the property, which I hope will go well.  I have every expectation that it will.  Our close is towards the beginning of April, so we'll just have to wait and see how everything goes.

We are coming up on 1 month in Florida, and so much of it has gone by in a blur for me.  I'm trying to stop and take photos, but I'm not as good at getting them posted.  Here's a brief summary of some of the things we've found and enjoyed...

Here's a photo of our "classroom".  Things are actually going pretty well, all things considered.  School is certainly at our fingertips!

Just on the other side of our classroom is our family room/living room.   In its current incarnation, I have my spinning wheel set up in front of the tv, blocking it, so the kids watch tv in our bedroom right now.

This is our kitchen.  Again, cozy, but very serviceable!

This is our bedroom.  We've put all our favorite blankets on to remind us of home, so it's a bit crazy looking, but it is comfortable.

Here's Jacob, getting ready to do an experiment on electricity through our Noeo Chemistry book.

And here's another experiment we're doing, where we're extracting the green pigment in spinach leaves (chlorophyll, anyone?).  We soaked the leaves in rubbing alcohol, and it made a lovely green shade...

like this!  When then extracting the color to see the different shade variations...

like this!

Here's Emma all ready to to go on a bike ride!

While Emma's been riding, Oliver's been creating great art with his Legos!  I'm so glad we remembered to pack them up for Florida!

Our first official field trip was to MOSH (The Museum of Science and History) in downtown Jacksonville.  The kids enjoyed the displays about Florida history and the session on magnetics.  We attended a show that covered lots of general science topics, and the kids really enjoyed those.

The kids had a great time experimenting with liquid nitrogen and balloons, flight, and electricity.  They had a wonderful time being a part of the show.

One of our new favorite places to go is Chamblin's Book Mine.  It makes Half Price books like like a teeny shop.  I can envision spending much more time there in the future!  It's a homeschoolers idea of fun, for sure!

Don't let its looks fool you... there's gold in them thar walls!  (or at least a lot of really good books!)

Our most recent field trip was Sunday when we went to the Jax Zoo.  It's a very nice zoo, and we all had a great time.  The weather was absolutely perfect for it!

Love those hats!  They kept us all from getting sunburned!  Oh, and we looked like homeschoolers wearing them!  At least I didn't go for the denim jumper!

Emma looks so cute on her bird!

Our boys are so silly, sometimes!

And here is a photo of the roses Brett got me for Valentine's Day, as well as some roving I bought at Knitwitz.  Below, you'll see how it's looking on the bobbin...

It's a lot of fun to spin up!

Last but not least, here's a photo of the February baby sweater I'm working on, right before I started knitting the body.  The gull pattern is very easy and very cute!

This is my new "desk"!  It's been a bit of a challenge to organize my things around another person's stuff, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.  There is no desk in the condo, so I've repurposed some end tables for Brett and I to use as our "desks".  Brett's matches this one.  Actually, they work pretty well for almost everything but writing and computing.  I remembered to bring an organizing caddy of mine from home, so I dug it out of the bins stored in the garage, and I think things are starting to shape up here quite nicely!

On another completely different track...I've started another knitting project.  I'm now working on the February baby sweater in Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac.  It's one I just have to trust what she's saying and follow the directions blindly, because I have a tough time envisioning what she's describing.  Here are a few photos of my progress so far...

Well, I finished my tea cozy.  I've been wanting to knit this project ever since I bought the book (probably 2 years ago?).  Anyway, I thought that with my move and the stress, and the lack of time to concentrate on pattern reading, that now would be the perfect time!  It actually took me quite a bit longer than I thought it would.  The chapter says it takes 2-4 hours.  Honestly, I can say it took me closer to 15-20 hours.  Still, I thought it came out quite nice.  My only sorrow is that the tea pot it was made for is still back in Ohio!  Sigh.  I got the pattern out of Last Minute Knitted Gifts.  It's a book that I've knitted several projects out of, and I've enjoyed each one.  My next one to tackle?  Perhaps the double knit baby booties.  We shall see...

It's been quite some time since I've been able to post some photos, so pardon the breeze through the past few months in a photojournalistic whirl, but that's what happens when you move!

Here is our new temporary home!  It's two story (the kids stay upstairs, and we stay downstairs)...  It's very comfortable, but a bit small.  We are very happy here, but can't wait to find our new home space!

Here's Emma on her new bike!  We got it the first full weekend the kids joined us here in Jax.  She's already riding like a pro!  There is a bike trail across the road from our condo, and it's a great place to try out our "wheels".

Stepping back in time here... less than a month before, here were the kids frolicking in the snow!  They had a great time with their friends building a snow fort!

Here's my darling Emma, complete with another missing tooth!  This happened just after Christmas!  Shortly after this was taken, another tooth fell out right after it, so now she has a gap 4 teeth wide!

Here are my cuties!  It was taken just before we all went to the Nutcracker Ballet at the Schuster Center in downtown Dayton.  We all had a great experience at the ballet!

Each of the kids had to get a nutcracker of their own to remember the experience by!

Here's a photo of Emma at the TECH annual Christmas program.  She looked so cute!

I just had to throw this one in!  She was hauling all this snow around in her quest to build the best snow fort around!

Here's our Christmas tree on Christmas Day!  We had a great experience in our home!  We will miss it...

Here's one of the base of Jacob's fort!  He's been working hard!

A bit of a switch here, but here's my dearest on Ponte Vedra beach, just a couple of weeks later!  Wow!  What a change!

The agent said we needed to remove the books from our bookshelves and put a few decorations on them.  They're BOOKSHELVES!!!  Homeschool families use their bookshelves for... you guessed it!   BOOKS!  I thought I'd better take a shot of my shelves, because they won't look like this again unless we have to move again!

The kids are excited for the move!

Here's my darling Jacob's room!  Clean!  Notice the airplanes... he loves anything to do with flight.

Here's my darling Oliver's room... again... clean!

And last but not least... here's my Emma's room... CLEAN!

And another view of her room...clean!

And here's where our books have gone... temporarily... of course!

I will try to put photos up a little more frequently now.  I hope you enjoyed them!