L has come up with the perfect way to cut onions without crying, it's actually pretty ingenious and hilarious too! By the way he will eat an onion like an apple.

Here's the boys at our support group's learning fair. The subject was  States of the US and we chose Ohio.

At our local YMCA the boys have gym/swim on Mondays. They get one hour of gym time which is basic PE and one hour of swim lessons. They have a great time!

Last week we studied ants and other insects. One of the craft ideas in GTG was to make ice cream ants.

It was very simple, but tons of fun and hands-on learning.

The  ingredients were:

Vanilla ice cream- three body segments (head, thorax, and abdomen)

M&Ms- eyes and mouth

Stick pretzels- legs (all insects have six)

Shoe-string licorice- antennae

Chocolate Shell coating- exoskeleton

These pictures are kind of hard to distinguish, but you get the idea

Those were the most delicious looking ants I've ever seen!

We started school last week and so far we have been doing pretty well.

We are doing the geography unit study called Galloping the Globe

and so far we have been learning basic geography, reading about different explorers, and

learning about insects. We made passports today to get ready for our travels around the world.

This is the cover for the boys' notebooks

We learned what a globe is

We learned about direction

We learned how to use a map

We also learned that God created the Universe and everything in it

We learned about the oceans of the world

We are also tracking Hurricane Ike

We read "How to make an apple pie and see the world"

And of course....we made an apple pie

and it was delicious!

Today we made passports so that we can keep track of all the countries that we visit

Stay tuned for further travels...........

The last couple weeks have been filled with picking apples, drying apples, and bagging apples.

Picking blueberries, smashing blueberries, and preserving blueberries.

Washing cucumbers, slicing cucumbers, and pickling cucumbers.

And we haven't even started on the green beans or tomatoes.

No wonder people went to bed at 7:30 pm in the old days!

I'm pooped!

I'm so tired that I can't even think of anything to write.

Sunday my parents took us to the Grandfather Mtn. Highland Games. We had never attended anything like it and my mom thought it would be a wonderful learning experience for the boys. The night before, my dh called a cousin of his, whose husband is of Scottish descent. When he asked about the event he found out that his cousin and her family were there with their clan. She told him that she would meet us in a parking lot and take us up the mountain to the site, so that we wouldn't have to take the shuttle which cost $5.00 a person to and from the site. It would have cost us $70.00 to take the shuttle! She also told us that we could sit in their tent with them and offered us any food that we wanted to eat. Our boys wanted to participate in the kids kilted mile race and they had to wear a kilt. Well she just happened to have kilts that fit the boys. So we registered them to run and got them fitted in their kilts. Believe it or not they actually liked wearing them!

We watched the Parade of Tartans which was really awesome. The bagpipers and the drummers were so good that it gave me goosebumps. I could have done without the people in some of the clans who were scantily dressed and the ones who were gothic. It was neat to see how many clans were there and to see the smallest of children in kilts.

The boys have never run in a race before nor have they run a quarter mile, which is how long the kids kilted mile race was. We tried to explain to them that the lap around the track would be longer than they thought and that they would need to start out slow and then pick up their speed towards the end of the race. I wasn't sure how they would do and like any loving parent, you want your child to succeed. So when it came to race time I just told them that would do wonderful that the Lord would be with them. Our 6 year old went first and their were quite a few boys in the race. He finished the race and he wasn't last! Yay for him! We were just happy that he made it all the way around! He's number 75.

Our middle son raced next he is 8 and he raced in the 7-8 year old lad race. I think there were about 15 boys that raced in this age group. I told him the same thing as his brother, that the Lord would be with him. The race started and he paced himself really well. He came in 4th place! I couldn't believe he did so well! We were so excited for him. Our oldest son did not want to run and we were not going to push him to do something that he didn't want to do, so he just cheered his brothers on! Our 8 year old is number 74 in the picture below.

We ended up having to leave early because the bottom fell out of the sky and we got soaked to the bone. We rode the 2 hour drive home soaked and cold. We had a great time though and plan to attend next year and that time we'll bring umbrellas!

Ok,

 I have tried to put a video on my site, but as usual, I'm not sure I did it correctly. If you can't hear the song or see the lyrics will you let me know on my comments page? This song is so awesome and my oldest son along with about 30 other fifth and sixth graders learned the sign language to this song and performed it on the last day of VBS. It was absolutely breathtaking to see. I was almost in complete tears because my son is so shy in front of an audience (especially mom and dad), but he did all the motions in seriousness and humbleness without a care of who was watching. To top that, when we got home that evening he said "mom, would you like me to show you the hand motions"?  He was touched by God during vbs last week and I am so thankful!

This past Saturday, while the boys and dh went to a father/son outing at church, my mom and I went to our local park to hear the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra play. It was wonderful and I was delightfully surprised that they played God Bless America and America the Beautiful and asked the audience to sing along. The one thing I could have done without was people consuming alcoholic beverages which are prohibited. Of course when there are fine upstanding citizens drinking it doesn't matter if it is illegal or not.

Sunday started another week of VBS at my parent's church which is awesome(by the way). Actually, our two oldest boys go to church with them because they have an awesome children's program and they love it there. Our church is very small and has two very dominate families who control everything. Because of their control our church is slowly dying. Anyway, this VBS has been AWESOME! It has been worth the 40 minute drive to get there. We have been exhausted every night and my housework is falling behind, but there are only two more nights left and we can catch up on our chores. 

Have a blessed rest of the week!

Mondays we go to a friends house to swim. On Tuesdays during the summer, our local movie theatre shows free children's movies and also an old ice cream shop serves free kids cones Tuesdays so we make a day out of it.

We've also had VBS all week and though it was fun... I'm glad it's over.  I'm not used to being out of the house every night of the week. 

Picture of the day:

This was on vacation last year in Lake Junaluska, NC

This is "Snowball" our Lionhead Bunny

This is Sgt. Wally

This butterfly came from a caterpillar that we thought had died. We put the little aquarium in our building for the winter and one day in the spring when I went to get something from the building, this is what I found

We were in Statesville last fall at Fort Dobbs and the Statesville Hot Air Balloon Show was also being held at the same time. When we left Ft. Dobbs we decided to stop and watch the balloons. My hubby used to live in Statesville and thought he knew  the general course that they take, so we decided to follow wherever the balloons went. As you can tell from the first pic, everything stops for the balloons.

One balloon caught our eye and we started trying to follow it. In the above pic it is the balloon in the bottom left corner.

What caught our attention about this balloon was the scene that was on it. At first we thought it was a pirate ship, but when it turned we saw that it was a nature scene with a bear, an eagle, and a pine tree.

Obviously this was before the cost of gas was an arm and a leg, because we were going all over the place chasing this balloon. Instead of storm chasers we called ourselves "Balloon Chasers".

As the wind carried the balloon we were going further and further into the country and we saw this trailer turning on a road and followed it.

We followed the trailer until it stopped at a house and we realized that the balloon was landing. We asked the person driving the truck if we could watch the balloon land. What happens is the balloon pilot finds a field big enough to land on and radios to his chase truck the location and they ask permission of the landowner to land the balloon there. They told that we could watch the balloon land and when we got to the field they told the boys that they could help with packing the balloon up. Besides our three boys there were two other little boys that were there also. The balloon pilot and his crew were awesome and so kind to let our boys experience something they otherwise wouldn't have.  The rest of the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Right now I am sitting here at my computer quietly crying as my boys and their friends are watching a movie in the same room. I have just finished reading a journal written by a man whose wife suffered and died from Picks disease several years ago. Under normal circumstances I would not be researching this disease, but my aunt was diagnosed with this same disease sometime last year. This disease is a form of dementia similar to Alzheimers except they do not live as long after diagnosis due to rapid decline in brain function. Yesterday was a very sad, but eye opening day for me.

I decided to visit my aunt and uncle on my way home from a dentist appt. since I had not visited since her diagnosis. My uncle was outside on his porch swing when I pulled up and my aunt was inside. I sat down with my uncle and we talked for a while about what I've been up to and just as I started to ask about my aunt, she came walking very timidly outside. One thing about my aunt is that she has never been timid in her life. But as she walked towards us she acted like she wanted to go back in. My uncle talked to her and persuaded her to come and sit on the swing with me. She sat down and looked at me and said "Hello, do you work here in town?" At this moment I knew that this once vivacious lady had no idea who I was.

This woman who has known me since the day I was born is meeting me for the first time in her mind. As we sat there and talked (my aunt just sat there and listened) I watched my uncle talk to her and love on her through his eyes and his words. It was as if she were a little child sitting there beside me. After a while she went back inside to watch the game show network which is what my uncle says she watches all day everyday. He now does all the cooking and cleaning and takes care of her. She can't remember how to do even the simplist of tasks anymore.

I asked him if she remembers anyone and he told me that he is the only one that she recognizes. They have 2 daughters and 4 grandchildren and she does not know any of them anymore.  Sadly there will be a time when she won't know who he is anymore. If any of you have seen the movie: The Notebook, this is a scene right out of the movie. The first time I saw the movie I cried, no...sobbed through the whole movie, because I could see my aunt in the movie.

I needed this time to vent and hopefully this will help anyone who may know someone with a similar situation. Let us remember to thank GOD for our precious memory that we take for granted everyday!

May the Lord Bless each of you who read this.

Sarah