Monday, June 1, 2009 - Weekend Adventures

What a busy weekend we had! My Brownie Troop and I spent Friday night at Carowinds Camp Wilderness campground. We had a grand time. I personally would not recommend the campground if you are looking for a peaceful, spacious visit. The sites are quite small and the campground is in the flight path of Douglas International Airport. We were also subjected to the trains running on one side of the grounds and the sounds of traffic from 77 on the other. We also learned that they test the rides very early in the morning. We were on the back side of one of the big coasters. But the girls really enjoyed the playground and free Putt-Putt. Saturday we spent enjoying the rides. I think the girls’ favorite was White Water Falls where they got thoroughly soak on the ride and standing on the observation deck. I love roller coasters and we all (except our one Daisy) rode the Carolina Cyclone. This trip was the end of the year event that the girls’ choose to spend their Cookie money on. It also was the last event I had as a Brownie Girl Scout Leader. I had decided that where my daughter was now a Cadet and I really did not get to do much with her that I would “retire” this year. I hope that this will give me more opportunities to spend time with her on her Scouting adventures.

My daughter had her last Program Aid Training sleepover Friday night so she did not come with me to the campout. There was an issue Saturday with her leader though that irritated us totally. They got done early (11:00) with their shopping. My husband was at my son’s ball game and I was in the park. One of her leaders took it upon herself to drive my daughter home without notifying either of us. She dropped her off at the house with no one there. She was locked out and had no way to contact anyone. When my husband arrived at where he was to pick her up at 2:00, no one was there so he called me. I had no idea what to tell him, so we frantically began to make calls. I got a hold of her leader and she told me that she had dropped her off at our house. So I kept calling the house trying to reach her not thinking that she would be locked out. I let my husband know what had happened and he flew home to find her sitting in the garage. She told us that she had tried to call me but kept getting an error message. Luckily she was safe and sound but we were furious with her leader not contacting us or even waiting to make sure she could get into the house. Needless to say, this will not happen again.

Sunday, the kids and I spent the day recuperating from our adventures. My husband was called in to work, but will have Thursday off instead. This will work out good because we are going to the beach for the weekend. We have another busy week of softball games, my daughter’s library training, dentist appointments and getting ready to go away ahead of us. Don’t you just love summer?

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Friday, May 29, 2009 - My Daughter Bridges to Cadets

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Last night, amidst torrential downpours outside, the sun was shining on us as our Girl Scout troops had their end of the year Bridging Ceremony. My daughter moved up to Cadets. They made special notice of her achievements. She was the first in her troop to achieve her Bronze Award, the highest award given to Juniors, earlier this year and earned the most Junior Badges, 32, The Sign of the Rainbow and the Sign of the Star. Earlier this year she received her Junior Aid Award and last night she received her Program Aid Pin so she can work at Girl Scout camp this summer. They also made mention again that when she was in Brownies, she was the first girl from there to earn every Brownie Try-it (there were 60). She is already looking through the Cadet book and choosing the badges she wants to work on over the summer. They called her their “over-achiever” but I call her “self-motivated” and I am so very proud of her achievements.

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Friday, May 22, 2009 - The Ones that Didn't Get Away

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Today my dad took my son fishing. They had an especially wonderful time. They both caught the fish they were hoping for.

My son caught this 2 1/2 lb bass.

They brought this one home to clean so that my son could take it with him tonight to his Boy Scout campout. He was so excited to be able to cook it over an open fire this weekend.

But the real story actually belongs to my dad. Check out this whopper of a gar.

If you are not familiar with this fish, let me tell you it's actually a pretty scary thing. That long nose is filled with with very sharp teeth. My dad loves to fish and has been trying to land a big one like this for a while. Way to go, Daddy!

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Wednesday, May 20, 2009 - More School Year Thoughts

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We didn’t get to take very many field trips this year and we had to basically stop the skating lessons. Besides the rising cost of fuel, concerns about the economy caused us to limit those things deemed extra. But the kids had another very persuasive motivation to keep them focused on completing their assignments. Both the kids worked hard so that they could spend time with their Pépère fishing and other things. I can’t say it enough how wonderful it is for them to have this special time with their grandparents. I think the lessons they learn from them out way anything they could learn from busy-work.

(1st real catch on day out with Pépère)

(Last week, I think)

(Dad's catch that day)

*** Pictures courtesy of my Dad***

If I was to sum up this school year, I would have to say that despite some of the struggles we have had to deal with academically and the adjustment to me working at home part time for the Old Schoolhouse Magazine it was a very good year. I think the kids have discovered a lot more about themselves this year than any other year. They have learned how to step outside the textbooks and expand upon the things that interest them without me making it an assignment. They have become more self-reliant while still coming to us for help when they need it. And their understanding of how God is working in their lives has been awesome to see. If they had only learned those things I would consider this school year to have been be a great success.

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Tuesday, May 19, 2009 - Some 2009 School Moments for Son

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This has been a trying first year of high school for my son. Although we found help for him in his Algebra and he appears to have a good understanding of the concepts, we will need to continue working on it throughout the summer. It is probably better this way so that when he is finished we can get right into Algebra 2. After his visit with my uncle last month, he is just as determined to go into engineering so he has really begun to focus on getting the math down.
He has continued on with his own experiments with critters. Currently he is raising tadpoles. One has grown into a tiny frog he has created a habitat for in a 2.5 gallon tank. The thing is so tiny that it was really hard to get a good picture but you get the idea.

He also found a dead snake so he decided to skin it and dry the skin. I won’t be using those pins for sewing again.

The end result after a week or so of drying in the sun. The skin feels like paper.

(took this today)

Another self-taught, self-motivated project he decided to do was that he took a few days and built a canoe. He used branches he cut from the brush in the back woods and lashed them together to make the frame. Then he covered the whole thing with a piece of pool liner he got from our now dismantled above ground pool. (We had had the pool for over 15 years and the liner was beyond repair. We opted not to replace it and to take it down, but that is another story.) It may not be pretty, but I think he did a wonderful job. We have yet to test it out, though. We really don’t have much access to shallow water ( I told him we were NOT trying it in the Catawba River) and I’m really apprehensive about its sea worthiness, but I think it was really a neat thing to do.

In addition to still working with the Cub Scout troop as Den Chief and Patrol Leader in his Boy Scout troop, he continues to work on his Eagle project. He putters around the house with all sorts of projects. When his older brother comes over, he helps him work on a pick-up truck he is building. He is currently studying the driver’s manual to get his permit and works around the neighborhood doing old jobs. He is growing up so fast and has become an awesome young man.

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Monday, May 18, 2009 - Some 2009 School Moments for Daughter

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We have completed our required 180 days for school but we continue on. With the struggle the kids have had this year with some of their subjects, especially math, we have been taking those slowly making sure that the concepts are completely understood. I have seen a lot of self-directed learning going on this year in addition to the traditional book stuff. I wish I had taken more pictures of the kids working, but just didn’t think of it.

Earlier this year my daughter did an in depth study of her favorite topic; weather. We did several experiments, but our favorite was making a tornado in a bottle. We adapted the creation of our tornado maker by drilling a hole in the lids of the 2 liter bottles before using duct tape to join them. The results were really cool.

(Adding glitter "debris" to the colored water)

(Assembling the "tornado" with duct tape)

(Creating the vortex)

(Observation)

She also did the baking soda and vinegar experiment to learn about air pressure.

(Adding the baking soda to the colored vinegar)

(Trying to keep the balloon on)

(End result)

She also taught herself how to sew beads onto a homemade headband. It came out very pretty.

This year I have watched as my daughter has begun to really master her academics and grow into a personable young lady. She has begun to work on her feelings of frustration when she doesn’t meet her own expectations and is making strides in that department. We have recently started using the Beautiful Girlhood and Companion Guide to Beautiful Girlhood and made it our special time together. We have been enjoying each other’s company while watching the Dr. Quinn series on DVD. It is wonderful sharing these moments with her and to see her bright mind and keen intellect question and discuss the various episodes. We began watching them for the fun of it, but she has made it a learning adventure for both of us. In spite of me trying to learn to find a balance between working at home and homeschooling, we have had a very good year together.

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Tuesday, May 5, 2009 - The Ants go Marching

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Along with blooming flowers, budding trees, and returning bees, spring brings to our home unwelcome visitors; ants! Those tiny creatures find their way onto my kitchen counter every year. They drive me crazy and give me the creeps. No matter how diligent we are about keeping the counter and sink clear of crumbs and food debris, I spend a few weeks every spring battling them. We used to have a pest control guy come in and spray but that didn’t stop the problem so we stopped that. I have tried all kinds of old time recipes to wage war on them. We have put pepper, cinnamon, chili powder and mint leaves in their paths. I read that bay leaves dipped in mouthwash might work too. We have offered them meals of oatmeal, grits and rice. I have heard that they won’t cross chalk lines, but they haven’t met our invaders.  They just find our weakest front and go around. We know for sure that window cleaner stops them dead, but only the ones you see. We now keep it on the counter for a quick annihilation of the varmints. My counters should be shining. After doing some more research, the kids and I have been experimenting with other remedies. We learned that if you spread petroleum jelly in their paths they won’t cross it. We tortured a few ants by making petroleum jelly circles around them and it seemed to work. So we took off the plug plates where we have seen them coming and going and smeared the petroleum jelly around it. I sure hope this works.

Whenever I wake up to the counter filled with black dots moving all over, I think about the time when I was first married and we lived in a third floor apartment. I came home from work and opened the door to be welcomed to the entire floor covered with them. No lie. Just about the whole kitchen floor was a moving black mass. I totally freaked out and refused to go back into the apartment until the landlord had got rid of them all. He cleaned them out, but they kept returning. He finally had to cut down the tree that was beside our porch which was how they were getting up to our apartment. Problem solved, but as long as we lived there I always looked in the window before opening the door.

Proverbs 6:6-8
Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.

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Monday, May 4, 2009 - Calling out for Prayer

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I had something else in mind to post tonight, but we just learned that one of our son's Scout leaders past away this morning. He was an awesome man of God who desired the scouts to develop personal relationships with God. He helped the boys earn their religious emblems and ecouraged themto not only keep the Boy Scout code but to follow God's direction for their lives. He has school-age children. This is a great lost to our community and to his family. Our hearts are breaking. Please pray for them that they will find comfort in their time of sorrow.

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Friday, May 1, 2009 - New Hair-Do

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This week has been filled with fun and firsts. Fishing trips, Girl Scout campout, visiting relatives, first time I was home alone in probably 20+ years, first time using a tiller, and then there is a first for my 12-year old daughter. She got her first perm. She is a lot like me in that she prefers a no-fuss hair-do, and unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your view) her hair is wavy but not curly making it hard for her to get it to do anything without a hassle. She often put on headbands and scarves to control the fly away hair and hates it to be on her face. So we talked about it and decided to go for it. Anybody remember going through this?

She is quite happy with the results. (Somebody stop her! She's growing up so fast!  )

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Wednesday, April 29, 2009 - Gardening 101

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This week we have been working and learning in the garden. We had been trying to get to it for several weeks, but circumstances and weather seemed to hinder our progress. My husband has been away for the past few weeks so I decided to take matters into my own hand. I had never tilled the soil with the tiller before and was a little intimidated by it, but decided to give it a try. It turns out that it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. The kids and I took turns and were able to make short work of the task.

We tilled the soil Monday and spread the fertilizer.

We let the garden sit for a day, watering it so the fertilizer would get into the soil.
Yesterday we planted. We first created the paths by laying down newspaper and cedar mulch from the tree we had cut down a few weeks ago. 

Willow insisted on helping.

Then we tried to make our own irrigation system by drilling small holes into an old hose. Unfortunately that did not work as I thought. The water would only go about 20 feet then it stopped. Drat, but lesson learned. 

I was going to cut the hose into sections, buy the connections and make my own system, but after pricing the fittings out it ended up being cheaper to buy the drip hoses. So we laid them out in the garden and hitched up the water. Then we planted the tomatoes my Dad had started (he is an awesome gardener). We also planted broccoli, green bean, peas, pumpkin, and sunflower seeds in the rows. My son had started some watermelon plants so he put those in his own little section.

I am looking forward to seeing how our garden grows this year. A neighbor has offered to teach me how to can this year. I have made jellies in the past, but never canned vegetables. We usually eat just about everything that we harvest, but I am hoping to have an abundance to can.
The kids really enjoyed working in the yard the past few days. They even enjoyed the garden math and science I made them do (how many square feet, how much fertilizer needed, how much space between plants/rows, when will the plants germinate, etc…). I love the benefits of being able to teach my kids the life skills of having a garden.

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Tuesday, April 28, 2009 - Family

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When the guys returned from their fishing trip they went straight to my parent’s house. We met there to celebrate my Dad’s birthday.

My son and his fiancé.

So happy hubby was home.

After we went home I received a call from my mom that my Aunt and Uncle were going to be there in a bit. I was so excited. We see them every few years or so. They are my Godparents and I am always thrilled to see them. So after dinner at home we went over and spent some time catching up. They were so tickled by how the kids have grown. I wish I had taken more pictures.

My son had asked to sit down with my uncle, who had been an engineer for Polaroid, for a little career counseling.  He is thinking about being an engineer, but really wanted to get a better idea of what is involved. He really enjoyed his one-on-one time with his namesake.

I so love visiting with the relatives and appreciate the opportunity for my children to know them. What a blessing they are!

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Monday, April 27, 2009 - Lonely Weekend

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This past weekend was so quiet for me. My husband, sons and Dad went on their annual fishing trip. Then my daughter went on a campout with her Girl Scout troop, so I was all alone for 2 days. I had been looking forward to having time all to myself but once they were gone I missed them. How crazy is that? I had no one to take care of but myself and you would think that I would have enjoyed the peace and quiet, but I found that I felt aimless. I worked on a few projects and watched chick-flicks on the Hallmark channel, but still wished for the interruptions. I was really happy when they were all back home again.
They all had a great time, though the fish weren’t biting much. They also came home a little redder from all the sun they got and quite tired. So funny that when they go on vacations they need a few days of rest to recuperate. I sent the camera along with the guys so they could take some pictures.

They took this picture of the smoke cloud from the huge fire in North Myrtle Beach.

What trip to the state park is complete without a visit to the nature center.

They enjoyed each other's company and relaxing.

They fished for hours and did catch a few fish.

The guys in my life.

 

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Thursday, April 23, 2009 - Spring is in Bloom

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The azaleas in the front of our house are in full bloom. A sure sign that spring has come.

This may be the last year for the purple ones. They have become gigantic, but the blooms are diminishing every year. We planted them the first year we moved here 17 years ago. They were cuttings from someone else’s bushes, mere sticks with tiny root balls. Over the years we have trimmed them trying to keep them from overgrowing the house, but now they have become almost unmanageable. So, when we finally get the ambition, we have decided to remove them and plant a more manageable flower bed. But until then they will continue to house the birds and rabbits that often seek shelter within their branches.

The white and pink ones will stay as they have begun to fill in very nicely and are a different variety that seems to do better than the purple.

They are really beautiful close up. They remind me of a bridal bouquet.

We took a little time this week to observe the bees collecting nectar. Although I’ve seen it before, I was still fascinated by the way the bees would go from one flower to another, but skipping ones that had been visited by another bee. We were able to get close enough to see the pollen on the ‘fur’ of the bee and to watch as they dipped their heads inside the flower. I tried to get pictures but my camera really does not take very good close ups of insects, which is really too bad because it seems our household is totally fascinated with the tiny critters around us. The kids really enjoy this part of science.

Nature studies are our favorite science projects and I don't think we will ever be too old to appreciate the wonders of God's creation.

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Thursday, April 9, 2009 - My Blog Doth Suffereth

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Busy. Have I said that before? It seems to be the word of the year. And I love it. Some weeks are crazier than others, as this one seems to be, but I love having things to do. I don't think boredom will ever be an issue. But finding the time to blog has fallen to the wayside.

This weekend we enjoyed the beautiful weather and cleaned up the yard. My husband finally got a yard tractor (which we learned is a bit different from a lawn tractor) and was able to mow. The clover had become so thick that the dogs were able to crouch down and disappear into the sea of green waiting to pounce as someone (or the cat) walked by. The flower beds are cleaned out of weeds and a fresh layer of mulch laid. We weren't able to till the garden but where the weather turned cold again this week that wasn't a bad thing. We'll get to that this weekend. The kids and I have taken a break this week from the traditional schooling and have been focusing on home economics by cleaning out the closest and replenishing them with a trip the Goodwill. Tuesday was my son's fiancé’s birthday so we took them out to Subway for lunch. Yesterday we had a tree service come in and take down a tree that was blocking the entry into the back yard. It looks so weird and I was amazed at how much sun shines through now. One of the workers who took down the tree was a former student of mine. He is now 21 and married. How time truly flies. Yesterday was also my eldest’s birthday. He turned 23. Unbelievable. How can he be 23 when his dad is still 29 (so he says) ?

The kids had physicals last week and I had to take the 15 year old for x-rays to check for scoliosis. I finally got a hold of someone with the results Monday. They say that he does have it but it is only slight. They are supposed to call with an appointment with the orthopedics. If I don't hear anything by tomorrow, I'll be bugging them again Monday. I have been researching to learn more. I am not too concerned because I know God is in control, but I still don't want to wait for treatment. Today I am taking him to the orthodontist for a consultation. We know he needs braces but I wanted a second opinion as to what extent. He is as thrilled as you might guess.

My daughter helped my mom clean out her closest yesterday and will be going fishing again with my dad while we are at the orthodontist. She is really enjoying spending time with her grandparents and what a true blessing it is that they are an active part of my children’s lives.

I have been busy with many projects at work and loving it. I really like my job and all the great folks that I work with. What a blessing it is to be doing all the things I love to do. I can homeschool my children and be wife and mom and also have a job that fits into that first love.

Sunday we will be celebrating my son's birthday, along with his finance's birthday and the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior. Life is so good.

With all this going on I have had little time to keep up on my blog. I really strive to post something every day, but sometimes I just don't think I have anything anyone would want to read about. When I write about my family it is not just to keep folks updated but to share with others the normalcy that we have in our life. There is so much drama, pain and sadness in the world I find it a relief when I read about normal, happy homes with the day to day simplicity of living. So if you stopped by here for a soap operatic blurb, you've come to the wrong place. The Guiding Light in the Days of Our Lives As the World Turns for All My Children is Jesus! We have One Life to Live so we are not Young and Restless but Bold and Beautiful for Him.

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