We are a homeschool family with 5 children (ages 17-3). George and I have been married for 19 years. We breed labs and labradoodles- and have other animals to keep things interesting around here (like you could get bored!). http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kmgadmom/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Thu, 5 Nov 2009 19:23:00 -0600 Thu, 5 Nov 2009 19:23:00 -0600 Here are some of the things we did in October.... George has been taking the kids in our backyard (7 acres) to clear paths.  They made a good one by following the deer paths that were already there. We had a few litters of kittens recently.  David is playing with a few of the kittens in the dollhouse.  The kittens didn't really like being on the second floor! Allie went camping with her girl scout troop.  It was so cold and rainy!  She had a good time though.  Here she is with her Flat Stacey....like flat Stanley. Here's George, Katie and Maddie (all my teens) at the Peanut Festival in Suffolk.  It's our big local event! David and George at Peanut Festival Katie and David at the Peanut Festival Allie at the Peanut Festival George and Allie at the Peanut Festival David.....Peanut Festival This was David's FAVORITE ride....the Orange Whip!  Those bracelets ready paid off.  The kids rode rides AALLLL day long!  They are looking forward to the Peanut Festival next year.  Did you know that Planter's Peanuts started in Suffolk, VA?  Yep!  A guy and his wife... The Obici's came here from Scranton, PA and started Planters Peanuts....hence the Peanut Festival! Driver Days...The Village of Driver in Suffolk, VA holds their annual Driver Days to raise money for their volunteer fire department.  Our Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops meet in Driver, so we got to participate!  Here is George, Maddie and Allie getting ready to line up for the parade. Maddie helps a little Brownie hold the flag during the parade Yep, that's me.  Leader's marched too! Hee, hee!  A potty mobile!  He was in the parade, there was also a lazy boy chair mobile!  They should have combined them! lol Our Girl Scout Troop! Allie- at out face painting table David got his face painted too David was SO excited...he finally got to ride on the train! Halloween.  We went to a friends neighborhood to trick or treat.  Katie and Maddie dressed as rag dolls (they made their own costumes....they even had glittery fake eyelashes and striped tights), George was a zombie graduate, we cut the corner of the hat and attached it to his head, it looked like it was stuck in his head(...one of my biggest fears at graduations! lol), David was a demon.  He didn't keep his mask on long...he didn't want to scare his friends. Allie was a witch. ALL of the kids went to the doors with their pillow cases!  Wow...they got alot of candy!!! My favorite houses were the help yourself houses!  I got a piece of candy there too...sshhhh don't tell! Maddie and Katie George Eric David George (Dad) wore David's mask for most of the night! We had alot of fun.  It was a nice warm night and almost a full moon.  We stopped at Taco Bell for dinner on the way home.  They were really busy and we were not the only people in there in costumes.  I guess we weren't the only ones that did't have dinner before trick or treating! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kmgadmom/742460/ Thu, 5 Nov 2009 19:23:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kmgadmom/742460/     Ok, this is the third time I'm typing this!!!!!  So you get nothing witty this time!  Katie and Maddie got their driving permits today and David and Allie got haircuts!  There you internet goblins......I finally got it posted!   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kmgadmom/711182/ Fri, 24 Jul 2009 22:27:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kmgadmom/711182/ It was a beautiful day today!  Not too hot or humid.  I have been working in the yard and outside all summer.  Today I worked on the back yard a little bit.  George went through with a BIG piece of equipment last year and cleared alot of the mess they left when they clear cut.  I have been mowing more and more of the back.  We've made paths for the kids to ride their bikes.  The back yard is about 7 acres.  Almost half way back we made a clearing and a brick fire pit.  Tonight we roasted hot dogs back there and made s'mores.  It was alot of fun to have all of us back there enjoying what we have worked on.  I carefully packed everything we would need back there.  Of course I would forget something....I forgot napkins.  It wasn't too bad until David was eating his s'more. He had marshmallow all over his face and hands.  I told him to just lick it off.  He turned to George and said "Daddy, you lick it off!"  We all laughed and George did not lick it off.  It was so funny. The cats and our Chihuahua, Roxie were back there too.  Roxie thought she could sneak a little melted marshmallow off of one of the metal skewers, well it got stuck to her fur and she took off down the path with a metal skewer stuck to her!  No, no Chihuahuas were hurt in the making of our s'mores, but it was really funny! Some of the kids swam in the pool for a little bit.  All and all it was a nice holiday! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kmgadmom/583591/ Mon, 1 Sep 2008 20:16:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kmgadmom/583591/ Allie's Room David's built ins! Here's the bottom ones.  You can tell he likes to play in there! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kmgadmom/565015/ Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:44:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kmgadmom/565015/ OMG!  What a summer so far!  I am at work right now.  Being in a tax office in July does leave a little time to get caught up on a few things.  Let's see...Allie and Katie have been to camp already.  George E. decided not to go this year.  Maddie will be going the first full week of August.  I didn't do ANY room cleaning while the kids where gone this year :)  Rooms were kept pretty clean.  The older kids DON'T want me in there, so they kept their rooms clean.  I told Allie that if her room was cleaned up before she left I could do something differant than cleaning in there this time.  She was VERY surprised to come home to a room that was totally painted!  She got Princess Pink and Princess Purple paint for Christmas and we hadn't painted yet.  The bottom 42 inches is purple and the rest to the ceiling is pink.  George built 2 corner shelves to replace her pet net above her tv.  I painted them purple to match the bottom part of the wall.  George installed them up on the pink part.  They look so nice.  I was able to find a white shelf with pegs, already decorated with pink, purple and yellow.  We put that up for her treasures and hung bags and backpacks from the pegs.  I was also able to find a cute shear curtain and topper for her window.  She still had the burgundy curtains up that came with the house!  I will post pictures when I can. The last big construction project we did was split the family room again!  We added 2 small rooms.  One is my craft room and the other is David's room.  They have been in since just after Christmas.  George has been working on built ins for David's room. That's was happens when I get idea magazines!    It came out so nice.  (Once again I will post pictures, I promise).  He built storage cubies all across the bottom of the wall with the window.  Also ones all across the top of the wall.  Then  the rest of that wall have cubbies for David's clothes and a spot of hang  clothes!  It took a gallon of paint to get it covered really well, but WOW! that's alot of storage in a little room!  It only comes out 12" from the wall! Allie went to the Outer Banks for a long weekend with one of her friends from the old neighborhood.  She had a blast!  I can't believe she's old enough already to go away with friends!  George has been working the last 2 weeks out of town with a friend of ours.  He's been able to add his brick work in on the weekends.  George E has been working with him and doing a great job.  When did my kids grow up?  Weren't they just born? We've had a animal population explosion since spring.  We had 2 litters of Labradoodles born on the same day.  That's 13 puppies in the house!  This happened just a few days after the cat had 6 kittens!  They were in the house too!  We have 1 more kitten to find a home for.  David named this black cat "Charlie".  We have 6 more Labradoodles to find homes for.  Summer and Denny, our yellow labs, just had a litter of 7 yellow babies 2 weeks ago.  Allie got a bunny for Easter and I just picked up another one while she was away.  Katie adopted a Guinea Pig from a friend.  The piggy's name is now Titan.  Katie will soon be getting one of Titan's brothers!  I think that's it.  Expect for the critters the cats bring home, but we don't need to feed them.  Looks like we will have more Labradoodles in about 2 months.  This time the Mommy will be Allie's chocolate lab-Angel.  The Dad is our Standard poodle- Casey. Let's see.. we are also keeping up with some studies.  We are working on American Government.  I drew a tree on our chalkboard wall.  David walked in said it looked fingers.  I know it was a poor rendition, but I needed to respresent the 3 branches of gov't.  We labeled them with the appropriate names, talked about their jobs, learned all this great gov't stuff, then the kids declared my tree looked more like a chicken foot!  We now have the "gov't chicken foot".  At least they will NEVER forget what each toes is labeled! I think that's enough updates for now.  I'll add pictures soon...really!  Why are you laughing? http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kmgadmom/562399/ Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:03:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kmgadmom/562399/ Maddie was at the Oceanfront in Virginia Beach for 3 days this week. It was a Girl Scout trip, but the girls didn't want to let anyone else who was on Spring Break to know!  They had every minute of Tuesday afternoon, all day Wednesday and Thursday morning planned with activities.  They spent some time at the beach, did some service projects, went to the Virginia Aquarium, went out on a boat and hiking (cleaning up) at the state park.  Here are some pictures that she came back with. Alex and Maddie making shadow pictures on the beach. Maddie kissing a fish statue at the beach.  She did say she would kiss a fish while she was gone! The girls out on the boat.  They went out on the Atlantic. Sunrise over the Atlantic. Self portrait of Maddie!  Oh look, her wallpaper border is "falling" down! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kmgadmom/506626/ Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:20:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kmgadmom/506626/ George took Allie and David to the church's Easter Egg Hunt.  They had lots of fun.  They played on the big blow-up slide, played games and did an Easter Egg Hunt. David on the slide with some friends. Allie with her full basket! David, just starting out!!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kmgadmom/502757/ Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:03:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kmgadmom/502757/ It was time!  We finally got David's haircut.  He's a big boy now!  George took him to the mall to get his haircut.  George E got his hair trimmed too.  This was David's first haircut.  He sat in the chair and did everything he was told!  He was such a good boy!  He looks so grown up now! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kmgadmom/500433/ Tue, 18 Mar 2008 09:38:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kmgadmom/500433/ For those of you who don't know, I took on a full time job! AHHH!  It's been very nice to get out of the house, but hard to keep things here going the way I would like them to.  I am only working full time until April 15th, then it becomes a part time job.  Homeschooling is going slow, but going.  We are trying to incorporate more life situations into our schooling.  Wednesday night was the lunar eclipse which was really neat!  We got to see the moon totally covered by the shadow before the clouds took over the sky! Working at night has disrupted any normal dinner we might have been having!  I have set aside time in the mornings to make something for the freezer, for use later.  Today I made stuffed shells.  I thought I would post the recipe here for anyone who is interested.  They are very good and convient because you only take out what you will use at the time. Cheese Filled Shells (from the 30 day gourmet)  Makes 40 shells 12 oz box of jumbo shells 32oz ricotta or cottage cheese 16 oz shredded mozzarella cheese 3/4c grated parmesan cheese 3 eggs 3/4t oregano 1/2t salt 1/2t pepper Cook jumbo shells 1/2 of recommended time until just limp.  Drain.  cool in a single layer on pan or waxed paper.  Combine cheeses, eggs, oregano, salt and pepper.  Fill each shell with 2T cheese mixture.  Freeze shells in a single layer on a lined cookie sheet or large cake pan.  When frozen place shells in ziploc bag.  Cooking: thaw cheese filled shells, Spread spaghetti sauce in bottom of baking pan.  Arrange shells in dish.  Pour more sauce over shells.  Warm at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Yesterday I made a big batch of Buttermilk pancakes!  Yumm-O!  Hopefully I can cook faster than everyone can eat!!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kmgadmom/485724/ Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:50:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kmgadmom/485724/ October- very busy!  We have done so much.  I can't imagine what the upcoming holiday season will hold for us if October was so busy. Here are some highlights... Oct 1- Girl Scout rededication ceremony.  Katie, Maddie and Allie have each been in Girl Scouts since they were 4 or 5.  This is Katie's 11th year, Maddie's 9th year and Allie's 5th year.  This is my 11th year as a leader!  This year I have Katie's troop, they are Seniors (9-12th grade).  They are a blast to work with, I'm really enjoying the older girls.  I have been a Daisy leader, Brownie leader and Junior leader in the past.  Last year I had 3rd grade Brownies (with none of my own kids), since we all meet together on Monday nights I still get to see them every week!  We had a great time at the rededication.  The whole family went and enjoyed dinner and the ceremony. Oct 2- George E had Boy Scouts. Oct 4- We all spent the day at the Virginia Air and Space Museum.  They held their annual homeschool open house.  We all went and took our neighbor and her son.  It's a really neat museum with tons of exhibits.  We saw alot of people we hadn't seen in a long time! Oct 5- off to Pennsylvania for George's counsin's wedding.  The kids and I took the van and George drove his new motorcycle.  The kids and I made a few stops in PA when we got there.  Surprised a few of my friends!  We stayed the night with George at his Mom's house.  We camped out ALL over the living room! Oct 6- We were able to visit with George's family.  We had a great time with his Mom and all 3 of his sister's where there.  We had a nice dinner with them.  Katie, George E and Allie spent the night at Nana's house.  Maddie and David spent the night with my sister Crista.  George and I were able to go out that night!  We met my sister at a neat Irish Pub, then met my friend Kelly and her husband and saw a friend of mine from high school play with his band.  We had so much fun, laughing and visiting.  George and I spent the night (just us!) at a hotel! Oct 7-  This was the day of the wedding.  We picked up the kids-all dressed and ready and headed to the wedding.  It was a really neat Greek ceremony!  George's Aunt Irene and her family are Greek.  They had a beautiful and meaningful ceremony.  David really wasn't interested.  He wanted to go outside and play with the rocks!  So, he and I played with the rocks!  After the wedding, we split the kids back up to the houses they stayed at the night before.  George and I enjoyed the reception.  We were able to use the dance lessons we took at the beginning of the year.  He and I spent our night at the hotel again.  Nice and quiet!  We missed the kids, but knew they were having a good time too! Oct 8-  George had to come home on this day. We gathered up the kids and headed to one of our favorite diners.  We had a nice breakfast together, then he came back home on the motorcycle.  I took the kids to the outlets in Tannersville.  They had fun looking around.  After that I took them to the candle shop in Henryville.  My mom used to take me there when I was little.  It was really fun.  After we left there, I took the kids to Big Pocono State Park.  It was beautiful to look out and see the changing leaves.  From here you can see 3 states- Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York!  Maddie and Allie thought was was really neat!!! Oct 9- We went to a really neat place where rocks are moved to make differant formations.  There was a "letterbox" there, so we tried to find it.  We couldn't find it but had fun seeing the formations.  Maddie, Allie and I had a mini photo shot with the rock there. There are great pictures.  After that I took the kids to Delaware Water Gap to see where the glacier carved through a mountain a long time ago.  I got to tell them about the Delaware River and all the fun canoe and tubing trips I took on it when I was there age. Oct 10- We got to have lunch with my friend Lynn and her 5 kids (plus her neice).  13 people for lunch at the Pizza Hut buffet! Too much fun!  The kids were asking us about all the things she and I did together when we were teenagers!  Everyone has that one friend that you always get in trouble with!  I was hers and she was mine!!!!  It was fun to visit with her family! The apple doesn't fall far from the tree...by the time we left the kids were all spitting spit balls!  We just laughed!  Later that day we went letterboxing with Crista and the twins.  We followed the clues to find one in Stroudsburg.  It was in front of someone's house.  It was neat to find one.  Then we headed back to find the one we couldn't find before.  We did finally find it.  Actually Maddie found it right before Crista got there.  After playing there for a little while, Crista headed home and we went to Coco Solo's for dinner. It's one of our tourist stops every time we are in town.  Crista's friend's family owns it and we get to visit with them while we eat hot dogs, cheese steaks and perogies!!!  After dinner we ALWAYS have to have their ice cream!!! We did get to visit with my mom, stepfather Tom and Crista, Mike and their twins.  There was just TOO much to do in such a short amount of time. Oct 11-  We started home.  We were hoping to visit the Philadelphia Zoo on the way home, but it was POURING!!!  We decided it wasn't a good zoo day.  Maybe next time.  The older kids wanted to stop in Baltimore to visit Duff from Food Network.  His shop is not open to the public so that was out too.  So straight home it was. Oct 12- I had a dr's appt then took the kids to soccer practice.  Maddie's Girl Scout troop was camping at First Landing State park.  After soccer practice I took her to the camp site.  Allie and I stayed for alittle bit and had dinner with them. Oct 13- David and I took Allie to Allie's soccer game.  After the game we went to Maddie's camp site.  Her troop was going to the Young Chef's academy to make homemade pasta and earn an Interest Project badge.  We visited for alittle bit before they went. Oct 14- Maddie came back from camping. Oct 15- Katie and Maddie had co-op classes, then the girls had Girl Scouts in the evening. Oct 16- George E had a Boy Scout meeting Oct 19- Soccer practice for Maddie and Allie Oct 20- Soccer games for Maddie and Allie.  Then we RAN to the mall and I got my hair and nails done for the Navy Ball.  I was able to go the the Ball with my neighbor!!!  He husband's ship is out to sea, so I got to be her date.  I had a great time with her and the ladies from the ship! Oct 21- Started going to a new church.  It was really nice.  We felt very welcome.  Allie and David enjoyed their classes.  I knew the Children's minister and the Youth minister from other churches so that was nice. In the evening we had Girl Scout roller skating.  I got to skate alittle.  I didn't realize how sore I was from dancing the night before until I got out on the rink!!!!  Maddie and Allie had fun with their friends.  I got to visit with adults and that was nice! Oct 22- Co-op and Girl Scouts Oct 23- Boy Scouts Oct 26- 2 museums in Portsmouth had homeschool open houses for the first time.  George went in with the kids and I spent FOREVER trying to find a parking place (reminded me too much of parking in Washington DC).  I finally found a spot that would accomidate a large 12 passenger van!!!!  ARGH!  I finally meet up with them in the Va Sports Hall of Fame Museum.  They have alot of displays and information.  We worked on a Girl Scout patch while we were there.  We then went to a Chinese Buffet that was right there.  You could tell it was homeschool day!!!  Big families and strollers EVERYWHERE!  It was a good lunch. We were all refreshed and ready to hit the next museum.  That was the Children's museum.  The kids had a great time in here.  George couldn't stay because he had to run errands for work.  But I was nice to spend most of the day with him!  David was so cute in the museum.  There is a place for the little ones to play in with a gate, so they can't run away!  I took him out of the stroller and let him throught the gate to play.  He was SO funny.  He is almost always in the stroller when we go anywhere.  He just kept looking at me like...I can play?  He finally got the hang of it and had a great time. I ended up buying a membership for the yeat because the kids had such a great time!  Soccer practice was rained out. (Yay!) Oct 27- Soccer game was rained out!!!  Nice quiet day!! Sold puppies. Oct 28- church Oct 29- co-op and Girl Scouts.  At Girl Scout my Senior troop was in charge of a Halloween Carnival.  They did a great job planning and working in each room.  After the Carnival each troop had a small party in their own rooms.  We all dressed up and had a fun time! Oct 30-  I had an Orthodontic evaluation appt for Katie.  It was really interesting.  I learned alot.  Katie was born without adult 2 adult teeth.  They are the ones next to the big front teeth.  Actually on one side she had a piece of a tooth, but not a whole one.  The Dentist let me know what all the options were for changing, removing and replacing teeth in her mouth.  The one plan would pull out the little piece of tooth allowing her adult eye tooth to come down on that side.  Then putting on braces to to move her teeth making room to replace the 2 that are missing with a bridge. Katie is going to take is slow and one step at a time.  She's going to have the little piece of tooth removed and see if the eye tooth will come down.  Then she will make decisions from there.  It was Boy Scouts at night! Oct 31- Halloween.  We haven't really done anything outside the house for Halloween for years.  I let the kids dress up this year and go trick or treating.  We went to our friends development.  There's just not much out here for Trick or Treating.  The kids got LOTS of candy.  David was so cute...  He was dressed in the little cow costume I made YEARS ago.  He couldn't believe we would let him just walk up to someone's door.  We are always trying to keep him with us!  Not only could he go up to the door, but they would give him CANDY and say how cute he was!!!!  After that we went back to our friends house for dinner and snacks.  They had their church group there and invited us to join them!  Yummy! That's some highlights for October.  I know I missed stuff and we really did school work sometime in there too!  November is shaping up to be busy too!!!!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kmgadmom/417702/ Tue, 30 Oct 2007 09:49:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/kmgadmom/417702/