Tuesday, August 31, 2010

A Simple Woman's Daybook

Tuesday, August 31, 2010




For Today…Second day of school, piano lessons and the boys' first kid pitch baseball game tonight.





Outside my window... the sun is shining and it's going to be really hot today...


I am thinking...I'm a little nervous to start Latin today even though I took 2 years of it in high school.  Thankfully, we have a DVD to help us along the way...



I am wearing...a black top and white skirt, red glasses and barefoot!


I am remembering...that I need to always be present in the moment and enjoy it!



I am going...to get everything done today!


I am hoping....that the weather will cool down after this week.



From the learning rooms…learning about Native American Indians, memorizing Psalm 8, and working out the little kinks of starting new curriculum's..




Noticing that... if Nicholas didn't have me watching him he would never get his work done.  He's making train noises and dawdling instead of focusing on his math worksheet.


Pondering these words...Do what you can, with what you have, where you are...
                                     Theodore Roosevelt


From the kitchen…leftovers for lunch and dinner(I love when we can clean the fridge out and hold grocery shopping off another day-I'm determined to stay on budget this month with our groceries)


Around the house...homeschooling, cleaning and starting holiday lists for things I need to make.

One of my favorite things:  rocking chairs on the front porch

A few plans for the rest of the week:  I plan to start painting the table in the kitchen, also plan to hang a couple of more pictures and order some blankets for the boys room.  I'd like to start decorating their room now.

From my picture journal:

(This is Nicholas's photography entry for the fair-I thought he did a great job!)

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Monday, August 30, 2010

First Day of Third Grade




Our first full day back to schoolwork was today.  We've still kept up with reading and math throughout the summer but picked it all back up today. 
It started with a good breakfast of homemade blueberry muffins and orange juice.

This year I'm putting more responsibility into the boys' hands as far as taking control over getting certain assignments done without me telling them everything to do.  Here is their reading requirements and they are required to check them off daily as they get them done.  It worked great today and I think this will be great in teaching them more responsibility as well as time management.



Here is Nicholas...my goofball..


And then Matthew...my people pleaser...


Workin' hard..


It's not all serious...we like to have fun too!!

We finished with our core subjects by 12:30 today which is pretty good considering things took longer today as I had to explain everything new.  They had an afternoon online science class but had the rest of the day for play(and lots of cuddles)...Nini was especially cuddly today (I think he was happy with our new school schedule).
We had baseball tonight and then I made them a favorite for dinner(Pasta with homemade sauce)...
Here's looking foward to a great year!

















Tuesday, August 24, 2010

For Today…It's Tuesday August, 24,2010


Outside my window... it's cloudy, breezy and looks like it might rain.



I am thinking...how I have enjoyed the cool mornings we've had this last couple of days.  I love to sit on the porch in the morning with my coffee and Bible in my rocker enjoying the cool weather.



I am wearing...a simple knit dress, barefoot(always!)


I am remembering...when the boys were really little how they loved to be pushed on the swings.  We got to do that yesterday at the park and it was so much fun.



I am going...to a homeschooling thingy tonight...


I am hoping...to find a 4H club for the boys to join..



From the learning rooms…we are going to start Spelling today.  A full day of school starts Monday so I'll be finishing up lesson plans this week.



Noticing that... some of the leaves are already starting to change.



Pondering these words...Jumping for Joy is great exercise...An Amish proverb..



From the kitchen…making granola today.  Dinner is Venison Chops, rice and tomato salad.


Around the house...Just ordered our living room sofa and chairs yesterday so I'm really excited about that!



One of my favorite things:   Playing a special game I made up with the boys called Grumpy Old Troll(from Dora the explorer) I sing the song after I capture the boys and they have to spell a word for the troll to let them go...they absolutely love this game!


A few plans for the rest of the week:  Finish lesson plans for school-#1 priority!

From my picture journal...
A few of my aprons..

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Thursday, August 19, 2010

Air Hog

Bo Bear has taken a liking to laying on the air vents around the house.  Apparantly, he likes the cold air blowing on his face while he rests...he has such a hard life...

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Rolfe's birthday

My brother, Rolfe was here for his 17th birthday this year.  We were so excited to celebrate with him.  Darryl took him and the boys to Carowinds for the day where they rode the rollar coasters and played at the water park.  When they came home we headed out to dinner.  Rolfe had requested Carolina BBQ for his birthday dinner-so we found a local joint that we all had never been too and brought him there for dinner.


After dinner, we headed home.  He requested homemade peach cobbler for dessert and I made him one earlier that day with fresh peaches from the produce market.

Makin' a wish...

This is a really good wish...


Hope it comes true for you Rolfe!
(I'm pretty sure I knew what his wish was but didn't ask for fear it wouldn't come true)
Happy 17th Birthday Rolfe-We love you!!!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Friday, August 13, 2010

More vacation pictures

These pictures are more random but I wanted to include them from the vacation.
Here is what we all looked like after finishing the bike ride.  After two major rain storms riding through the mud we were covered all the way up our backsides!


Everytime we've biked this trail, Darryl and I have always stopped at the same spot and taked a picture together.  Here is this years snapshot...

Here is Matthew back in the New River. 


Here is Matthew and Randy after a long day-they were passed out!

More vacation pictures-Creeper Trail

We went to the Creeper Trail in Virginia on one of the days of our camping trip.  We, meaning the four of us, have biked this several times but Rolfe and Randy never have so we thought it would be fun for them.  Part of the trail was closed so instead of it being a 17 mile ride it was only 14 miles.  Which was o.k. because, while it's beautiful, we hit two pretty significant rain storms and it was cold and wet and muddy..but still so much fun!!

Here is all of us just starting-see how we are all nice and clean and dry!


This is after the first rain storm.  Thankfully we found a little store to stop at and wait the storm out.




Here's Rolfe-he has aspirations to hike parts of the A.T. so he was excited to find that it crossed our path.


Here is one of the many railroad tressles you cross over.  Nic was a bit nervous because of the height but they are simply stunning with views of the mountains and usually they have waterfalls and raging rock creeks underneath.


Thursday, August 12, 2010

More camping pictures

We all had good luck with fishing.  Nicholas, however, beat us all with the amount of fish he caught.  I didn't get a picture of Rolfe's fish because he was way down river...and well I didn't post mine because..well..I didn't like the picture and it's my blog..so there...

Camping continued

We ate ice cream!

Camping...

A few days after the boys got here we headed for the mountains to camp on the New River.  We all had so much fun!  We swam in the river, we rode the rapids, we played Corn Hole, we played games, we built fires,
we ate a ton and we rode the Creeper Trail.

Here are the boys in the camper...

Here's Randy playing Corn Hole.  We were on a team together for awhile and everyone kept beating us!


Here's Matthew playing-he was really good!

Here's Rolfe playing-he had this really good starburst technique that landed him in the top spots as well!


And well...there's Nic..he just makes us laugh!

Pajama party movie night

Our family's Friday night tradition.  Pajamas, homemade pizza, dessert and movies!!



The visit with my brothers

We had such a great visit together.  I have tons of pictures to show!!
First stop, a local favorite-WhatABurger!!
The boys had Cherry Lemon Sundrops and burgers.
We then headed to Reeds Gold Mine and toured the mines.