Staying Busy and Mary's latest Handiwork

It is that time of year where we are almost overwhelmingly busy. Schooling, sports, activities, fall cleaning and winter preparation. It is hard to stop and take time for photos and writing.

Softball is winding down. Katie's team won the regular season title, and once this rainy period moves off they may be able to begin the tournament.

Katie at bat

Emily's instructional team still have another couple of weekends to play. She has really enjoyed her first experience playing softball and is a good little hitter.

While softball is ending we are entering the heaviest part of Mary's soccer schedule. Her team is doing well so far in the games they have played. They have a 2-1 record, with only two goals scored against them.

At home I am trying to stay ahead of the cleaning and preparation for this winter. Four kids and three kittens make this a real challenge some days.

I have managed to put away 5 qts of chicken stock and 8 pints of beef stock these last couple of weeks to add to our winter stockpile. We have also stopped buying loaf bread at the store. I am attempting to move to more whole foods in an attempt to improve my own health.

I have noticed that the more I stay away from added ingredients in prepared food the better my stomach is and the less tired I feel overall. My mom gave me her bread maker. This has been wonderful, in that I can dump the ingredients and four hours later have a beautiful, healthy loaf of bread. Trying to avoid GMO foods I have developed the following recipe:

3 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 tsp (plus a pinch) salt
1 1/2 tsp yeast
3 TBS local honey
1 cup lukewarm water
1/3 cup lukewarm milk (I get mine from a local, free-range dairy that serves our grocery store)
3 TBS Extra-Virgin Olive Oil

We use this bread for sandwiches and the kids all enjoy it. I find myself making loaves 3-4 days per week to keep up with them.

Mary has really taken to sewing this last year. She often helps our friend teach sewing to younger children and has even helped with an adult class. One of the benefits for us is that Mary is also being taught more advance techniques and learn to complete larger projects.

Recently she took on the job of recovering the cushions for my rocker. After 13 years of continuous use, the existing white cushions were nasty. I picked out the material I wanted (something to bring the colors in the kitchen and family room together) and then Mary went to work. It only took her a few hours at the studio to finish:

A wonderful job and I look forward to many hours this winter sitting here crocheting or reading.

Peace,

Amy

Biweekly Update

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The Fall weather has been drawing us out in the evening for fun by the firepit. It has been nice to take a breath for a little while and catch up with everyone. The big girls have been sharing the campfire songs they learned at camp this year.

We've been busy these last couple of weeks. Emily finished her weather study and selected Continent & Cultures study. Today we put together her world map and colored in the continent of Africa. The first stop on our 'journey'.

Katie has finished up her study on Vikings and spent most of today putting together her "Viking Village" as her finished project for the unit.

Mary provided a little creative direction/suggestions to Katie's project.

Mary's project today was to make a 3D representation of a Slave Ship from Story of the World Vol. 3 (Eventually we will finish vol 3 and move on to vol 4).

We are all having a lot of fun with our unit studies. It has been a really good addition/change to our school.

Katie finished up her softball season this past weekend. She loves playing softball!!

Katie really likes playing catcher! We'll see if she continues to like this position in a couple of seasons when she starts playing in the kid-pitch league.

Mary also had a soccer game on Saturday. Each week her team is getting better and better. Last weekend they had a tie against the Wilmington team. This week they got their first win 3-1, and Mary finally broke through for her first goal of the season. It has taken her so long to get into the swing this season with her knee injury at the very beginning.

This coming weekend we have a rare weekend off from any activities. Still not sure what our plans are. Maybe do nothing but nothing for a change.

Peace,

Amy

September!!!

Wow! I shouldn't have blinked during August because it just disappeared.

We came back from the trip to the beach, picked up Mary in the mountains from camp and promptly became sick for nearly a week. The joys of a stomach bug running through a home of six. I think it took me extra days to just mentally recover from that experience. Thankfully everyone was well enough by the weekend so that we could make it to all the games.

This past weekend was Mary's first soccer tournament of the year, a home tournament. Her team has looked really good in practice so far, but came out to the games looking a little flat. It was a good warm-up to the season which starts after Labor Day.

Mary hurt her knee early on Saturday, so her play was limited Saturday afternoon and Sunday. She played goalie the first half of the first game and looked good. She volunteered to be part of the goalie rotation this year and is doing extra goalie training.

As far as her knee goes everyday it is getting better and we don't believe it is a severe injury. Her knee collided with another's knee. Her coach has limited her practice time this past week and on Tuesday told her that he wanted Mary to take the whole week off from training (Tuesday-Tuesday after Labor Day).

Katie also had a softball game on Saturday. The schedules worked perfectly so that we could see Katie's game in-between Mary's games. Katie's team is doing really well and having lots of fun.

As far as the two little ones go, we are getting used to our go..go..go lifestyle. The back of the van is filled with lots of trucks for moving piles of dirt around, because every field seems to have a playable pile of dirt right next to it. Of course there are trees to climb.

And facilities to explore.

Schoolwork amazingly is still moving along. After six years of homeschooling it appears the children have finally adapted to the ebbs and flows of life and can do schoolwork even with everything else that is going on.

I've finally scored on curriculum choices, as there have been no complaints so far this year about our schoolwork. The biggest hits have been the unit studies. I'm using a couple from Intelligo right now that are so easy to use. Literally click and go.

After Labor Day, Robbie will begin attending a play preschool three mornings a week. The first time one of my children has attended a 'school' outside our home since Mary was in preschool six years ago. It was an opportunity I didn't feel like I could turn down and something that will benefit all of us. I've just got to get used to getting the kids up and ready to leave the house in the morning again. Robbie is very excited and keeps talking about 'his' school.

Right now, we are watching the weather and waiting. We are supposed to head back to the beach for one last summertime visit with the family tomorrow. Hoping that Hurricane Earl speeds on up and moves out as quickly as possible. DH has taken off Friday-Tuesday and we are looking forward to a long, family weekend by the pool.

Have a great holiday!

Peace,

Amy