Field Trip Wednesday

We spent most of Tuesday here at the house while the chimney was being repaired and cleaned. The children really enjoyed watching him work and asked lots of questions, and since he really is a good guy he enjoyed answering their questions and showing them exactly what he was doing. It was close to three when he finally finished and we could finally run to the grocery store. I really wanted to stock up on some more meat and chicken while the store was running their sale.

With it being the warmest day so far, we cooked on the grill and had our first watermelon of the year. Mmmm, sticky faces and fingers. I was convinced to move this old piece of furniture that has a due date already with the landfill to the back deck.



It does provide a soft comfortable sky-watching spot. But, what does it say about us? DH joked about bringing out a floor lamp so I could finally have that quiet reading spot.


Today, piano lessons were canceled, which provided the opening I needed this week for an actual field trip. After checking the weather and determining that we needed an indoor activity, we finally settled on the Museum of Life and Science. One of our very favorite hands-on science museums. I realized that it has been nearly a year since we had been there. The last time it was hot, hot, hot and I was carrying Robbie in the sling & pushing Emily in the stroller. Gee, I wonder why it has taken a year for us to get back.

This time I didn't have to carry anyone and only occasionally push Robbie in the stroller. We had so much fun...
Cloud Cauldron

A very active copperhead snake that drew everyone's attention

Watch that step! You might...
Slip!

Honestly, he thought this was absolutely hilarious and did it all over again.

Whoever designed this little hands-on activity for toddlers did not have a son like Robbie. Yeah, I want to teach him how to open even more locks.

The butterfly house...as always absolutely amazing.
This moth was just emerging from its cocoon.
Emily spent a lot of time matching up what she was seeing with her guide.


A little play time with centrifical force.

With the weather being what it was we skipped the outdoor animal exhibits and train ride for the day. We have a renewed membership, so we will be heading back soon.

Peace,

Amy

Memorial Day

For a holiday we spent very little of our day in down time.

Since we are a "biking" family now, DH decided to take the two bigger ones on a trail ride. Since we had no idea what shape the trails were, we decided that I would stay home with the younger two for this ride.
To ease the pain of being left behind, I pulled out the 'special' paper for Emily to color on.

The bikers returned around noon with great reports and a little pouting over the fact that daddy wouldn't take them on the 22-mile ride. Now we know that one bike trail has a playground/picnic area and the other one they stopped by, but didn't ride is actually paved even though the website list it as dirt. Good to know since Emily is on training wheels. Both are within 10 miles of our house, so I see a lot of riding in our future.

DH had a tee time at 2pm, so we were on our own for the afternoon. Mary settled herself in with the legos, while Katie headed back to her bedroom to play with her stuffed animals. Robbie was down for his nap, and that left me with Emily. We decided it would be a good day to lay outside and just relax. We closed our eyes and practiced listening to the birds and the wind. We would have enjoyed watching the clouds, but it was such a beautiful day there were none to watch. I actually managed to get a half-an-hour out of Emily before she ran off to play in the sandbox. Darn, I had to entertain myself by reading.

When Robbie woke up we headed out to the playground the girls had been 'dying' to go to all weekend. We really had a good time until one of the meanest groups of nine-year-old girls I have ever had the pleasure to be around show up. Seriously, the entire time I watched them play with Mary, I had flashbacks to Middle School. They totally had the eye-roll, hands of hips, sneer going on. Finally when I heard them taunting Mary about being homeschooled, I just had to call her over and talk to Mary. But, before she walked away she did ask the leader "Do you like school?" and when the girl responded with "Not really," Mary replied, "then why would I want to go?" I was kind of proud of her. We still had a talk about choosing what types of people we want to be around and how you don't have to play with someone just because they are there.

The kids were hot and getting hungry, the run in with the mean girls had put the damper on Mary's enthusiasm so we headed home. I set the kids up with some paint, stencils and paper while I put together our pizzas for dinner. DH got home just as I was pulling the pizzas out of the oven. We ate, DH fixed Katie's bike (the chain had fallen off) and they took off on an evening ride through the neighborhood.

I put a very tired Robbie in the bath, checked him for ticks (they are everywhere this Spring) and put him to bed. The rest of the gang stayed outside playing until after 9pm.

It was a very long and enjoyable day!

Peace,

Amy

Holiday Weekend

The weather this May has been almost perfect. We have yet to be hit with a real heat wave. In fact most mornings it is still rather chilly. The windows have been open all May, giving us the wonderful feeling that we are almost a part of the natural world around us. We spend as much time outside as we can get away with. Now that we all have bicycles, and finally a carrier for Robbie, it is really easy for us all to get out and go places.


Today Mary and I rode our bikes to the grocery store to pick up some specials in the meat department and a few other things we needed for the week. Riding the bike with limited carrying space really helps as it keeps me from buying way too many spur-of-the-moment items. For whatever reason I have done so well staying within our grocery budget, which is helping with all the other outgoing expenses we are incurring.

This weekend we have been mainly hanging around. DH did have to work on Saturday, but once he was finished we headed over to his parent's house where the girls ran around in the woods and I chased Robbie. Had our cookout there, DH helped his parents with a few repairs before they leave for their summer home in the mountains. Today, besides the bike ride to the grocery store, I've been home trying to enjoy a day of rest. DH is off tomorrow and I'm not really sure what we have planned. I need to do some more cleaning, as always. I also have pulled a lot of my lettuce and need to work on the beds before planting some more summer plants.


Happy Memorial Day all!

Peace,

Amy

Favorite & Least Favorite Things

My garden is coming along. although nowhere near the lush and overflowing garden of my dreams. I just don't have the green thumb some people have, but at least I no longer kill plants with a mere touch.

I was so excited earlier this week to see my very first ever broccoli crown in my garden. Last year I planted six broccoli plants and got nothing. This year I tried nine and was ready to give up hope since broccoli is supposed to be ready in April. I planted them in February like the old timer at the Farmer's Market told me...Here it is the end of May and I have three crowns of various sizes. Lets just hope they don't go immediately to flower if it finally warms up around here.

The other areas of the garden are coming along. The squash & bean plants seem to be doing well enough. I got no squash, even zuchinni, last year so I am hoping that this year will be better.


The black beans above are from plants Emily decided to plant late last fall. They started coming up early this Spring and we already have pods. They have done really well sharing the pots with the leaf lettuce that Emily also scattered this Spring. Emily may have the green thumb in the family.

My tomatoes are showing a bit of distress, and I have no idea why. There are a couple baby tomatoes already, but the plants don't look well. And, my green pepper plants don't seem to be growing. Not the fruit, but the plants themselves. I've always had good luck with pepper plants, so I am at a loss.

The head lettuce is at the end of their season and ready for me to cut out. The leaf lettuce is still good, and since are in a partly shaded spot may give me a few more weeks.

The garden has been one of my favorite things to watch these past couple of weeks.

Also this week I've had to do one of my least favorite things: interviewing and collecting quotes from contractors for home improvement projects. We are getting gutters put back up, the chimney needs repairs and we are replacing a few of our windows. The chimney guy has given us a great deal and he was easy since we already knew who we wanted to us. DH has chosen the gutter company and all we have to do is give him a call and set up the day to have it done. The windows are giving us fits, probably because it was somewhat unexpected. I ended up breaking the glass in a window that cannot be repaired, so we are replacing all the similar windows. Quotes are all over the place and comparing them is difficult since windows can vary so much in quality.

Between meeting with contractors, I've been organizing and pulling out unnecessary homeschool materials. I have even sold some...DH was floored when I told him that I was actually getting rid of some of our stuff. It is all with getting inline with our new approach using books, online resources, manipulatives and unit studies. We will pretty much only have a 'curriculum' for Mary's math this next year.

We are glad the week is almost over and DH will be home for a long weekend. No soccer games this weekend, so the time is all our own!!!

Peace,

Amy

Sleeping Like A Baby

You know this isn't going to be good, right?

Robbie went down a his normal bedtime last night, he really is so good about putting himself to sleep. I checked on him as I headed back to the bedroom, sleeping soundly. Good I was worn out from a busy weekend and looking forward to a goodnight's rest. I spent about 20 minutes journaling, turned off my light got comfortable...and he woke up. I got up thinking he just needed to be resettled, rubbed his back and he seemed to go back to sleep.

I went back to bed and had just fallen asleep when 30 minutes later he was back up. Okay, time for a dry diaper and a sippy cup with water (sue me, I want sleep). He settled back down, for a little while. Thirty minutes later back awake and this time he woke up Emily. I saw that this was not going to be easy, so I took him to the family room to see if he would fall asleep with me.

I spent the next hour or so being jumped on, kicked and head butted. He wanted to play with his favorite toy, which of course is the one you don't want any child playing with at 1 am. The lights were all off but that didn't stop him from running around.

I gave up near 2 am, but him back in his crib and hoped that Emily was soundly asleep. I hear him as I went back to bed, but was so tired that I passed out. My last coherent thought was that he will at least sleep late in the morning.

So, I was a little put out when at 6:20 this morning I heard laughing, giggling and banging coming from his crib. Robbie was wide awake, and very happy about it. Me, not so much.

Of course today we have to be somewhere at noon and I needed to be able to put him down for a later nap.

Sunday wasn't all about the lack of sleeping babies; Mary made the soccer team she tried out for last week and is so excited. Wait till she learns what it is like to attend preseason camps in mid-August.

And, DH bought himself a car. At least he completed negotiations. Tonight they are bringing the car to us and we are using the notary next door to sign over the title. My other chore today is to go to the bank and deplete our savings account. But, we may actually be able to afford to have DH drive to work again. I did this online calculator and it figured that we spent somewhere close to 20% of DH's takehome on fuel alone, and this is considering I normally don't drive but three times a week and make my tank last for three weeks. If all goes well this Honda will pay for itself in six months on gas savings alone.

Today is housework, errands, reading and maybe a bit of napping. Mary said that she wants to spend some time working on her China stuff, so maybe a little helping there. Otherwise a pretty normal Monday.

Peace,

Amy

Old things new again

This has been a week when the children have rediscovered joy and fun in their old toys. The basket filled with Barbie and My Littlest Pet Shop has been pulled back out and the two older ones have spent many hours creating quite involved scenarios. Lots of creativity at work, including building new houses and bedrooms.

Katie seems to take the lead in much of the creativity at work - her bed is an alter to creative, imaginary play. Every stuffed animal, doll and miniature has it's place on her bed and she will disappear, alone, for such lengths of time I begin to worry where she actually is. Mary will go play for awhile, but she cannot stand to be away from the activity in the rest of the house for too long.

Webkinz online has come back into our day also. Around Christmas it became all but impossible to get online so the girls just stopped trying. This week they wanted to get on again and have been happily finding all the new activities they have added over the last 5 months.

Mary had tryouts this week for the new competitive soccer team. I was not sure how Mary would handle three long nights of tryouts and then her normal rec team game on Saturday. She has enjoyed soccer this week more than she has for the last two seasons of rec play. She is trying out for what would be the first level of boy/girl teams, as opposed to coed. Several girls from her team are also trying out, and wow after a week of just playing with the girls their confidence was sky-high for the game yesterday. They had fun and were all over the ball. Mary didn't score, but had three separate break-away attempts. We will not find out for a few days if Mary made the team or not, but were told by the coaches that she has a pretty good chance.

I really need to figure out someway to record digital music so I can share with everyone Mary's attempts at composing her own music. She has such a good ear and has 'written' some nice pieces. Her handwriting leaves a bit to be desired so it is sometimes hard to tell what she has put on the staff. We found a printable source on-line for staff paper, so I am letting her compose to her heart's desire.

I'm faced with some 'end-of-year' activities I would like to complete, including the scrapbook of our year. It really has been a busy and exciting year for us. Mary will have her end-of-year testing in June, neither of us are looking forward to the stress this is going to create.

Today is R&R day. DH has to work for a few hours, Mary & Katie have a birthday party to go to and at some point we will hopefully go look at a car for sale. I'm just along for the ride.

Peace,
Amy

A week

We have basically cruised through the last week. We are still working on our projects and added a few more activities into the mix. With the weather being so wet and iffy, we have been in a major movie watching mode. Catching up on all the movies we have missed over the last few years. Last week we saw Hoot for the first time. What a wonderful movie. I think before we took it back we watched it about 5 times and Mary wants to add it to the list of movies to buy. I really want the soundtrack as I love all things Jimmy Buffet. The DVD extras alone were great and educational. Following watching this movie we added another Carl Hiaasen book, Flush, to our reading pile.

This we week we have How to Eat Fried Worms and Mr. Magoriums Wonder Emporium.

My Mother's Day went well. Mary got up and fixed breakfast for me before I went back to bed for three more hours. I really needed to catch up on my sleep after burning my candles at both ends for the last couple of weeks. Once I got up, I took the two big girls shopping with me. I haven't been shopping, shopping for months, but I had a little bit of money to throw around and some items I have been wanting for a long time.

We started off at Border's for a little book browsing. I felt like I hit the jackpot in their bargin section. Mary picked up a magic kit and Katie a paintable keepsake box. I also found: an Atlas of the Human Body, Human Body Flip Chart, Grade 2 Math Activity Kit, Counting/Addition & Spelling (K-1st) Write-On/Wipe-off books, NC Gardening Book and two preschool/toddler activity books for Emily and Robbie.

We browsed through a few more stores, but the only other thing I bought for myself was a water filter pitcher thing for the refrigerator. We are all good about drinking water if it is cold, but don't care for straight from the tap. I'm hoping to increase our water consumption this summer by providing clean, cold water on demand.

Mary has pretty much locked herself in her bedroom to learn the magic tricks. Every little while we have a magic show. She isn't too bad.

We have also received a blessing this week. We've been looking at bikes to buy DH since he has started riding more with the girls, and so he can also transition from using the car for short errands. Yesterday we were offered a men's bike for free, which just happened to be a hybrid like he was looking at. We surprised him with it last night and I think he was surprised it was as in as good of shape as it was. Since we saved money on the bike we took a little of that and have ordered a 4-bike bike rack for the van/pathfinder. We were already having trouble loading Mary's bike and my bike into the cars, there was no way DH's 26-inch bike was going to fit. The possibilities are open for new summertime activities.

We are going to be a little bit busier than normal this week. Mary has tryouts for the Developmental Soccer League three evenings this week. If she makes this she will actually be playing on two leagues for the next year, as they want them to continue playing rec ball until they move up to the Challenge division. We also have the other normal end-of-year activities going on. Ahhh, Lazy summer days are around the corner.

Peace,
Amy

What have we been up to?

Well, a lot of enjoying the weather and being outside before the heat, humidity and bugs force us back inside. Being sick last week knocked me and the schedule for a loop, but we are doing okay getting back to 'normal'.

The days are being spent on a lot of unschooling and project activities. The China unit study has been a big hit, and we are being blessed with a lot of media attention on China with the upcoming Summer Olympics. The May National Geographic magazine was entirely devoted to China, and several times I had to find it in Mary's room so I could finish whatever article I was reading. And, this weekend we watched two shows; one on the building of the Great Wall and the other on the first Emperor of China. My mother has sent us a couple different kid's pages from her newspapers on China which Mary has enjoyed working and reading through.

Emily and Katie are engrossed with the puzzles my mom brought to us after cleaning out her house. They are also very busy creating their own little 'art' books. Nothing like handing them some paper and a handful of markers. Mr. Robbie is just his own very busy self. He wants to be doing whatever his sisters are, at least long enough to make them howl before he trots off to climb whatever will stand still long enough for him to climb.

I'm just doing. Lots of really fun chores (at least to me) this time of year. I really do like the time I spend hanging laundry outside and pushing our new reel mower around. Time to enjoy being outside while also being productive. Getting back into the kitchen and being creative again in my cooking. I've put away the knitting for the time being and have been busy teaching myself how to sew while putting together some new clothes for the girls. Like my knitting I'm keeping it simple until I become a little more comfortable. Currently I'm working on a couple pairs of cropped pants for Mary.

There is also the planning and shopping for this summer's house projects. We are getting gutters, finally, and rain barrel(s). We are also considering a woodstove insert for the fireplace. We are in the information gathering phase of that. While it wouldn't be our primary heat source, I'm looking for a strong secondary system that will help us cut a month or so off our central heat use in the winter.

Basically we have been doing a lot of fun things, for us, just not very exciting.

Peace,
Amy

How does your garden grow?

With a good amount of rain, plenty of sunshine and wonderfully-perfect temperatures, the garden is really exploding considering most of it was planted only a couple of weeks ago. Granted the tomatoes and peppers were transplants, but look at those beans! The background is our overabundance of lettuce.
More beans and lettuce (Emily got a little seed-happy with my lettuce seeds this year). The small containers are weeds, as I am trying to figure out what to grow in them this year.

This is my little patch of wild blackberries. I found it as I was planting the raspberry and blackberry bushes that I had purchased. It is going wild with blossoms. Have found several off-shoots from this plant and am trying to protect them from being 'weeded' out.

This is my cultivated raspberry. The picture isn't very good but there are plenty of blossoms here also .
One of my three blueberry bushes. If you look closely I have little green blueberries.

Ahhh, Spingtime!!!

Peace,

Amy

10th Anniversary

Tomorrow we celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary! Has it really been that long. I still remember the butterflies in my stomach the morning of May 2, 1998, wondering what the heck I was doing.

Who knew that ten years later we would find ourselves here today? I knew we would still be married, but four children and me the career woman home with them. Then, let's top it off with homeschooling, a direction towards simple living and so forth. What a 'long, strange journey it has been.'

In preparation, I have been popping antibiotics to get rid of the wonderful sinus/ear infection I developed earlier this week. Nothing says romance like the feeling of an ice pick drilling in the ear.

Seriously, though, my mom is on her way up to spend the next couple of days here. DH is taking Friday off from work. And, I have no clue of what the plans are. Either he has made none or he plans on surprising me. It could go either way.

Still, WOW - ten years. Where has the time gone? I am not old enough to have been married for ten years (says my perpetual 21-yr-old persona).


Peace,
Amy

Self-entertainment

Someday I may forget that there ever was a time that I felt the children would always need me to entertain them or oversee each and every activity at their demand. But, right now I am totally enjoying this new found sense of self-entertainment.

Some days I think Robbie is already feeling the pressure of living with all of us females. He heads out to his car where he will just "drive" for 15-20 minutes. Good thing it is a flinstone-powered car and not gas at the current prices.




Then there is playdoh. That wonderfully, crumbly material that I no longer allow inside my house. Have you ever seen a dog puke playdoh?

It is a magnet for the kids. You set one child up with two colors, and the next thing you know, everyone is out there and the whole box has been dragged out.

The highlight of the weekend though was walking into the family room and finding that the children had pulled down some of our science boxes. The science boxes are where I store all the bits and pieces of various science kits. My first thought was about the huge mess they were going to make with all the little pieces. But, then I saw...

Mary with a book open, following directions...doing it herself. In my personal life this is when you might hear the choir sing, honestly.

She started off with the AM/FM radio kit, but we could not find the resistor. She put that away and pulled out the human body model we must have bought about two years ago. I believe we put it away when I became frustrated over trying to fit a few of the pieces together.

A little time, a bit of chocolate and strawberry ice cream




I really didn't help her one bit with this. I was in the other room on the computer, except when I snuck in with the camera. And, she skipped the blood vessels, which really are a pain to attach.

It is a good thing the children were so productive this weekend, because I just wasn't. I managed to catch a cold and worked most of the weekend to just keep my head and ears from throbbing. I did some grocery shopping, working on restocking some of my stockpile and, well that is pretty much it. Really...I was a lazy bum.

Peace,

Amy

Earth Day

We made it through our "No Electronics" Day. Several times I had to stop myself from running to the computer to check weather radar and my favorite forums. I found myself wondering "What's going on in the world?" constantly. The kids made it though okay, at least until 4:00. That is when they started asking for a movie or TV shows. Then the friends showed up and everything was cool again.

The first part of the day was really no different than any normal day. We decided to take a walk, and since I did need some things from the grocery store, that is where we went. Instead of the more direct route, we walked the greenway and totally enjoyed ourselves. There was a stream to wander along, birds to watch and discussions to have. To go to the grocery store and come home took us more than two hours. It didn't even dare to rain until we were safely back home.

Then we painted. Katie thought that since it was Earth Day she needed to paint a picture of the Earth. Of course all the others thought it was a great idea to paint.
Mary's
Katie's
Emily's

While everyone else had quiet time in the afternoon, Mary and I pulled out the sewing machine and we finished her new shirt together.



We didn't do too bad a job for a bunch of amateurs.

She spent the rest of the afternoon involved with making little pockets (to hold her treasures) and doll dresses from some of the scrap pieces I have. Next up we are going to make a pair of capris for her. And, she has a friend that wants her to make a shirt like the one she has.

I was actually able to have some down time during the afternoon. It was nice to sit in the rocker by the window, listen to the classical station on the solar-powered radio and journal.

We are going to keep having no electronic days from time to time. It is good for us to remember the simpler things. And, I don't really need to spend time watching the rain heading for us or the stockmarket tumble. In both cases if it is going to fall, it's going to fall.

Peace,
Amy

Not ready for this week

I'm sitting here in the silence of this morning thinking about how I am just not ready for another week. How can this be? We just came off a week of Spring Break, followed by a week of field trips. We've only had one week of school since then, and I am tired. This week I want to concentrate on our Unit Study, and do our projects. We have such fun projects sitting here waiting on us.

What is it I don't want to do? I don't want to have to sit here and flip through our workbooks an figure out what I am supposed to put on the "To Do" list. But, without the flipping "To Do" list my home dissolves into loud, disorganized, manic chaos. Then I become very irritable.

It should be a pretty fun week, if we can just get to it this week. Tomorrow, Tuesday, is Earth Day and we have already decided that we are going to do our best to go electricity free for 12 hours. We have already discussed those things that will not be included in the unplugging frenzy; refrigeration, stove/oven and telephone. The forecast is calling for clouds, rain and cooler temps.

Yesterday I went out and picked up some green pepper and tomato plants. Also, seeds for the other various produce that I am hoping to get more of than greenery this year. So, all of that needs to be planted this week.

And, finally, Mary has been begging to learn how to sew. Not that it matters that I barely even know the basics to sewing from a pattern and have to re-read the instruction book every time I want to use my sewing machine. So we have a pattern and material to make a tie-around tank shirt and two pairs of capris. And, one child absolutely in a frenzy to start.

Please tell me what has made shorts go out of style this year. Mary only wants capris or knee-length shorts and Katie only wants to wear skirts and skorts. For being homeschooled and under ten, this children are amazingly conscious of what they wear.

So, you can see the projects are oh, so much more interesting than math and grammar. I'll let you know how it goes. Maybe not tomorrow, as I will not be on the computer until after dinner if even then.

Peace,
Amy

Thursday, Really?

In one way it feels like the week is flying away, out of control. We are good Monday and Tuesday, but then Wednesday hits and we actually have to leave the house...wheeeee! In another way, I have fooled myself into thinking it is Friday because in my frugal-conscience way I decided to do our grocery shopping today instead of Friday. This allows us to not have to drive anywhere tomorrow. So, again, what day is it?

I want to share a really awesome map link. I found this months ago, thought it would be neat to use at some time and then promptly forgot about it. I re-found it in my bookmarks when I was pulling things together for our China study. This allows you to print out really large maps by using normal paper and printer. You just put them together, like a puzzle, and tape. We have a 3' by 3' map of East Asia we are using and Mary really enjoyed the process of fitting it together.

MegaMaps

Tonight we are making ice cream, after much begging on behalf of the children. After purchasing the needed ingredients to make a very, very simple chocolate ice cream, I have decided it is one of those things that is actually cheaper to by on sale already made, than made at home. Wow, has anyone seen the price of cream?

Peace,

Amy

Art Teacher

I have a piece of artwork hanging next to the computer area (not the one above) that I have had since Mary's days at full-time daycare. At one point this hung in my cubicle when I worked. She has to be around 3 when she did it at school. Apparently, five years later, she suddenly remembered how she did it. And, that became our art lesson for the day.

Our days have kind of fallen into the routine of preschool activities in the morning, group activities and chores in the late morning, and Mary's concentrated lessons after lunch (when Robbie is napping and the other two have quiet time).

Monday, Mary decided she wanted to teach Katie and Emily this really neat painting trick at the end of their 'day'. She set up the table and all the paints. I found the materials she needed: large shoe box and some marbles (we used the metal balls from the Magnetix collection). I kept an eye on it, while also chasing Robbie around, until I could see that Mary really did have this 'class' well under control. Then Robbie and I headed off to his room for some real one-on-one play time.

As Mary described it what you do is: tape or make sure a piece of paper fits securely in the bottom of the shoebox. Then, taking the marbles dip them into the paint color of choice (Mary chose to use two different paint colors on each marble). After the marbles are loaded with paint drop how many you want to use in the shoebox and gently tip an move the box around so the marbles roll every which way.

Twenty minutes later they had all sorts of beautiful pieces of artwork for me to hang. Mary and Katie did all the clean-up after they were done.

Everyone changed out of their paint-spattered clothes an we headed out to run the one errand we had. The 1/2 mile trip to Blockbuster where I was going to exchange some of our mail-ordered videos for some in store ones. In particular we were picking up The Indian in the Cupboard that Mary has been dying to see since last week. We also picked up Alvin and the Chipmunks which the girls have raved about since they saw it in the theater.

Lunch, then lessons and as the dark clouds and more rain showers moved in we settled in for a movie afternoon. Katie and Emily had no interest watching The Indian in the Cupboard, so they watched their own movie in the play area. Mary and I watched The Indian in the Cupboard and really, really enjoyed it. It wasn't all that different from the book and what was different were things that really didn't make a difference in the storyline. We discussed some of the parts that were different, and how even if they were the same; how what we imagined when listening to the book was different. Mary came up with some different ways that they could have made the actors so tiny, or seem so tiny.

Sometimes I really just have to shout: I LOVE HOMESCHOOLING!! This is the year it has come together for us. And, experiences like our trip last week, the books Mary has been interested in recently, fun activities for the younger crew, discussions we have it is so much more than we have had the previous years. I finally get it...what people were talking about on the forums and blogs when I fell in love with the idea of homeschooling. The last few years I've had to really lean on that love of the idea of homeschooling when the kids got antsy, my curriculum choices were duds and when I pushed to hard and fast, and wondered if I was a failure. I am so glad that at least for this moment, I'm on this side of those thoughts.

Peace,
Amy

Yes, We are home

It has been a busy weekend to wrap up our whirlwind trip. We had two soccer games on Saturday, with a 45-minute break between games. That made for a long morning at the fields for the little ones, and I even ended up bringing them home early for lunch and naps. DH stayed out there to watch Mary's game. Most of the season we have lucked out and Mary and Katie will be playing at basically the same time, or back-to-back.

DH did a really good job cleaning the house while I was gone, so I tried to spend some time keeping it that way. With a laundry basket in just about every room of the house, why are there still clothes on the floor - I will never understand.

Sunday a friend of mine was getting remarried, so Mary and Katie attended the wedding with me. DH has begun his seasonal weekend work and couldn't attend. A neighbor watched Robbie and Emily for us until he came home. I believe Mary and Katie were disappointed in the wedding. A wedding, in their minds, is one of those extravagant made-for-TV princess affairs. This was a second wedding for both of the couple and was very low-key with just family and close friends. But, they did get to play with several friends of theirs and eat cake & ice cream, which I am sure made up for it.

Came home to find DH doing my afternoon chores, with plans to take all the children out to the park. Wow- is it my birthday? Since I had library books due (don't I always) I hopped on my bike and rode to the library - ALONE. I was only going to return the books, but since I was there I couldn't resist a little browsing. When I checked out I actually went to the desk and paid my fines with some cash leftover from the trip. Now I can stop feeling like I am sneaking in and out and hoping that the self-checkout computer doesn't refuse my card.

When I got home I piddled on the computer pulling together some worksheets, maps, etc. for this coming week. Played a quick game of mahjong and so forth until it was time to make the pizzas for dinner. While they cooked, I pulled out a library book and sat in my rocker reading, without hopping up every sentence or two to help someone.

That was my weekend. Now it is Monday, after one week off and one week traveling. Give me strength.

Peace,
Amy

Last Days

Here we are wrapping up our visit. Where has the week gone? None of us can believe that we are already heading home, although each of us are looking forward to being home for different reasons. Daddy seems to top the list for all of us. We have missed having him with us this week.

Yesterday morning we had some time before we needed to leave on our field trip to Beaufort, so the girls took me down to the beach so they could show me all the things they had found the past couple of days. When we stay with my father the girls would spend all their time down at the sound shore exploring the marshes for all sorts of treasures. So far this week we have more fish backbones, a few crab legs and many variety of clam shells. There was one treasure that they wisely decided that they shouldn't bring back to show me...



From my research (google) it appears to be a mushroom jellyfish, and is considered a culinary delicacy by the Japanese. It is not poisonous and does not have the stinging tentacles some jellyfish do. But, I am glad that the girls respect the power of these creatures and wisely chose to leave it be. Many visitors to our beaches in the summer are hurt every year by handling dead jellyfish.

The visit to Beaufort was fairly short. We chose not to do the tour due to some time limitations. Choosing instead to give the children our own tour, which isn't too hard considering I have probably spent more time immersed in Carteret County history than many of the volunteers.

The biggest success out of the trip is that Mary has realized that history really isn't some irrelevant nonsense I make her study. In this trip I was able to introduce her to family ancestors that either came over on the Mayflower, or shortly afterwards (we don't have the family tree details we need to confirm this), later moved to the NC colony from Mass and were granted a Land Grant signed by King Charles, served on the NC Assembly in New Bern (actually meeting in Tryon Palace), were part of the Continental Congress, built Fort Macon (one of her favorite places here), was a part of President Lincoln's staff, Chinese Missionaries, American diplomat to Columbia, writers, artists, etc.

She was so interested that we spent some of the evening pouring over the genealogy book my great-great-aunt Amy wrote about this branch of our family. Then mom showed her the family tree we had put together when I was in middle school. Now I have promised her that I will start working on a family tree for her, including her father's side. This should be fun.

I knew I had her when she began complaining about why scientist haven't worked out a way to travel back in time so that we could actually see how things happened and how people really lived. My mom and I just glanced at each other, because that is one of our fantasies also.

For what I wanted this trip to be in relation to our 'school' it has been a HUGE success. I could not have asked for a better visit, and what Mary has absorbed from this trip was beyond what I really expected. I am so glad that we took the time out to come.

Peace,

Amy

Tryon Palace

Day three of our field trip took us to Tryon Palace.
Tryon Palace served as the seat of government for the Colony of North Carolina just prior to the Revolutionary War. This isn't actually the original building, that burned in the 1780's. This was rebuilt at the beginning of the 20th century, based upon the original architectural designs and descriptions from letters of visitors to the original building.

The tour is completed with re-enactors throughout the palace and grounds, really giving us an excellent living history lesson.

The tour inside was very interesting, and even though Mary and Katie were the only children in our group, they really enjoyed the the tour. Mary's highlight was seeing the bedroom of the 10-year-old daughter of Governor Tryon, including the room (called a closet) that served as her classroom.

I personally found the kitchen building very interesting. This building housed not only the kitchen, but also the laundry and bedrooms for the household servants. In the laundry we were given a demonstration of combing and spinning wool.

Katie's and my mother's favorite part of the palace were the gardens. We were there at the perfect time for the blooming of all the spring flowers. This was also the area where we were actually able to take photos.



Back out on the front lawn Mary and Katie learned about some of the games that were played by members of the household. Here they are being shown how to play the game of lawn bowling.

I have been to Tryon Palace on a few different occasions, growing up here it is one of those field trips you can count on. This was, by far, the best visit I have ever had. The girls, whom I believed to be kind of borderline about how much they would actually get out of the visit, really enjoyed themselves and thought that it was great.

Tomorrow we are going to Beaufort, the third oldest town in NC. Beaufort is a real colonial shipping/merchant town. My ancestors settled here in the late 1600's, as whalers from Massachusetts. Today the girls got to see how the wealthy lived during the colonial period, tomorrow they will see how most everyone else lived.

Peace,

Amy

Spring Field Trip Day 1 & 2

We made it to the beach for our Spring Field Trip safe and sound. The trip down was really nice, even though we were on day 8 or so of cold, rainy, misty weather. Before we left we made one last stop by the library on Sunday and picked up a couple of books on tape for the drive. We listened to The Indian in the Cupboard on the way down. Never have the children been so into any book on tape as they were for this one. It was quiet, with no bickering for the entire 3 1/2 hour drive. Now Mary cannot wait for us to rent the movie.

Today was our Aquarium day. Of course the children would go everyday if we could, but on this visit it will be the only day we could make it. Mary has been talking about this visit for weeks, ever since my mother told her that they had a new Cow-Nose Ray in the touch tank.

This past summer, Mary got the lucky chance to see some rays at the aquarium behind the scenes that had just been hatched. Since then she has had quite an interest in rays.

We spent a good thirty minutes hanging out at the big tank. We let Robbie loose at this point. I had a blast watching him, I think he had a blast chasing the fish.


We ended the visit with one of those wonderful homeschool moments. Mary and Emily pulled out the sketch pads and colored pencils.

Tomorrow we will leave Emily and Robbie with my step-mother, while mom and I take the older girls to Tryon Palace (the colonial governor's mansion). The little ones would be bored silly, so they get to stay here and play.

Peace,

Amy

A Day Out

Since we have spent most of our Spring Break hanging around the house, I figured we should probably get out today. Especially since it wasn't raining, finally, and the temps were pretty nice. We started out with a trip to the home improvement store to buy one of these:

I've been wanting one for several years, and since this year we don't own a working lawn mower at all...I figured it would be the time to pick one up. Mary is so excited that she can mow the grass with this. We will see how long that lasts. I remember my time mowing the grass with a push mower as a kid. Of course I wasn't as fortunate as Mary, mine was an antique from my great-grandparent's estate, I had to be careful about getting splinters from the wood handles.

But, like hanging clothes, mowing the grass with a push mower is so centering. No noise, no fumes. It no longer feels like a chore, more like an experience. I can actually take the time to smell the freshly mown grass.

Even though that was our one errand that needed to be done, we were not ready to head back to the house. So, we stopped and asked some friends to come meet us for lunch at Chick-fil-a. Playtime for the kids, visiting for me. For a bonus, we scored some language CDs; Chinese, Russian and Italian. I'll add these to the German and Japanese we got a couple of years ago. Getting the Chinese language CD was so appropriate since we will be starting our China unit in a couple of weeks.

After lunch, since we were so close to the shopping center, I decided to run over and pick up the new umbrella stroller my mom had decided to buy me. The one I have had since Mary was a baby finally fell apart recently, sniff...sniff. That stroller had been everywhere with the kids. But after 8 years of constant use it gave up the ghost. While we were there we saw the pottery wheel Mary had been talking about for so long. And, since I can't buy just one child a craft project, everyone else got something. Katie a stuffed doll she could decorate with all sorts of beady, shiny things and Emily some more of her Color Wonder kits that she loves so much. For the homeschool supplies I found letter & number stamps for a really good price.

Everyone had something to occupy them for the afternoon so we came on home, where the kitchen was transformed to a studio:



I tell you, if you want something that will occupy a 3 year old quietly for a period of time the Color Wonder kits are the thing. They are magic according to Emily. And the markers don't dry out like normal markers.

And, so there ends our Spring Break. I am embarrassed to admit how little of my list was completed. But the week was a good break. Next week we are traveling to visit my family and will be finishing our Colonial America unit with some field trips. We will start back up on some of school work, but nothing too heavy.

Peace,

Amy

Visiting Week

Well, what is it the say about "Best laid plans"? My organizing week has transformed to visitor week. We have had a lot of drop in visitors over the first half of this week. Some ex-homeschooling families we haven't seen in awhile and some, I believe, to be soon-homeschooling families who are looking for a little comfort. This doesn't include the revolving door to all the neighborhood friends coming and going.

Today I should have some relief, as everyone else seems to have other plans. Now I just need to get some motivation. We are all snuffling and coughing from the pollen that is just pouring down upon us this week.

I need to finish planning for the next six weeks after we return from our field trip next week. And, my craft supplies are screaming for some organizing. It would be so nice to come back from a week away and have everything functional and ready to go. Since I don't think there is a lot of chance of the wee little people coming over to help, I better get busy while I have the chance.

My personal, wee little people are now awake, so my computer time is over.

Peace,
Amy